Topic: From the ashes of Clover, the next great dev house: Seeds

[idolminds]

Seeds

After developing and releasing two original games late last year, Okami (PS2) and God Hand (PS2), Clover Studio was rather unceremoniously closed by its owner Capcom. Capcom noted that many of the employees of the studio would be integrated into internal Capcom teams, but key Clover staff immediately expressed their intention to break away and form an independent development house.

Now, it seems that three key former Clover developers have done just that with the creation of Seeds, a new company that appears not to have any permanent publisher ties. The site's introductory message, helpfully translated by Wired's Chris Kohler, introduces Seeds' three key figures, who represent a mind-boggling list of development credits: Clover CEO Atsushi Inaba, who produced all of the studio's games; designer Hideki Kamiya, who created the Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe franchises as well as directed Resident Evil 2 (PS1, N64, DC, GCN, PC) and Okami; and Shinji Mikami, who created the Resident Evil franchise as well as directed Resident Evil 4 (PS2, GCN) and God Hand (PS2).

"We are the Seeds that caused the vibrant flowers Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Steel Battalion, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami to come into bloom," reads the introduction, which goes on to state that the studio is currently actively hiring. "Now, with a renewed spirit, we want to once again challenge the world of entertainment. But to do this, we need many, many more seeds... Would you like to make some 'preposterously amazing' games with us?"

The company seems to be off to a good start in attracting talent. Currently among its ranks are developers such as Yuta Kimura, who did visual work on Okami and SCEI's Shadow of the Colossus (PS2); Nao Ueda, a programmer on Okami and various Resident Evil games among others; Mari Shimazaki, a lead character designer on Okami; and Masami Ueda, a composer on several Resident Evil and Viewtiful Joe games as well as Devil May Cry (PS2) and Okami.

With that kind of talent, I can't wait to see what they cook up.

[sirean_syan]

It seems like every other day that some Western talent breaks off and forms their own group, but this sorta seems like a rarity with Japanese developement groups. At the very least, it seems like you just don't hear about it very often. Pretty interesting.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well.  Hope to see them do something great.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Yeah, I read about this earlier and it made me happy.  Hope some news on a game comes out soon.