Two main Touhou games announced for Steam release!

[Gpop]

http://tohonetwork.doorblog.jp/archives/72952312.html

ZUN has just recently announced on stream that two of the main/canon games will be released on the Steam platform! The first game that will be released is 東方天空璋　～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons. The second game will be the upcoming touhou fighter, 東方憑依華　～ Antinomy of Common Flowers, in which he has also announced that a physical release will be released in Winter Comiket. The Steam release is planned for 2018.

Thank you NForza for the quick summary of the stream announcements on twitter!
https://twitter.com/NForza26/status/925015246942609408

[CyberAngel]

R.I.P. Touhou 1995-2017

It was a good doujin series.

[shockdude]

oh boy, that's a headline all right.

[RoamerB]

R.I.P. Touhou 1995-2017

It was a good doujin series.

Wow, way to kill the mood before it's even set. Can't you feel at least a little hype from this?

[BernkastelWitch]

This is a slight shocker since I remember ZUN a few years ago saying he is interested in Steam but was nervous due to its policies. Of course, I feel like Steam Greenlight was the big issue there and that's out of the way so that explains him changing his mind.


And to people who think this is a bad thing, it really isn't. There are many other games that went to Steam and nothing changed from them except for much easier access for fans(CAVE Shmups and Ikaruga being some related examples).

Honestly, I am a bit glad for this since it'll be easier to get to play the games legally and buy them without having to import them.

[Hope ♦ Metal]

Meanwhile DDC is all alone on Playism with only a fangame to keep it company. Did the thing with Playism not work out or something? On a side note: How much of a chance is there to get every official game on Steam (not counting PC98 I guess)? Because apparently ZUN doesn't want to go back to those old games or let other people tinker with them so it doesn't seem like there is much of a chance for that, but then again this whole thing proves that ZUN changing his mind happens often enough.

[Fluury]

R.I.P. Touhou 1995-2017

It was a good doujin series.

Are you serious? This is amazing news - not only will this make touhou a lot more accessable for people in the west, but itll also just generally come with a bunch of cool things like steam integration, backgrounds, badges - maybe even steam netplay for 15.5!

Is this some kind of hipster thing?

[the old guy]

R.I.P. Touhou 1995-2017

It was a good doujin series.

Remember when Playism ruined Touhou forever? Oh no, it didn't.

[Uruwi]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!! This is earth-shattering. ZUN turning to Steam, and with official games to boot?

Last time I checked, ZUN was opposing it.

[CyberAngel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wit

Check these out. They're pretty useful.

I just poked fun at the ranters that will inevitably spring up and call this the next downfall. But it also had another meaning. Touhou isn't some obscure doujin thing anymore. It's a full-blown worldwide-accessible commercial project now!

[RoamerB]

We know what sarcasm is and we realize that it's difficult to discern from genuine statements on the internet.

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Definitely excited and hope more comes out of it. I probably would buy the shooters myself on Steam eventually. Not so much interested in the fighters though.

Also hoping this potentially opens the door for fangame releases as well. Though I'm not really familiar with which ones are worth playing, so I would only really be interested in the Desunoya ones at the moment. Though obviously I would definitely look into them if they were allowed too.

[game2011]

So 15.5 will be coming out this year?

[AzyWng]

Can't help but wonder if this will ever happen to games like Kantai Collection...

But I suppose that'd be a matter for a different thread anyway.

[Gesh86]

I'm totally on board for this and will now wait for the Steam releases of these two rather than importing them.

I checked if they were already on the store as a preview, but nope. Would have honestly preordered them, but doing that so long in advance is reserved for AAAA games I guess  .

[Spotty Len]

All aboard the Gabe train.


(Thanks DracoGideon)

I don't see it changing that much for the series, considering most people interested in Touhou already are in the fandom, but it will definitely bring some new people, and we'll be able to support ZUN more easily now.

Probably no translation and no cards and stuff, but it's a start. And hopefully, good netcode for AoCF.

[game2011]

Can't help but wonder if this will ever happen to games like Kantai Collection...

But I suppose that'd be a matter for a different thread anyway.

Kancolle already has Vita and arcade releases, so I think they're way ahead of Touhou in this sort of thing.

[Failure McFailFace]

wait what

so how long until the other games are on steam then

[N-Forza]

Depends on how well HSiFS takes.

The failure of DDC on Playism is almost certainly related to the lack of a translation, but at least with Steam, it's possible he can add support for easily adding fan patches through Steam Workshop, so that could help quite a bit.

[nyttyn]

I'd temper any expectations of seeing Steam Workshop support, much less Emoticons, Cards, or Achievements until further announcements are made. After the Playsim release it's safer to assume this will be a barebones, game only release - it's possible he learned a lesson, but right now there's no way to know that for certain.

I'll get beyond hyped if he actually does HSiFS the support it deserves but until then I'd reccomend anyone getting their hopes up - we'll know for certain soon enough, after-all.

No idea about ACoF since TasoFro will probably be handling that and they're, frankly speaking, a wild card, to the point where...I, uh, have to wonder if we might wind up with a situation where HSiFS makes it way over here but ACoF does not and is relegated to Japan-steam only.

[KaiserKnuckle]

I'd temper any expectations of seeing Steam Workshop support, much less Emoticons, Cards, or Achievements until further announcements are made. After the Playsim release it's safer to assume this will be a barebones, game only release - it's possible he learned a lesson, but right now there's no way to know that for certain.

I'll get beyond hyped if he actually does HSiFS the support it deserves but until then I'd reccomend anyone getting their hopes up - we'll know for certain soon enough, after-all.

Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised to see much achievement support when it comes to the game, since I know that ISC having achievements was due to the game's structure, and ULiL only put in achievements due to the submission requirement for PS4 games. On the Steam side, games like Dustforce and Undertale also only begrudgingly put in one single achievement in due to Steam's own submission guidelines requiring them (don't quote me on this, though).

...but at least with Steam, it's possible he can add support for easily adding fan patches through Steam Workshop, so that could help quite a bit.

The thought of Workshop support for Touhou games would be rather interesting; I can see translations and misc. graphics mods showing up there, but I do wonder if ZUN would have interest in doing that.

[N-Forza]

Steam doesn't require achievements, but Sony does.

[teefa85]

Well...looks like I know what I'll be buying on Steam in the coming months!  Yeah!  I'm always happy to make supporting ZUN's work easier since importing usually relies on me waiting for a time until I have a larger order.

[MrNoobomnenie]

Check these out. They're pretty useful.

In case of characterising your comment THIS is actually much more useful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

[the old guy]

I just poked fun at the ranters that will inevitably spring up and call this the next downfall. But it also had another meaning. Touhou isn't some obscure doujin thing anymore. It's a full-blown worldwide-accessible commercial project now!

You've made that "joke" before, and no one found it funny then. We still don't find it funny now. Along with your history of acting out at people for no reason, its becoming really hard to tell when your jokes are jokes. Ether you need to work on your ability to avoid Poe's Law, or you were not joking.

[Lt Colonel Summers]

Please, guys, let's not have your arguements here unless you specifically want the mods to lock this thread.

[CyberAngel]

Oh, I have nothing against this development. I know I can trust ZUN enough not to ruin his own games.

But I've been around here for long enough. Not my fault everyone cares so little that they can't tell whether I'm likely to say something like this seriously or not. Plus I hope that local fools lashing out now (as expected) will discourage the actual naysayers.

[RegalStar]

Pls no region lock

[Tengukami]

I think as a matter of general courtesy it's a good idea to not deliberately bait people. Find it hard to believe that even needs saying.

On the subject of this news: I can't remember how many times I've heard people declare that Touhou has finally gone mainstream thanks to [X] happening, for good or ill. In my own anecdotal experience, mentioning the series in any number of mainstream vidya fan groups I'm in almost always invokes either "literally who?" or vague recollections of having heard of the game. Still, Touhou is clearly occupying some vague area between doujin and something closer to mainstream; this one guy is still doing the production himself, but Steam is of course not the same as a table at Comiket.

[not ZUNs wife]

I look forward to this.

Come to think of it, Hidden Star in Four Seasons is a very representative Touhou game, with its light-hearted tone and variety of gameplay.