Like many games developed by small Japanese studios,Vanillaware‘sMuramasa: The Demon Bladehas something of a shaky history. Questions about whether or not it would be imported, and by whom, created quite the kerfuffle among Western hopefuls. It only got worse when the game played publisher musical chairs a few months ago, bouncing fromXseedtoIgnition Entertainment, who nowhave the rightsto publish the game in North America.
Given the amount of hype and positive pressMuramasahas been getting (Burch ‘n Davis’ho-hum E3 impressionsnotwithstanding), Xseed ought to be a little bummed about dropping the title. However, it seems that, quite the contrary, losingMuramasaallowed them to publish other Japanese titles in the States.
“As much as it hurts to loseMuramasathat does open us up to give more resources to other titles. That gave us a little more energy to focus on securingFragileand other titles as well,” explained Ken Berry (Director of Publishing at Xseed), speaking with SiliconEra at E3. “In the end when it comes down to the consumer: they are still going to playMuramasa. It’s still going to come to North America. We’ve gone out and gotten a title likeFragile,which I doubt any other publisher other than Namco Bandai USA themselves could have licensed for the US.”
Berry’s altruism aside,Fragilehas been gettinga fair share of positive press in its own right, and I’m sure that Xseed will enjoy the profits made when they distributeGungho‘sRagnarok Online DSin the United States — it’s got abuilt-in audience of 3.14 million.
[ViaSiliconEra]
