Level-5 has virtually halted operations in North America
Ni No Kuni and Yo-Kai Watch developer Level-5 appears to have all-but-shuttered its North American operations.According…
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Thread title is slightly confusing and sort of burying the lede here when the news is that they're pretty close to shutting down.
Man, this hurts. Ni no Kuni is one of my favorite games of all time, and while the sequel was nowhere as good, I would've loved to see them do more with the IP. I know there's an MMO coming out but blech.
This sucks. This also means Layton's dead, but that's more of a "we been knew" situation.
This sucks. This also means Layton's dead, but that's more of a "we been knew" situation.
They started an entire North American dev wing like...ten years ago, I think? I don't think anything ever came of it, as is pretty much custom with these "Japanese mega-studio decides to build a Western team" initiatives.
Ni No Kuni 3 is probably happening. 2 still sold very well - much better than anything else they've put out since then.
It'll be annoying if Yo-kai Watch 4 never makes it outside of Japan. I liked it way more than the other mainline games, and it had a chance of capturing a new audience since it moved to ARPG combat.
Given how overall "not great" the sales of their games in NA have been, coupled with many people leaving the office saying that working there is horrible, this is...not surprising.
I always found it weird how Layton's Mystery Journey on the Switch, a game that was a port of something that already localized, took over a year to come over here.
Although not like Level-5 in Japan looks like it's doing any better, almost feels like Megaton Musashi is their sort of "go big or go home" attempt at a multimedia franchise. Can't imagine what will happen if that ends up failing.
I always found it weird how Layton's Mystery Journey on the Switch, a game that was a port of something that already localized, took over a year to come over here.
Although not like Level-5 in Japan looks like it's doing any better, almost feels like Megaton Musashi is their sort of "go big or go home" attempt at a multimedia franchise. Can't imagine what will happen if that ends up failing.
Hm, that's a damn shame, but also pretty much expected. I think they wanted to grow big too soon, and with the lack of proper success in some cases stuff like this happens unfortunately.
I think the Level-5 heads need to take a step back and re-focus. And yeah, as PlanetSmasher said, a Japanese developer/publisher starting a Western team usually falls by the wayside somehow. Probably the difference in culture.
I think the Level-5 heads need to take a step back and re-focus. And yeah, as PlanetSmasher said, a Japanese developer/publisher starting a Western team usually falls by the wayside somehow. Probably the difference in culture.
I do wonder what would happen if Level 5 International does end up shutting down?
Would their games just end up being localized by Nintendo?
Would their games just end up being localized by Nintendo?
Level 5 has become a monkey paw studio tbh. I still like Layton and NNK a fair bit but the recent output on those was disappointing and the immediate future seems like stuff I don't want.
Also while I still want Dark Cloud 3 I kind of don't want it done by Level 5 anymore.
Also while I still want Dark Cloud 3 I kind of don't want it done by Level 5 anymore.
Iunno, it feels like they've already given up on Megaton. Wonder how the GAAS Yo-kai Watch game is doing for them.
Megaton feels like the kind of franchise that is going to have to rely on the game more than the anime in order to appeal to people first. Doesn't help they already had a mecha multimedia franchise already with Little Battlers Experience
And not sure if you're referring to the mobage with the GAAS game, but still, according to App Annie, none of them are doing any good!
What do you mean given up on Megaton? They had a bunch of stuff for it at TGS
Man, those games were actually really cute and fun. Shame they didn't do better over here, but even YW3 came out at a time when many people had already abandoned the 3DS.
Can't be emphasized enough. Inazuma Eleven, classic Layton, Dark Cloud, NNK, and Yokai are all among some of my favorite games. Sad to see them fall so far from grace.
Nah, I'm talking about Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y. It came out on Switch digitally in August, and will come out on PS4 later this month.
The way they initially talked about Megaton and the way they re-revealed and presented it at TGS makes it feel like it's been heavily deprioritised imo. It's now a mostly multiplayer thing with uncharacteristically cheap talking head cutscenes.
Yo-Kai Watch would have had the staying power if they handled it better overseas. Hard to make a phenomenon nowadays when it doesn't have a worldwide reach. Honestly Nintendo was probably the worst choice to partner with in that regard. The Pokémon comparisons are silly (outside of "it has a bunch of monsters") but they didn't do much to dispel them, and ultimately why would they compete with themselves when that's the perception?
I do wish them the best but they've messed up so many times it's hard to see a light at the end of their tunnel. Hopefully Ni no Kuni 3 has the budget and the direction of the first game again.
I do wish them the best but they've messed up so many times it's hard to see a light at the end of their tunnel. Hopefully Ni no Kuni 3 has the budget and the direction of the first game again.
Hino has been making bad decision after bad decision for a while now. Fuck's sake they bought Comcept! Now I just wonder for how long L5 will last before some huge corporation buys them.
Ah, that one, thanks.
Yeah, looking at social media engagement numbers for that one given hashtags and the official page interactions, I would also have to imagine...not great lol.
I remember when they opened a big office in LA quite a while back. Don't think it lasted long before they just go a smaller space in an office building.
i only know them for ni no kuni games and yeah the 2nd one was not well received at all. And I'm also in the camp that I didn't know they had US offices
Sucks for people that'll lose their jobs if they go under in NA or even JP, but I can't say I fully enjoyed even a single game they ever made on their own.
I used to dance to the Yokai Watch theme with my students, around the time the 2nd game released. It was wild!
Most kids nowadays respond with: "uhh .. what is a 'Yokay Witch' ??"
OP
OP
It went really well with SEGA when they expanded SEGA Europe and started acquiring studios, it's all about having a clear vision and make products that people want.
I don't know what i missed but from the review scores, the 2nd one is doing pretty well. If you meant Yokai Watch 2 then my bad :P
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They were not involved with the DS remakes whatsoever, nor were they actually responsible for the game design part of DQ8/9.
We all saw this coming but it's still really sad. They've made some fantastic games but always seemed mismanaged and were never able to keep their franchises going steadily in the West
Buy Yo-kai Watch 2
Buy Yo-kai Watch 2
This doesn't strike me as being particularly surprising, but keep in mind that they have abnormally long localization efforts across the board, so something that was announced for western localization already like Yokai Watch 4 would only be in the midst of development support. In any event, this is definitely not a good sign.
