GDC: Viva Viva Pinata! Rare continues to support its quirky franchise.

Viva Pi?ata fans rejoice: Rare plans on supporting the franchise for a few more years. But after that, who knows?

By Eugene Huang

Although worldwide sales of Viva Pinata did not exactly live up to what Rare had been hoping for, the development studio will still back the franchise for another few years at least, according to a report from GamesIndustry.biz. Rare head of production Lee Schuneman stated that the family-targeted game will most likely see a sequel or a spin-off in the near future.

"We're pleased with the overall support that it's got and there's much more to come within that franchise," he said.

But although it had been strongly hyped to be the foot-in-the-door Microsoft needed to establish a presence in the family-oriented market, sales of the game were not in proportion with the critical success it received.

Still, Schuneman claims that the company still believes in the franchise. And with the introduction of the Viva Pinata animated series in the North American market, as well as its entry into European television this week, interest in the game could surge once again.

"The TV show has been doing well in North America and it's got pretty good figures," he continued. "It launched in the UK this week on Nicktoons and it's due in the rest of Europe later this year. It's a two or three year push, and if after that it's a terrible failure then we'll say fair enough."

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