Why did 'Harvest Moon' Change its Name to 'Story of Seasons'
Published Sept. 14 2022, 3:22 p.m. ET
The name Harvest Moon is synonymous with the classic farm simulator developed by Marvelous Inc and published by Natsume, but with the original series changing its name to Story of Seasons and the title Harvest Moon appearing on a different series of games is sure to leave fans asking what's happening.
Harvest Moon, now Story of Seasons, is a classic farming sim that has its roots all the way back on the SNES developed by Marvelous Inc and published by Natsume. A typical Harvest Moon game will have players working on their farm to grow crops and raise animals while also building social bonds with the towns people around said farm.
With more than twenty games in the official Harvest Moon, now Story of Seasons, series it's safe to say the series is a mainstay in the farming simulator genre. However, in the last ten years a split between the developer and publisher of the pre-2013 Harvest Moon games has resulted in a series that still uses the Harvest Moon name alongside the actual/original Harvest Moon series now titled Story of Seasons.
Why 'Harvest Moon' is now 'Story of Seasons.'
Most of the confusion around Harvest Moon and now Story of Seasons is the rights to the game's name in English speaking markets. The original Harvest Moon series was developed by Marvelous Inc in Japan and is in fact not known as Harvest Moon in it's country of development but rather Ranch Story.
The name Harvest Moon comes from the series' Japanese developers former English publishing partner and translator Natsume. Natsume published Ranch Story in English speaking markets under the name Harvest Moon until 2013 when Marvelous Inc split with their long term English publisher and started localizing and publishing through XSeed now under the title Story of Seasons.
What are the games currently using the Harvest Moon name
Although Marvelous Inc is still devolving games in the Harvest Moon / Ranch Story series under the name Story of Seasons, Natsume still owns the right to the name Harvest Moon and has been developing games under that title since 2013.
Though the two game series have had the same name at various points in their series development and share some characteristics, fans of the original Harvest Moon / Ranch Story / Story of Seasons series have been cold on Natsume's current Harvest Moon series since so far the games have been of a lower quality than their namesake due to primarily being developed for mobile gaming but then ported directly to the Nintendo Switch.
