Unicorn Overlord Dev Comments on PC Port Chances

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 20, 2024 14 Views 5 Min Read
Unicorn Overlord Dev Comments on PC Port Chances



Summary

  • Vanillaware currently has no plans for a Unicorn Overlord PC port.
  • Publisher Atlus previously expressed interest in a PC version of the game, but the decision is ultimately up to Vanillaware.



A PC port of Unicorn Overlord isn’t in the pipeline, a senior Vanillaware official has confirmed. The critically acclaimed tactical RPG will hence remain limited to consoles for the foreseeable future, perhaps forever.

Vanillaware historically focused on single-platform development, making games for one system at a time. Prior to Unicorn Overlord, the only time it deviated from this pattern was with Dragon’s Crown, an action RPG that the studio launched for both the PS3 and PS Vita in 2013. Unicorn Overlord marked the company’s first comprehensive multi-platform release, simultaneously debuting on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch in March 2024. But like all Vanillaware games bar its 2006 debut title Fantasy Earth Zero, the SRPG ended up skipping PC.


Key art for Unicorn Overlord

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Unicorn Overlord Can’t Let Its Franchise Potential Go to Waste

Recent Vanillaware job listings point to the studio moving on from Unicorn Overlord, but there’s still plenty of uncharted territory for a sequel.

Asked about the possibility of a Unicorn Overlord PC port, game director Takafumi Noma recently told GamesRadar+ that no such project is in the works. “We do not have any plans for a PC version at this time,” the industry veteran explained. His comment arrived some nine months after producer Akiyasu Yamamoto also said that the Japanese studio wasn’t planning on bringing the game to PC. Neither Noma nor Yamamoto went into any details on what exactly is preventing a PC version of Unicorn Overlord from materializing.


Unicorn Overlord Publisher Wanted a PC Port

In a March 2024 interview with Destructoid, Yamamoto explained that Unicorn Overlord publisher Atlus would have preferred to have delivered a PC port of the game. However, the final decision was ultimately up to Vanillaware. Given that Unicorn Overlord was in development for 10 years, it’s possible that doing one more version of the game would have stretched Vanillaware’s resources too thin. At the same time, it’s not like the port couldn’t have been handled externally, which is a feasible option when working with an experienced publisher the size of Atlus or its parent company, Sega.


We do not have any plans for a [Unicorn Overlord] PC version at this time.

Unicorn Overlord Is Selling Well Even Without a PC Port

Skipping PC did not stop the critically acclaimed SRPG from selling well. According to the latest update from Atlus, Unicorn Overlord surpassed one million sales as of late September 2024, just over six months following its release. Even if Vanillaware didn’t repeatedly dismiss the possibility of a PC port, the company’s track record suggests that the game’s chances of making the jump to PC were never great to begin with. To date, Vanillaware has worked on just one port: the Switch version of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, released in 2022, three years following its PS4 debut.

Although the Japanese studio remains reluctant to bring its titles to PC, Unicorn Overlord‘s multi-console launch at least suggests that future Vanillaware titles may no longer be platform exclusives. This shift toward multi-platform publishing could be partially attributable to Atlus, which has recently adopted a similar strategy with notable success.


Source: Destructoid

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