Cave warns of potential shmup retreat

It looked as if the 2D shmup was enjoying a revival. But bad news from cult shmup developer Cave in Japan has asked new questions about the viability of the genre.

Andrasang reports that Cave has revised its financial forecasts downwards. Having previously expected to make 10m for the six months ending November 30th, the developer now predicts a 31m loss.

Full year earning forecasts have also been lowered from 310m to 50m.

The sad result of all of this is a pledge to pour more resources” into social games and put development of some existing titles on hold, including potential new shooting titles.

However, Rising Star Games – the publisher in the UK of Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi Ressurection – has confirmed to MCV that this year’s release of Akai Katana for Xbox 360 remains very much on track.

In 2011 Cave released three titles that strayed from its rigid shmup roots. As well as quasi-shmup Bug Panic on iOS, it also published platformer Nin2 Jump and social Facebook title Derby Classics.