Okay, so it’s notquiteas grand a gesture as, say, Capcom showering the former employees of the now-defunctClover Studiowith cash and concubines and granting them carte blanche to create whateverbizarreorotherwise unusualtitle that they wanted to create, but it’s still good news. We learned late last year that, while Capcom was intent on welcoming the bulk of Clover’s 64 employees back into the fold, a select few would not be returning, includingResident Evilcreator Shinji Mikami and the director ofOkami, Devil May CryandViewtiful Joe, Hideki Kamiya. Now, at least, we know what’s been keeping them busy.
Say hello toSeeds Inc., a new start-up development studio born of Clover’s untimely demise, brought about by a supergroup-esque coalition of talent including both Mikami and Kamiya, as well as several others from Clover. While it’s very likely that we’ll see some extremely original titles coming out of this development studio, don’t get your hopes up for anOkami 2— at least, not from Seeds. As part of the terms of the studio’s dissolution, all of the intellectual property created by Clover Studio has defaulted back to Capcom.
Still, it’s very nice to see the house that brought usGod Handlive on in one form or another. Seems to be that there’s a growing trend of the best minds in gamingbreaking off from their corporate mastersand goin’ all vigilante; here’s hoping for some dynamite product in the near future.
