They made some great games at the 7th generation (Bangai-O Spirits, Bleach DS, Sin&Punishment 2), we saw old Sega Saturn goodies on a modern console (Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes)...And now? Nothing, expect from Gaist Crusher for 3DS published by Capcom and that's Japan only. And it looks just ok but nothing more. Have the publisher companies forgot Treasure? Isn't Treasure caring to make even a small, self-published game for digital only release like other small companies do? With so many japanese video games companies focusing to smartphone market (even Nintendo didn't resist), it's a miracle that Treasure didn't followed the trend (excluding the smartphone port of Ikaruga).
Could be that they're secretly developing something for the eighth gen (I'd imagine they were relatively low in priority for dev kits as well).
Treasure is making 3DS games but they are Japan only. They did Gaist Crusher and it's sequel. They are ok games but I got rather bored of them quickly and didn't bother finishing them.
I don't think Hiroshi Iuchii works for Treasure anymore, so there goes a lot of their good output (granted, I'm likely one of the few who view him as a one trick pony (Radiant Silvergun), I've never found anything else by him that I've particularly liked (yes, that includes Ikaruga), unless Taromaru counts (which it shouldn't)).
Did you guys ever play McDonald's Tresureland Adventure? That was a game by them, one of the better, platformers on the genesis, shit you not.
Raguaki Showtime, silliuote mirage, radiant Silvergun, bangai go, sin and punishment, ikaruga, alien soldier, and yuyuhakusho all unreleased in the United States on original launches. Silliuote mirage was ruined by working designs for the ps1 port.
As much as you or I would love more new Treasure games, the current reality of the market doesn't really make it feasible for the company to experiment as much as they did. It's a lot of factors, including the fact that many "best-selling" non-Nintendo Japanese games are usually animu games, and in the West it's mostly action shooters. I would love to buy a Treasure game, but I doubt they have the marketing budget to defeat those modern games we loathe/love so much.
So there was like five games last generation and now they completely halted production. Oh no! I'm joking I like treasure a lot! Of course they should be on mobile. The japanese companies can't really face the investors like the former Nintendo president did. Don't worry after the mobile crap bubble is gone we'll have nice companies making great games.
Yeah, I also think that due to the current market conditions, Treasure is only keeping it safe, low budget and oursourcing games to them. Worse though, is the mobile gaming will probably might burst, but will not collapse, because IMO mobile phones are now a necessity in life, and lazy parents who give ipads, phones and tablets to their 3 year old children as it's babysitter is in no danger of running out anytime soon.
All of their games are quirky but not mass market material. I wouldn't be surprised if "Treasure" was 1-3 people at this point.
They could easily make a small budget, digital only release for 3DS. Like Kokuga for 3DS from G.rev, directed by Hiroshi Iuchi that also worked on Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. They could even use Kickstarter. As about smartphones, they have only released Ikaruga. I haven't seen them making a new game for that market, like most japanese companies do now.
Playing it safe is one, plus they have always been a very small company with 8 employee's at most with some contractors here and there, so in today's market it definitely is going to take them much longer to produce a game. I mean look at how long it took them to port Radiant Silvergun to xbox 360 and even then it didn't have all the cut scenes included! So unless another publisher like Microsoft or Sega steps up to support original games from them they are going to keep doing contract gigs like they have done in the past to get by during slow periods, anyone remember when they did those Tiny Toon's games or Dragon Drive for that matter? As for indie publishing they tried that on steam with Ikaruga but they claimed they had a very poor experience especially when it came to the submission process so it has soured them a bit on the idea. A company like capcom is multiple times bigger than Treasure and even they are struggling to output at a decent pace when it comes to releases so you can only imagine the struggle treasure has.
Inti Creates, just like Treasure, is another small japanese company. However they're now making their own games and publish them by themselves. And it worked perfectly. Digital-only Azure Striker Gunvolt not only it became a success but it even got a sequel and a physical release by Yacht Club Games. They also got the rights to make an awesome remake for Blaster Master, Blaster Master Zero, that also sold well. And right now they 're developing Dragon: Marked for Death, a side scrolling action/rpg for Switch that looks promising. However a big difference Inti Creates has with Treasure is that they have a better communication with their audience and better collaboration with non-japanese companies like Yacht Club Games they also worked together for Shantae games. Seems like marketing isn't Treasure's strongest card.
