If Touhou was purchased by another company...

[NekoNekoRex]

I don't see a lot of major game companies investing into touhou. There are very few choices.

Nintendo was brought up, but I don't see it happening. Nintendo has a wide range of games, but none of them are particularly japan-o-centric. Pretty much all of Nintendo's IPs are very conservative as far as nationality goes, perhaps Pokemon is the one you'd associate the most with Japan considering the anime behind it. Touhou is very much a widget series, it doesn't fit Big N's style.

NIS makes very widget games, but they primarially make only RPGs. Also, they only really have original IPs, so I don't see them taking Touhou

Atlus sounds like a good choice at first, until you realize they primarily publish games, not develop them. Even if Atlus acquired it, they would only really license it to another studio to develop.

If we're only talking large game companies, my bet goes on SEGA or Square Enix. Both are huge and not afraid to pander only to Japanese audiences with some of their studios.  Of course, it'd still be Japan only, and the gameplay would probably be radically altered, but it would work. SE in particular has a business model that goes hand in hand with the content Touhou puts out. Offical music CDs, books, anime, games, merchandise, Square Enix loves to go all out with their products and sell it in every possible manner.


...But actually, I think Touhou is more likely to be picked up by an anime studio. The games are super niche, but the fleshed-out characters and world design would make for a killer app in the animation industry. A Touhou anime would finally make the series mainstream, and the game side of the equation would easily either be dropped, retooled, or licensed out to a smaller company, the latter most option most likely to spawn more games very much still in style with how ZUN makes it. Maybe they'd just give the license to Tasofro to just make more Touhou games.

[game2011]

I don't see a lot of major game companies investing into touhou. There are very few choices.

Nintendo was brought up, but I don't see it happening. Nintendo has a wide range of games, but none of them are particularly japan-o-centric. Pretty much all of Nintendo's IPs are very conservative as far as nationality goes, perhaps Pokemon is the one you'd associate the most with Japan considering the anime behind it. Touhou is very much a widget series, it doesn't fit Big N's style.

Shin Onigashima and The Mysterious Murasame Castle are a few of their Japan-centric games.

[NekoNekoRex]

Shin Onigashima and The Mysterious Murasame Castle are a few of their Japan-centric games.

Those are really old examples to be using, and Nintendo hasn't done anything with them except reference they exist since they were released and port them over a couple times, like Nintendo does with absolutely everything.

[Eilaris]

S-E buying it out would be ironic, considering S-E owns Taito these days IIRC.

[Hrusa]

I would see the main problem being that more cash and attention to detail could actually spoil the nice ambiguity of the plot and characters, because right now there is a lot of blank spots for us to fill in to create fanon. I believe that this is one of the reasons why the Touhou fan-base is so creative. We are given the room to speculate and imagine, expanding on the universally accepted base product.

This goes both for designs and story. As much as many people like to hate ZUN's artwork I personally think that guy has really good taste when it comes to patterns and general outfit design. As much as I like the style of Nintendo's games for instance, I think introducing different approaches to cannon Touhou would most likely kill it.

[Tsuken Yasashi]

NOPE!! I will stop supporting it if it goes under Ubisoft, Microsoft, or EA.  Imagine what they could do to chop the Touhou Series all down until it was nothing but a hollow shell...

[NekoNekoRex]

I think it's a safe bet that none of those three companies will have any interest whatsoever in a widget series like Touhou whose only appeal are to Japanese people and associated culture fanatics.

[Midnight_Sparky]

If Touhou ever gets braught out by Microsoft i will scream untill Yukari tells me to shut up becasue im disturbing her sleeping :I ether that or i will be like "nope" and just die

[AzureAmulet]

Well IF Nintendo bought Touhou, they would take different approaches to every new installment of games. They would try and think up of unique mechanics that players would find fun. Story would be the last thing on their minds. Hey, we would finally get to see Reimu in Smash. xD

However, I do not see Nintendo being interested. Also it doesn't fit Nintendo's style imo.

IF Microsoft bought it (Which is unlikely). They would make it ultra realistic with long, cinematic cutscenes, remove most of the characters, change their designs, make it much more western, have a long movie story, and drastically change the mechanics... In other words, it wouldn't be Touhou anymore, only in name.

I personally think NIS would be Touhou's best bet. They share the same theme of demons, monsters etc, and its also an anime style too. They would probably change the game into a SRPG style, and keep the same amount of stages but as 8 chapters per game. They would also redesign some of the characters, and not have Reimu as the protagonist all the time. Also have an added and longer story.

We would see Touhou characters in HD, and have it ported to the PSP.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

One company I see possible odds on is Nicalis, given their history of obtaining the rights to original doujin games and remaking/rereleasing them.

[shoryusatsu999]

I could see a couple of game companies nabbing a hypothetical license to the Touhou Project:

• Atlus: Atlus is already known for dealing in super-hard Japan-centric games, so Touhou would be no stranger to them. Heck, the MegaTen franchise already deals with similar themes of demons and humans coexisting. Atlus would probably turn the series into a bunch of RPGs instead of a bunch of bullet hell shmups, but I think they'd stay true to the ZUN era in terms of universe and story.
• Degica: This one's a real longshot, but Degica's all about bringing otherwise obscure Japanese games to the masses, including bullet hell STGs like Crimzon Clover and Eschatos. Touhou would be right at home with Degica. I also feel that Degica needs a series to call its own in order for it to get bigger and better, and Touhou would be one hell of a first-party franchise to get started with. This would probably be the company most likely to keep Touhou as a bullet hell shmup series, to boot.
• Platinum Games: If Touhou needs to evolve into a big budget series, I think Platinum would be the best home for it. They already have a ton of cult classics in their catalogue, but I don't think they've done very well in Japan. The sheer marketing power Touhou would definitely be something that would give them a leg up in their home country. Also, would it really hurt to see Touhou become a stylish action series in the vein of Devil May Cry and Bayonetta?

If we're opening this up to anime studios as well, I think that Studio Trigger would be Touhou's best bet. They're unafraid to do quirky stuff and already have experience with work on video games. They'd probably expand on the story, though, which could hurt the fanon aspect of the series. The games would probably be licensed or killed off, too.

[Abraham Lincoln]

Oh, and they'd probably also add more male characters in the game.

If this happens, gentlemen, the end of humanity is upon us.

[AzureAmulet]

If this happens, gentlemen, the end of humanity is upon us.

I wouldn't see what the big fuss would be about. Touhou already had a male boss (Or mid-boss I think?) character in PC98.

As long as they keep the cast majority of girls, adding two or three males as bosses wouldn't hurt.

[Abraham Lincoln]

I wouldn't see what the big fuss would be about. Touhou already had a male boss (Or mid-boss I think?) character in PC98.

As long as they keep the cast majority of girls, adding two or three males as bosses wouldn't hurt.

If they're going to add male characters, they either have to be 1) non-humanoid, like Unzan, 2) genderswapped, like Miko, 3) appearing only out of games, like Rinnosuke or 4) part of a generally female character, like Shingyoku.

Humanoid male Touhou characters in games are going to hurt much more than you think they will. Or so says my inner feminazi. BV

[Sssgth]

Or so says my inner feminazi. BV

SJWs kongfirmed

[Phantasmal]

I'd personally like to see it picked up by Nintendo (IF IT WERE TO HAPPEN).
But, I'd like to see it released on not only WiiU, N3DS, but also PC. That's a must.

Plus, this increases the chance of Reimu in Smash Bros. Does anyone even comprehend how awesome that would be? Smashes, dashes, tilts, and jabs: All gohei related, except for Up and Down Smashes. Up Smash would be the backflip-kick thing from the fighters.(Sorry I'm bad with attack names.) Down Smash would be Reimu floating a tiny, tiny bit off the ground, and spinning her legs in a circular motion to launch opponents in directions away from her. (Think Shulk's Down Smash.) Neutral B =  Homing Amulet, just like in the fighting games. Side B = Kinda like Shiek Neutral B, it would be Persuasion Needle. No charge required. Up B = Weightlessness(I've heard that's what Reimu's flying ability is actually called.) She'd fly in the set direction, kind of like Pit, but slower and more controllable. Down B = That thing from the fighting games, don't remember what it was called. The one where the yellow-tower thing rises up. If it hits the opponent directly in the middle of the top of the tower, it would have an upside-down meteor effect, in which the opponent would be launched up.  Final Smash = Fantasy Heaven. Mainly damage dealing, but has a knockback power of about Mario's down-smash at the end "burst" thing, common in Smash Bros.

HOLY FUCK WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO

[HalfGrand]

Touhou...

PRESENTED BY "CAVE"

Not much would change really.

...EXCEPT MORE BULLETS!!!  :getdown:

[shoryusatsu999]

Touhou...

PRESENTED BY "CAVE"

Not much would change really.

...EXCEPT MORE BULLETS!!!  :getdown:

That's assuming they start making good and original STGs again instead of porting what they've already made and making games for phones and tablets. Of course, the recent news about a possible Kickstarter could change all that, but as of right now, I really don't think CAVE would make the best use of the Touhou IP.