For years, Japanese gamers have enjoyed the Momotaro Dentetsu series of train-themed, board game-style video games. If all good things must come to an end, it sounds like Momotaro Dentetsu is finished. Kaput.
Earlier this year, Akira Sakuma (not pictured), who created Momotaro Dentetsu, said he would “end” Momotaro Dentetsu if Konami, who enveloped the game’s previous publisher, brought in new staffers and dissolved the development team.
Sakuma has decided that he can’t go on with the series, and the 60-year-old game creator said that he would not be making any more. The upcoming cell phone version will be the last Momotaro Dentetsu.
Of course, Konami owns the rights to the games, and knowing Konami, there will probably be another Momotaro Dentetsu eventually. Fans of the series want to play games that Sakuma developed and without him, it’s just not Momotaro Dentetsu.
Most game designers don’t own the characters they create as those characters are the property of the studio or publisher. So can game creators really “end” a series? Even if Hideo Kojima left Konami, there would still be Metal Gear. Even if Shigeru Miyamoto left Nintendo, there would still be Mario. There’s too much money at stake to not make these games.
さくまあきら氏 「もう桃鉄は作らない」 [痛いニュース]
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