As I’m sure you all already know, the recent tsunami/earthquake in Japan has been devastating. Thousands are confirmed dead with a much higher estimated death toll, and the damage nearby nuclear reactors have taken has caused several explosions, one happening just today. On top of that, there has said to be a high chance for another powerful earthquake to strike within the next few days. Needless to say, things look grim for Japan right now.
Japan based game companies are unsurprisingly having some problems in the wake of the disaster. Sega, Tecmo Koei, Konami, Sony, Nintendo, Namco Bandai, and Square Enix have all seen significant stock market decline, and many of these companies are rethinking or delaying some of their projects because of it. Sony has delayed the production of Motorstorm Apocalypse indefinitely, intent on seeing how the situation unfolds before making any moves on that title. They have also canceled Disaster Report 4, a game that was originally scheduled to be released this spring, likely because of its sensitive nature with regard to the recent tragedy.
There is some good news here too, however. For one thing, no one from Nintendo of Japan was injured in the earthquake, nor was there any structural damage to the company headquarters or any other offices. There are no scheduled delays for the company, which means that the non-Japan 3DS release will be on schedule. Even more heartening, Western game companies are looking for ways to provide aide to Japan. Zynga, for example, will be introducing new in-game items, the revenues for which will be donated to Save the Children. Furthermore, Sega owned studio Sports Interactive are planning on donating all the proceeds of the iOS sales of Football Manager 2011 to a disaster relief fund. Hopefully these donations will help speed recovery from this terrible disaster.
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