After ending support for Nippon Ichi Software's Makai Senki Disgaea RPG mobile game, it appears that ForwardWorks is ready to restart support for the game with a beta test coming in October and a full re-release happening later this year in November.
Nippon Ichi Software's Disgaea series has had a rough going of it lately and recent reports have suggested that the company has suffered financially because of it. With a wider range of competition and its most recent failure, many in the industry wondered if Nippon Ichi Software would be able to weather the storm. When Nippon Ichi released its mobile game Makai Senki Disgaea RPG, users were greeted with a product that wasn't finished and it didn't take long for the companies to pull it from the market as a result. After pulling the game from the market, both ForwardWorks and Nippon Ichi stated that it will not be available for play for three months, but the two companies stated they plan on fixing it during that time. Now, after making some adjustments, it appears that the companies are making good on their promise as a re-release of the game is slated for later this year.
Given the financial pressure that Nippon Ichi was under, it's certainly understandable that they would want to push out a game as quickly as possible, but it's clear that this move did nothing to help the company stabilize itself. Now, it appears that both it and ForwardWorks are ready to give consumers the product they should have gotten from the start. If the re-release is successful, it will have the potential to change the idea that games need to be released as soon as possible at all costs, even when they are far from finished.
News of the re-release comes from Anime News Network, which goes on to say that the companies initially pulled the game from both the Apple and Google Play store after multiple bugs caused consumers to not be able to play the game. Both companies vowed to fix issues with the game and ForwardWorks purchased a development partner in June, tasking them with improving the server-side quality of the game through September. While exact dates aren't known, both companies have released statements indicating that they plan to open a beta test in October with a full re-release happening sometime in November.
It's always a good sign when companies adhere to their promises and, though it will take a bit longer than expected, Nippon Ichi and ForwardWorks have a good chance of making the mobile game work this time around. Given the amount of time and investment, it's clear that they are serious about improving the quality of the game.
While many may be upset with the fact that the companies rushed out an unfinished product, they should applaud both companies for their honesty in the end. If consumers support companies even when deadlines aren’t met, it will give them the confidence to take their time with a game before releasing it.