Level-5 on the wait for Yo-kai Watch in the west, hoping its uniqueness will lead to overseas success

Yo-kai Watch originally came to Japan in 2013. However, it wasn’t until last year that the franchise appeared in North America.

In an interview with USgamer, Hino talked about the wait for Yo-kai Watch in the west, telling the site:

“In Japan, Level-5 is a known company and we have a good relationship with various companies. But here in the west, it takes time to actually build a relationship with some of the big companies. Since Level-5 isn’t just known for just its name, we have had to build up a level of trust, which we see as one of our biggest challenges.

We realized that our company was finally mature enough to set up a company here. So we think that was one of the factors.”

Hino also touched on the Japanese-esque nature of Yo-kai Watch. Rather than localizing the IP heavily, Level-5 stayed true to the nature of the series.

According to Hino:

“The previous titles Level-5 has worked on have frequently had Japanese cultural elements. But it seems like the setting was perceived of being a part of a fantasy, allowing it to be perceived as original more than Japanese. That was how we were successful in the west previously. So when we launched in the U.S., we decided that was what we wanted to do rather than run a heavy localization.”

Going further into the topic of Yo-kai Watch’s Japanese origins, Hino discussed how he hopes that its originality will lead to success overseas.

“I feel like the western developers have maybe taken our place. As a Japanese game creator, I do feel a responsibility for Japanese gaming to take that place back.

The entire game is something that no one [in the U.S.] can create. It’s unique to the market, which is a big differentiation. People perceive this as a fantasy that they’ve never seen before,and we think we do have a good position for the audience to perceive a unique and attractive game series.”