This article is an opinion piece written by Shawn Long and does not necessarily reflect the thoughts of the entire Nintendo Enthusiast staff.
One of the games I was really looking forward to at E3 was Devil’s Third. After a surprise showing at E3 2014, I was looking forward to the game being a center piece, and the big “Mature” title that Nintendo showcased, much like they did with Bayonetta 2 in 2014. Alas, we saw literally nothing at E3 2015 for Devil’s Third, and many people began to question what was going on with the game. The game has a release date of August in every part of the world except for North America. So what the hell is going on with Devil’s Third in in this part of the world?
Let’s start out with facts. Aside from not being at E3 2015, there has been some strange happenings with the game on the eShop. The game has been removed from the “Future Releases” section, which literally makes no sense, as the game is a future release. Also, a member of Nintendo of America stated that they “didn’t have any info on Devil’s Third“. Now, those two things could be circumstantial, but is there more to the story?
Why, yes. Yes there is. 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.
You may think to yourself “Well that doesn’t make sense, Nintendo is publishing the game in other regions!” You have to remember though: Nintendo is not necessarily a unified company. Nintendo of America, Japan, and Europe all operate differently and all have games that don’t see releases in other sections of the world. Some examples? Disaster: Day of Crisis on the Wii. Nintendo of America never brought that game over, with Reggie stating “he doesn’t think Disaster is a $50 game”. Then we also had the Pandora’s Tower and The Last Story, which were both published by XSeed in North America for the Wii, while Nintendo of Japan and Europe published the games in their respective regions.
Tomonobu Itagaki was at E3, though you wouldn’t have known that since his game wasn’t shown off. If you follow his Facebook page, the usually outspoken Itagaki has been mum on the game since E3, only offering a drunken cryptic sentence here or there about Devil’s Third. So what does all this mean for Devil’s Third coming to North America?
There are a few theories we can devise from this whole matter as to what the fate of Devil’s Third is in North America. I think we will see one of three outcomes for the game in the NA based on the information we have been provided:
- The game simply will not be released in North America
- The game will be released in North America, but published by another company at a later date, thus hurting momentum of the game.
- The game will be a GameStop exclusive with the same terms of #2, thus hurting sales of the game.
The last one may surprise you, but I also have information on that. While some retailers list Devil’s Third on their websites, GameStop has been actively promoting the game, more-so than anyone else. Speaking with a GameStop manager that wanted to remain anonymous, he told me that the game is constantly featured on GameStop TV (their in-store advertising show) and that his store even has some Devil’s Third banners up. GameStop is the only place really pushing this game, and we have seen a high-tier Nintendo game become a GameStop exclusive before through Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii.
Honestly, I hope I’m wrong about all of this. I hope that the game is fine, and we will see an August release along with the rest of the world, because even if the game has major issues, the Wii U needs all the games it can get. With the evidence piling up though, I don’t think we will see Devil’s Third in August, or in 2015 at all; and if we do, Nintendo certainly isn’t in charge. How do you see the Devil’s Third saga ending up in North America? Let me know in the comments below.
http://nintendoenthu...i-can-prove-it/
