Harvest Moon: A Game by Any Other Name
E3 has been a very confusing time for diehard Harvest Moon fans. Two farming simulators were announced for a 2014 winter release, Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley and Story of Seasons, and everyone’s been arguing over which is the next true installment in the beloved franchise. Honestly? They both are. In order to explain how this could have happened, we need to go back in time and explore the cult franchise’s tumultuous business history.
Bokujou Monogatari, Pack-In-Video and Natsume
Way back when, when the name Harvest Moon didn’t exist, there was a company in Japan called Pack-In-Video. In 1996, Pack-In-Video (later Victor Interactive Software) developed a game for SNES called Bokujou Monogatari, a farming simulator where you run your own farm.
This little game performed so well that Pack-In-Video cut a deal with an American game publisher called Natsume. If you’ve played the Harvest Moon games before, you’ll undoubtedly recognise the name and the iconic white screen emblazoned with their navy logo that opens almost every game.
Natsume was now responsible for translating and localising Bokujou Monogatari in the USA, but the somewhat lame literal translation Farm Story didn’t really make for great marketing. Instead, they decided to go back to their American folk roots and came up with the iconic name Harvest Moon. The game was a surprising success and a partnership was born between Pack-In-Video and Natsume with one sticky stipulation: since Natsume came up with the title Harvest Moon, they technically owned the brand name.
Friends of Mineral Town, Marvelous Interactive and Natsume
However, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town changed everything as the first Bokujou Monogatari game developed for Game Boy Advance and the first game to be released under Marvelous Interactive. The month before Friends of Mineral Town was due to be released in Japan, Victor Interactive Entertainment was acquired by another larger company named Marvelous Entertainment. They were then renamed Marvelous Interactive and continued to work with Natsume, who were also chosen as the North American publishers for the wackier incarnations of Bokujou Monogatari such as the not so successful Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon set in space and the much more successful fantasy spin-off series, Rune Factory.
Things were going well for a while and the Natsume-Marvelous Interactive business relationship continued to thrive. Until 2011, when Marvelous Interactive decided to merge with AQ Interactive and Liveware.
Where things go wrong: Marvelous AQL and Natsume
The Bokujou Monogatari franchise passed into the hands of the newly formed mega company, Marvelous AQL, in 2011. Naturally, this resulted with a number of subsidiaries from each of the different companies- but AQ Interactive’s North American publishing subsidiary XSEED changed Bokujou Monogatari forever.
Marvelous AQL allowed Natsume to publish Harvest Moon: A New Beginning in 2012. This is the very last Bokujou Monogatari game that will ever pass through Natsume’s hands. Rune Factory 4 is then published by XSEED Games in North America in 2013, a harbinger of doom for the Natsume/Marvelous AQL partnership.
In February 2014, Bokujou Monogatari: Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi is released in Japan and becomes the top selling game in Japan, achieving double the sales of the previous installment Harvest Moon: Magical Melody. Marvelous AQL announces that XSEED Games (and not Natsume!) will be publishing it in North America in late 2014, drawing an end to a sixteen year business relationship with Natsume and taking Natsume’s cash cow with it.
Where we are now: Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley versus Story of Seasons
So, Bokujou Monogatari: Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi (what a mouthful) is set to be released in North America in late 2014. But there’s one problem.
Remember back in 1996, when Natsume said they owned the brand name Harvest Moon? This means that Marvelous AQL can’t legally say that the new game is part of the Harvest Moon franchise in the west, because they don’t have the rights to the brand. After some deliberation, they decided to release the game and future Bokujou Monogatari incarnations under the title Story of Seasons. This wouldn’t have been so bad, if Natsume didn’t decide to fight back kicking and screaming.
Story of Seasons looks set to be the continuation of Harvest Moon, but is it the valid one?
In a shockingly vindictive move, Natsume has decided to release their own Harvest Moon game entitled Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley and slated it for release around the same time that Marvelous AQL has theirs. This means that Story of Seasons is definitely in trouble since it’s now competing with what is looking to be a much lesser quality game that has all the brand recognition, effectively alienating Bokujou Monogatari fans from the real successor of the franchise.
Regardless of how good the new Bokujou Monogatari game is (it’s been hailed the best game since Friends of Mineral Town), people are going to flock to Natsume’s game because it’s familiar and ironically mistake Story of Seasons for a lesser quality copycat.
Hopefully, this doesn’t spell the end for Bokujou Monogatari in the west. If both games survive the war, there’s real potential for both Natsume and Marvelous AQL to grow and continue producing even better titles because of their rivalry. While the future of the franchise is still uncertain, it definitely looks like this winter is going to be a cold one for Harvest Moon lovers. [divider_top]
Where do you stand in the Harvest Moon debate? Tweet us at @BoarGames
Comments (2)
I disagree there, Jacob. I found the article quite informative! Especially the history of Marvelous Interactive and Natsume’s relationship.
I don’t think the author is unjustified in expressing concerns over potential players being misled by the confusing branding. I, for one, would be oblivious to the current corporate spate over the Harvest Moon branding if I did not make a point of reading articles such as this one. At the end of the day there are going to be consumers purchasing The Lost Valley with the belief that it was developed by the same group as the previous instalments. Regardless of how good or bad The Lost Valley may be, people are going to be misled in that regard – especially because they won’t realise that the actual continuation of the series (at least in terms of developer) lies in Story of Seasons.
The fact that Natsume has decided to use the Harvest Moon brand in its new series is in itself very telling. I think it would be naive to argue that the company isn’t intending to benefit from fans of the original series being drawn in by the powerful brand it legally owns.
That all said, it is exciting to see a new series of the same genre emerge. Hopefully we will be seeing many more titles from both developers!
Just a note about the history of the developers: It is not clear from the article what actually happened to the original Pack-in-Video and how Marvelous Interactive suddenly started releasing titles in its place. After a quick search I see Pack-in-Video merged with Victor Entertainment to become Victor Interactive Entertainment which, as the article explains, eventually became Marvelous Interactive. Including that short bit about Pack-in-Video becoming Victor Interactive Entertainment would definitely clear up any confusion!
If you look online for reviews by people who played The Lost Valley at E3, every single one is POSITIVE. It is only butthurt fans like you who are weeping at the fact that we will get two farming adventures to play this year. Junk news article.