SNK Playmore is returning to its roots as a game studio after abandoning it for six years.
The last major SNK Playmore title was King Of Fighters XIII which was released in 2010; after which they switched their focus to creating Japanese pinball "pachinko" machines. The company intended to stay that way forever, but recent change in pachinko regulations forced them to rethink their decision.
During the past 5 years SNK re-released a number of its games on modern platforms. When the new regulations took effect, the company found that it needed to make drastic changes to continue. At that point, the ongoing revenues from old game ports was enough to convince the management that it was better to return to its roots.
"Even as of now, we're better known as a game company than a pachislot company," SNK gaming division boss Yutaka Noguchi told Famitsu. "People still talk about us (as a game company) when we say our name."
To smooth the transition, SNK hired back a number of veteran developers who had left earlier and reallocated personnel from the pachinko department to the game division.
