In light of some inflammatory comments in an interview with MCV, NIS America President Takuro Yamashita has since clarified his positions on the exclusivity of SNK Heroines, working with Nintendo, and their relationship to Sony.
In speaking to MCV, Yamashita appeared to deamonize working with Sony, claiming they weren’t friendly to smaller publishers unlike Nintendo. His publisher is bringing SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy to both platforms, but only the Switch version is getting a major retail release. He has since made it clear no harm was meant to Sony, explaining that the decision of platform designation was made by NISA in conjunction with SNK.
I must extend my most heartfelt apology to SNK and Sony Interactive Entertainment. The truth is that the Nintendo Switch exclusive plan was originally decided by NIS America, and only later among discussions with influential SNK people did we decide the best option moving forward would be to have as much exposure as possible. This is why that in the end, we are bringing the PS4 version of SNK Heroines to the market, and even supported this version at the NISA Press Event and in the press meetings in February and March.
Thereby, the decision of a Switch-exclusive version of SNK Heroines was made by NISA themselves, not SNK nor Nintendo. The fighting game is actually getting a physical version on PS4, but only via a Diamond Dream Edition sold on NIS America’s website, leaving the Switch version available in stores.
Yamashita’s original interview with MCV also revealed NIS America’s Switch releases outsell the PS4 versions 2 to 1, and that SNK Heroines was originally a PS4-exclusive. The decision to port it to Switch, as he clarified in his statement, was made by SNK to gain wider exposure.
