Cave CEO steps down

The president and CEO of Japanese developer Cave has resigned his position.

Ito Masahito, who will be replaced as president by chairman of the board Kenichi Takano, becomes the second high-profile executive to quit the firm this year following the departure of COO Miko Watanabe in May.

It marks a dangerous development for the bullet hell shooter genre (or ‘shmup’), of which Cave is one of the last standing developers.

The company, however, has struggled to monetise its titles in an increasingly alien market.

Long gone are the days when Cave could release a title at full RRP and for it to earn a place for itself on retailer’s shelves. Although the genre survives to a certain extent in Japan, recent UK releases such as Deathsmiles, DoDonPachi Resurrection and Akai Katana have struggled to gain traction. And that’s despite carrying discount RRPs.

Our sister-site MCV has the full story.