Current Events > Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons IP rights explanation is fucking asinine

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Due to Natsume Inc. keeping the rights to the Harvest Moon name when Marvelous decided to have their own American division, Xseed Games, take over North American distribution, the newer titles in the series had to be renamed to Story of Seasons[6] while Natsume Inc. took the opportunity to start their own Harvest Moon series of similar games starting with Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. This has reportedly caused some degree of confusion among players and fans of the series.[7]

SoS A Wonderful Life remake came out in 2022 while HM Winds of Anthos released last year.

lol which series is now considered the "good" one again?

Story of Seasons is made by the people that created Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is made by some hacks.

Jagr_68 posted...

lol which series is now considered the "good" one again?

Story of Seasons is the good one

Jagr_68 posted...

SoS A Wonderful Life remake came out in 2022 while HM Winds of Anthos released last year.

lol which series is now considered the "good" one again?

Story of Seasons is the original Harvest Moon series. The new harvest moon games are original titles that just stole the name.

I think the most insane IP rights thing I have ever read about is Macross. Robotech (Harmony Gold), Battletech (somehow like five different companies), the original Japanese studios (two of them), it's a huge fucking mess.

The Masters of the Universe IP is also a fucking mess.

James Bond and the rights to SPECTRE and Blofeld are also an hilarious 50ish years mess.

Irony posted...

Story of Seasons is made by the people that created Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is made by some hacks.

NeonOPPAl posted...

Story of Seasons is the good one

Tyranthraxus posted...

Story of Seasons is the original Harvest Moon series. The new harvest moon games are original titles that just stole the name.

That's what I thought. Just seemed like reviews for both game titles were mixed between either "this remake was meh" and "HM sucks, play SoS instead". Obviously leaning towards the Wonderful Life remake since both are on sale for the same price.

Which was the last good Harvest Moon game? I played the original, and a GBA one, I think Friends of Mineral Town (which was weird, but fun).

I think I tried playing one on the Wii but it was so clunky I gave up.

If you keep trying to make this game good it eventually goes back to being a relaxing thing you do

Wonderful Life is, well wonderful. It's always been one of my favorites

Jagr_68 posted...

SoS A Wonderful Life remake came out in 2022 while HM Winds of Anthos released last year.

lol which series is now considered the "good" one again?

Story of Seasons is Bokujo Monogatari, which was Harvest Moon. Natsume's use of the Harvest Moon IP is borderline criminal. Play SoS for the authentic experience.

Which was the last good Harvest Moon game? I played the original, and a GBA one, I think Friends of Mineral Town (which was weird, but fun).

I think I tried playing one on the Wii but it was so clunky I gave up.

The 3DS ones are some of the best in the series. The Switch game suffers from a lot of busywork and slowdown, and isn't that well received. The remake of Friends of Mineral Town is pretty good as well.

I thought it was called Story of Seasons in Japan originally and then they stole the North American name.

Also which company does Rune Factory?

Revelation34 posted...

I thought it was called Story of Seasons in Japan originally and then they stole the North American name.

Also which company does Rune Factory?

Nah. It was entirely a localization thing with Natsume. They only own the name 'Harvest Moon'. Marvelous does Rune Factory. Same company.

MisterPengy posted...

Which was the last good Harvest Moon game? I played the original, and a GBA one, I think Friends of Mineral Town (which was weird, but fun).

I think I tried playing one on the Wii but it was so clunky I gave up.

Friend of mine who's a massive fan of the genre said that Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos was really good, and the first time they preferred a modern Harvest Moom over Story of Seasons

ssjevot posted...

I think the most insane IP rights thing I have ever read about is Macross. Robotech (Harmony Gold), Battletech (somehow like five different companies), the original Japanese studios (two of them), it's a huge fucking mess.

Didnt JP just give HG total control of the rights outside JP a few years ago?
Super Robot Wars stopped using Macross series because of it.

Yeah, it's crazy and sadly it seems to work for them.

Even after 10 years you have to explain this every single time, or have people who call "Story of Seasons" an Harvest Moon clone.

It's just sad at this point, especially because the "new" "Harvest Moon" games seem to be beyond trash. I don't think I have ever heard anything good about them.

They only make use of the brand, and destroy the name Harvest Moon had.

Pretty sure the new Harvest Moon games have dragons now.

Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is an amazing game. One of the best. The newer Story of Season games are worth playing and I usually get at least three years of play time from them but the 3DS games had a great run.

Ricemills posted...

Didnt JP just give HG total control of the rights outside JP a few years ago?
Super Robot Wars stopped using Macross series because of it.

No. Harmony Gold absolutely still has rights over toys and the anime overseas. They can't even sell those toys in Japan. Like there is a really cool licensed VF-1 cockpit figure I was interested in. Have to import it from Hong Kong because international rights don't allow it to be sold in Japan. Even says not for sale in Japan on the site.

https://www.kidslogic.toys/products/st18

Says licensed by Harmony Gold right on the website.

My understanding for the videogame rights and miniature games is the rights are the same as always and there were just some dumb lawsuits by Harmony Gold to try to get those rights too but they failed.

ssjevot posted...

No. Harmony Gold absolutely still has rights over toys and the anime overseas

That's what i said tho.

In addition of Robotech stuffs, they also handed away the rights for new Macross series.

Ever wonder why Tales from the Crypt isn't available on any streaming service? No one knows who fucking owns it is why. They were trying to make a movie like a decade ago and couldn't get it off the ground because the rights are too confusing.

Ricemills posted...

That's what i said tho.

In addition of Robotech stuffs, they also handed away the rights for new Macross series.

Except they don't have the rights to those Macross designs in videogames and miniature games which is why Battletech gets to use those (and Dougram and Crusher Joe) original designs and derived designs still. They tried suing over that Hairbrained Schemes PC Battletech game a while back but they lost. Battletech games are weird here in Japan in that you can buy them but they aren't translated. Like even on PS Store they are listed but English only. So I don't think they have a design rights issue here, but I have only ever seen the miniatures game in import stores. There actually was an official Japanese version of Battletech back in the 90s with designs by the Macross team, but they didn't use actual Macross designs (or Dougram or Crusher Joe, but those are different studios).