The strange situation surrounding Devil’s Third in North America
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 15 Comments
A few weeks ago, the status of Devil’s Third in North America was entirely unclear. Nintendo of Europe and Japan had both announced a late August release date for the game, but there hadn’t been a peep about what was happening in North America.
Rumors eventually surfaced that Nintendo had dropped Devil’s Third in North America, though another publisher could step in. That was followed up by a recent report from Siliconera (a site with a reliable track record) indicating that a separate company had indeed picked up the title, and there were strong signs that the mystery publisher was none other than XSEED – a partner Nintendo had worked with for the launches of The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower in the states.
We mentioned that Siliconera had heard about Nintendo not handling Devil’s Third in North America. This is something that Nintendo Enthusiast previously reported on previously as well, in which they wrote:
At E3, we spoke with a very high level figure in Nintendo of America about Devil’s Third, who will remain anonymous. Their quote on the matter? “We aren’t handling that game”. At first, I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but the more I thought about it, the more damning it felt. In simple terms, it appears that Nintendo of America will NOT be publishing the game here.
Siliconera and Nintendo Enthusiast weren’t the only outlets that had received similar information. We’re also aware of a writer from a well-known gaming website who was also under the same impression regarding the fate of Devil’s Third in North America.
Well before the drama surrounding the game escalated, one person who obtained knowledge about the situation – who wishes to remain anonymous – reached out to a top developer at Nintendo. This developer works with Nintendo of America on a daily basis, and said that the company wouldn’t be publishing Devil’s Third in North America. He compared it to a potential Disaster: Day of Crisis situation. That Wii game did release in Europe and Japan, but never made its way to North America.
It did truly seem as though Nintendo wouldn’t be in charge of Devil’s Third in North America, and there were plenty of signs that pointed in this direction. It was strange, then, that Nintendo responded to the speculation – something the company rarely does – this past weekend and stated that they are “excited to bring the game to Wii U and will have more to share soon.” So what happened?
We’ve heard that concerns about the quality of Devil’s Third caused Nintendo to initially drop the game in North America. While it was initially thought that the title had moved to XSEED, things supposedly changed following backlash from gamers. Nintendo had been receiving a great deal of flack when rumors about the company not distributing Devil’s Third in North American began to pick up steam. Because of what transpired, Nintendo is now looking into publishing and backing Devil’s Third once again.
I can’t say that I know for certain what is happening inside Nintendo. However, all of the information that’s out there – as well as what I’ve heard personally – suggests that the original plan was to have XSEED handle Devil’s Third in North America. In the end, perhaps it doesn’t matter as we now have absolute confirmation that Devil’s Third will be launching in all major territories.
More: Devil's Third, top, Valhalla Game Studios
Devil’s Third screenshots
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii U | 24 Comments
A few new screenshots from Devil’s Third have appeared online, and they’re all in the gallery below. I’m not entirely sure where they’ve come from, but we’ve heard talk of media members in Europe getting their hands on the game. The images likely come from that build.
Thanks to Zon2 for the tip.
NOA recognizes fan interest in Devil’s Third, will have news soon
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 73 Comments
Nintendo of America has finally shared an update regarding Devil’s Third in North America, though the message was brief.
On the NOA Twitter account, the company acknowledged fan interest in the title. Nintendo also said that they’ll be sharing more news soon, and “are excited to bring the game to Wii U”. That comment may suggest that Nintendo is still handling publishing duties in North America.
Here’s the official message:
We know you are eager to hear more about Devil’s Third. We are excited to bring the game to Wii U and will have more to share soon.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 11, 2015
I’m honestly surprised that Nintendo even commented on the situation at all. We’ll have to see how everything plays out!
Rumor: Another publisher picks up Devil’s Third for North American release
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Rumors | 24 Comments
Word on the street is that Nintendo will not be publishing Devil’s Third in North America, unlike Europe and Japan. However, Siliconera claims that another company has already picked up the game for release in the states.
The site states in a new report, “Siliconera has learned Devil’s Third will be released here by a publisher Siliconera readers are quite familiar with.”
I’d guess that XSEED will be handling Devil’s Third in North America. I could be wrong though!
More: Devil's Third, top, Valhalla Game Studios
Rumor: Nintendo not publishing Devil’s Third in North America
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 206 Comments
Nintendo of America has been noticeably quiet regarding the release of Devil’s Third in North America. Whereas it’s already been dated for August in both Europe and Japan, there hasn’t been a peep about its arrival in the states.
Liam Robertson, who has a fantastic track record of digging up information about cancelled projects as well as games that are still in the works, reports in a new video today that Nintendo won’t be publishing Devil’s Third in North America. It’d be up for Valhalla Game Studios to find a new company to handle its distribution in order for a release to happen.
More: Devil's Third, top, Valhalla Game Studios
Itagaki gives some hope for Devil’s Third in North America
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 7 Comments
Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of Devil’s Third, has given some hope that the game will see a release in North America.
In a message posted to his personal Facebook page, Itagaki writes:
I will release my Devil’s Third in North/South America!
My will.
English isn’t Itagaki’s native language, so don’t worry too much about how the above message was phrased. The takeaway here is that Itagaki seems to give hope that Devil’s Third will end up seeing a stateside release.
There have been some concerns as of late that Devil’s Third won’t launch in North America. While Nintendo recently announced that the game would be coming to Europe and Japan in August, no such confirmation has come in for North America. Devil’s Third was not at all present at E3 either.
Nintendo of America keeps quiet about Devil’s Third at E3
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 24 Comments
Update: I’m not too sure that this is really an indication of anything, but the game has apparently been pulled from the “future releases” section of the Wii U eShop. Make of that what you will!
Devil’s Third was recently dated for August in both Japan and Europe. In North America, however, Nintendo has been keeping quiet. That continued into E3 2015, where Nintendo of America’s senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta had nothing to say about it.
When asked about the status of Devil’s Third last week, Scibetta only noted: “I don’t have anything for you on Devil’s Third. Sorry.”
No one seems to have a clear idea about what’s going on with Devil’s Third in North America. Let’s just hope that we hear something soon.
European Devil’s Third boxart
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Wii U | 7 Comments
More: boxart, Devil's Third, Europe, Valhalla Game Studios
Tons of Devil’s Third screenshots/art
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii U | 34 Comments
A massive amount of screenshots/art have come in for Devil’s Third. Give the gallery below a look for all of the latest images.
GameFly listing has August 28 release date for Devil’s Third in North America
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 7 Comments
Last night, Nintendo revealed that Devil’s Third is heading to Japan on August 4. That was followed by a release date announcement of August 28 for Europe. North America is now the only piece of the puzzle that’s missing.
If GameFly is to be believed, Devil’s Third is also coming to North America on August 28. We’ll need an confirmation from Nintendo before we can take this out of rumor territory, but the one thing I can say is that this retailer has proven accurate in the past. In any case, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see official news during E3 next week.
