Every franchise has its share of loyal fans, and the Harvest Moon series is no exception. However, loyalty is never absolute. For example, when series developer Natsume announced that Harvest Moon: One World would be coming to the Nintendo Switch, it received a serious amount of backlash from the community.
Although some might mistake the Story of Seasons franchise as an unrelated entity, it is actually a re-titled Harvest Moon. When Natsume localized Marvelous Entertainment and Xseed Games' creations into English, it won the rights to the series' Western name. Although Natsume is trying to keep Harvest Moon going on its own, the fans have clearly sided with the original developers.
In response to Nintendo's original tweet about Harvest Moon: One World, the series' fans have come out en masse to denounce Natsume. Many Twitter users called Marvelous and Xseed the "real" and "true" developers of Harvest Moon. Others took the time to criticize the quality of Natsume's Harvest Moon games. Some even pointed out innovations that Marvelous and Xseed had made with its latest Story of Seasons game, such as introducing same-sex marriage. However, Natsume is not taking the community's revolt lightly. Twitter user Azarathed reported that the developer blocked him after he re-directed fans to Story of Seasons.
While these reactions might seem extreme, the community's loyalty to the original developers makes sense. Story of Seasons is basically Harvest Moon in all but name. Fans would naturally gravitate towards games that are more in line with their tastes. Those tastes and desires for satisfying gameplay allowed Story of Seasons to maintain its community, and allowed indie games like Stardew Valley to gain traction with the same audience.
Even though Marvelous and Xseed deserve the loyalty they have garnered so far, it seems that Natsume is doing its best to draw players to its games. With a new engine and improved graphics, perhaps the new Harvest Moon series will find its groove in One World. However, the success of each game is in the hands of the players in the end. Hopefully, the three developers all manage to create games that will excite their communities.
Harvest Moon: One World will be available sometime this year for Nintendo Switch.