Vespa has announced today that it has stopped working on the Shining Force game. The game was in the final stages of development and was supposed to enter the beta testing phase in a few weeks. Vespa was working on the Shining Force project after licensing the rights of the Shining Force IP from Sega. Vespa had secured the global service rights of Shining Force through Hive, a local corporation in Japan. The story of this new project on the Shining Force IP was covered by us last August. It was huge news for mobile gamers since the game trailer was released in August 2021.
Shining Force: Gameplay Overview
In the past, Shining Force was one of the works loved by gamers for its strategic tactics, immersive scenarios, and dynamic animations gameplay appearing during battle. Many fans and critics consider ”Shining Force” as one of the masterpieces of RPG along with Langrissa and Fire Emblem, considered the gold standard of SRPG (role-playing strategy game).
Last August, we found out that Vespa was developing a mobile game Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness, based on the Shining Force IP. According to Vespa’s introduction, ”Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness” was characterized by strategic fun unique to the SRPG genre. It was based on the series’ unique worldview and story and the fun of nurturing attractive characters.
Vespa states the reasons behind this move
At the regular shareholders meeting on 25th March, Vespa CEO Kim Jin-soo said,
Currently, the development of Shining Force has been suspended due to the burden of cost.” He continued, “We were trying to reduce the burden of development costs and bring in money by selling the Shining Force rights. Unfortunately, as the other company is a large overseas company, it was subject to fair combination reporting, so the sale process took longer. So, it is impossible to help with the financial statements, and there was no sale.
Kim Jin-soo, Vespa CEO
However, CEO Kim Jin-soo confirmed that the studio is moving forward with two other titles, King’s Raid and Time Defenders, to manage their sales without Shining Force. King’s Raid is currently in development with limited marketing. The studio is working tirelessly to attract investment early so the project doesn’t run into financial problems later.
What are your thoughts about Vespa suspending the development of Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness? Let us know in the comments below!
What a freaking shame , I was really looking forward to this game . Somehow trying to relive my childhood. Well that is messed up . So much for shining force. Why finish the other games if shining force would have been the feature game.
I was waiting all this time since the mentioning that they were going to make it. Well I won’t be buying either one. Good luck in the future.