More time to promote and polish

When I spoke with XSEED executive vice president Ken Berry last year, he told me his studio lives and dies by pre-orders. For a small team that localizes games for a niche, but enthusiastic audience, pre-orders determine whether certain retailers will continue to carry their products.

It seems that concern also extends to XSEED's parent company, Marvelous, which just postponed the release of one of its upcoming games, a PlayStation Vita brawler called Uppers, because not enough folks plunked down cash to reserve the game pre-release.

Producer Kenichiro Takaki broke the bad news earlier today in a surprisingly honest and heartfelt blog, explaining that pre-order figures were dismally low and it wouldn't make sense for the company, from a business perspective, to release Uppers at this time. Takaki hopes more time will allow his team to improve and promote the game, rather than have it sent out to die.

It's easy to decry pre-order culture, but, at least in some cases, it's a necessary evil.

『UPPERS（アッパーズ）』 発売情報変更のお知らせ [Marvelous via Gematsu]