Project DIVA on Hiatus

For those who don’t frequent Facebook or Twitter (or X, if you want to be lame) Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA post-MegaMix is done.


According to an old interview with CFM’s head-honcho and to put in layman’s terms: it was that they were getting expensive, with sales obviously not offsetting the cost of development. After Project DIVA X’s release; they considered the development of a Social game based on Project DIVA Arcade (aka Future Tone) But as you may had guessed; this wound up turning into Project Sekai: Colorful Stage after running into development difficulties and would eventually earn its place as the only other F2P juggernaut in SEGA’s arsenal next to Phantasy Star Online II.

The full translation post by user Len Versace will be here (don’t ask how long it will last)

As I am one to do: I will essentially attempt to add conjecture as to why the series ended at 2016:


The exclusivity on PlayStation systems

Either a deal struck by SONY, or because they wanted to: it’s fair to say that being confined on PlayStation IS entirely to blame. I don’t want to sound like a Console Warrior when I say this, but If you’d been like me and payed attention to both the series itself: as well the state of the gaming industry at the time of release of each installment, you might get a feel for what I am going at:

• The original Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA was released in 2009 on the PSP as a Japan exclusive, then received 2 follow-ups: Project DIVA 2nd, & Project DIVA Extend in 2010 & 2011 respectively. With all 3 receiving ports on PS3 under the moniker: Dreamy Theater.

• It should be a bit understandable: PSP being a popular handheld, & PS3 being the popular home console in the region, unless you don’t count both the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and the global financial crisis.

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• Project DIVA F released in 2012 on PSP’s successor; PS Vita. Like the original before it; saw a port to PS3, alongside a follow-up; Project DIVA F2nd. This was also when SEGA took the series globally.

• PS3, while fine in 2012; was becoming long-in-tooth by the time F2nd came out in the west in 2014 with PS4 being right there, PS Vita while a newer system; was a failure for many reasons: proprietary Memory Cards, SONY abruptly abandoning the system fairly quickly, the Nintendo 3DS, & the Angry Bird-era of Mobile gaming that even knee-capped the former (ironic, I know) not to mention the western market wasn’t easily sold on a rhythm game featuring an anime (but we know she’s not) character, or the handheld the game was initially built for.

• SEGA also proved this via Project Mirai being on the more popular 3DS, who’s 2nd installment’s DX release was popular enough to appear in some list of the top 100 best games for a system that would go on to sell around 80M units, and become the go-to gateway drug to the VOCALOID music genre for many like myself.

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• Project DIVA X would release in 2016 on both PS Vita and finally see the series jump to PS4.

• Repeat everything I just said about F, but this time acknowledge how nobody in the west that weren’t into niche import goods was buying a PS Vita, let alone the fact SONY long since gave up on the system, also let alone no longer selling it in Western Countries.
  
  
• As a personal recollection; I once saw a copy of the game on PS4 at my local Best Buy, and later spotted a pre-owned copy at the then-operating Trade-A-Game.
  
  
  • Before you ask where that was; it was in Spokane Valley, WA, it's been gone for years. (I can still see the sun faded Batman Arkham Asylum promos in the window) We still have Game World however; and just literally across the street: You may or may not have seen the video where The Immortal John Hancock himself, alongside Andrew "Nintendrew" Kennedy went shopping there.

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• The PS4 port of Project DIVA Arcade; Project DIVA Future Tone releasing before X’s PS4 port took all wind from this game’s sails, which were already weak breezes to begin with (AKA the game was already sold poorly at launch)

• Not only was the game seemingly a Miku branded off-shoot of Miracle Girls Live which itself was a regurgitated Project DIVA game with a different license, but being a pretty bad Project DIVA game at that: with a pitiful playlist of playable songs, paired with an equally paltry amount of content regardless of what PlayStation you play it on with a corny story mode draped over top of it.

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• Project DIVA MegaMix released as a Nintendo Switch console exclusive in 2020, followed by its PC port: Project DIVA MegaMix+ in 2022, which was shadowdropped on Steam with little fanfare.

• It was a low-risk port of Project DIVA Arcade. mainly Nintendo Switch: A hybrid system appealing to the series history of dual-format releases, and is on track to become THE best selling home console of all-time, at just 141.32M units, with a successor confirmed for release in 2025.
  
  
• I should know; devoting Forum posts talking about the potential the series could have on the then-new platform, and getting people ready for MegaMix with a system guide.

• In the end; it doesn't even matter since people are more likely to bring up the fact Project DIVA is officially playable on Steam without the need for emulators.

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Yearly Installment Fatigue

If you were also keeping score; there was a case of yearly fatigue: namely since 2009 to 2017, there was some type of Hatsune Miku game with little iteration. while 2013 was when the series journeyed into the West, making it a 4-year stretch of Miku games in the West all developed by SEGA. Outside of Project Mirai, and the gameplay & technical specifics between them, they were almost the same. This was not like say; the first 7 Mario Party games that also saw an annual release cycle, and despite each game being cut from the same cloth, had unique & substantial differences from Mario Party 3’s toy box visual-style, to Mario Party 7’s vacation theme, & Mario Party 6's substantial day & night theme, all with unique boards & minigames. It should also be said this strategy was already wearing off for both Rhythm & Fighting games where the future was in DLC for a single game rather than releasing a new iteration of a game with slight additions to warrant its existence in the home gaming space.


Impact

As I already implied; one game or even the entire series was a gateway drug for the VOCALOID music genre. While it might be a hot take; this entire series can be solely responsible for shaping how Miku is perceived today in general: the technology from, or deriding from Project DIVA being used in Live shows: which is how the character Hatsune Miku is perceived outside of synthesized vocals used for catchy music, and fanart of the avatar. I know that’s a hot take, but that’s my opinion, I’m no Jrharbort, don’t shoot the messenger. Project DIVA is in fact emphatic to the entire brand image of Hatsune Miku & Piapro as a whole.



A direct quote by your friend Zac Wood (I.E. my takeaway)

This decision is EXEXtremely Future Tone-deaf; of course Project DIVA X released exclusively on PS4 & PS Vita in 2016 and wasn't making money back on investment! All While Project DIVA MegaMix; the Nintendo Switch Port of Project DIVA: Future Tone, the PS4 port of Project DIVA Arcade, a remake of the old 2009 PSP game with assets from throughout everything else in the otherwise PlayStation-only series, gets released, sells well to warrant both DLC-development, & a PC release. Not only do you let the offshoot-gatcha mobile rhythm game centering on a large cast of original characters become SEGA's live-service cash cow during a time were your live-show plans got shuttered, but to then announce that the main series made for home consoles will be put on ice, immediately AFTER the PR nightmare of a MIKUEXPO 2024 is such a blackeye on the brand, especially after self-publishing mediocre puzzle game knock-offs, and a game clearly geared towards young children, and making some wacked brand cross-promotion like My Little Pony, & Garfield alongside generic brand licensing; like costumes in live-service games like Ninjala & Fall Guys, and white toast brand deals like G-FUEL. (Project Voltage I will let slide for later) Seriously; What kind of logic is that!? This only reinforces the term: Hatsune Dark Age.