All Articles: Devil’s Third

It looks like THQ was unable to find a buyer for Devil’s Third, the first game developed by Tomonobu Itagaki since he left Team Ninja.

But the troubled publisher has still parted ways with the troubled game by handing the publishing rights to Devil’s Third back to Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios.

A spokesman for the company told Eurogamer: “THQ confirms that the company will not be publishing Devil’s Third. All of the game’s IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team.”

Devil’s Third was previously scheduled to be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in early 2013, but without a publisher, it’s unlikely it’ll make that date.

Tomonobu Itagaki made a name for himself many years ago at Tecmo’s Team Ninja by creating the Dead or Alive series. He was also responsible for resurrecting the Ninja Gaiden series and being an outspoken critic of the industry. Since leaving the developer in 2008, Itagaki has started Valhalla Game Studios with several former Team Ninja teammates, as well as begun work on Devil’s Third, which made a big splash at E3 2010.

THQ happily snapped up the publishing rights to Devil’s Third back then, but now the cash-strapped company is looking to unload the game due to development difficulties. According to THQ CEO Brian Farrell, the third-party developer who was creating the game engine for Valhalla Game Studios has closed down:

“Two ‘unforeseen’ events reduced Devil’s Third’s profitability. The company Valhalla was using for the engine went out of business, so we had to assist Itagaki-san and the team with a new engine. It took a fair amount of time and cost a fair amount of money. There has also been a substantial appreciation of the yen against the dollar.”

Who knows, maybe Itagaki’s next creation will end up at Tecmo Koei. Wouldn’t that be wild?

[Source: Destructoid]

Even though his game wasn’t playable during last week’s E3 Expo, Tomonobu Itagaki is still hard at work on his first post-Team Ninja game, Devil’s Third. Published by THQ, the game was originally targeting a 2012 release date, but Itagaki revealed that early 2013 is a much more realistic release date.

The developer also stated that his team at Valhalla Game Studios and THQ wants to bring the PS3 and Xbox 360 title to the Wii U as well. Nothing is ready to be announced yet, but the two companies are “actively looking into it.” Itagaki said that he’s very excited about the possibilities the Wii U can offer.

Finally, the developer confirmed we’ll learn more about Devil’s Third at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

[Source: Andriasang]