// preamble
Level-5 is a Japanese game developer and publisher. They’ve created games with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Bandai Namco. They have the best-selling game in Japan on the best-selling console of all time. Not only that, but they took Japan by storm with their media franchise and supposed Pokémon Killer, Yo-Kai Watch.
Yet they are almost nowhere to be seen outside of Japan, and they haven’t been in years.
So what happened?
The first time I ever laid eyes on a Level-5 video game was years before I would ever really learn who they were or what they did. It was Christmas 2002 (not the exact day, but the general holiday season) and I was visiting my grandmother on my dad’s side.
This was different, because we usually spent Christmas with my grandparents on my mother’s side, since we lived in the same city as them. In fact, this is still the only year we spent Christmas with that side of the family.
What luck it would be, then, that my older cousin would come over with his PlayStation 2 and fire up Dark Cloud. I was enthralled watching him manage his party, explore dungeons, and rebuild towns. He even let me play – on a copied version of his save file. So I couldn’t mess it up, of course.
I had an absolute blast. So much so that I begged my parents to get me a copy of the game.
Eventually, they did, and I had my very own copy of Dark Cloud in my grubby little hands.
I fired it up, watched the opening cutscene with absolute awe, and proceeded to be absolutely abysmal at the game. I don’t even think I got past the second area the first time I played it. But I loved it regardless.
A few years later, another Level 5 masterpiece would find its way into my hands (and by find its way, I do mean my parents bought it for me). Dragon Quest 8.
I would play both of these games a few times throughout the PS2 era. At some point, as I got a little older, I became aware enough to realize that these games were actually made by people. They didn’t just spawn into existence for me to play. There was an industry here.
A foolish thing to say now for sure, but when I was seven I was blissfully unaware of pretty much anything beyond my front yard or the classroom. I realized that hey, these Level-5 guys make some of my favourite games. They were neck and neck with Square Enix for the top dogs of the JRPG world.
Despite some of my favourite games being them, I still don’t know that I thought of myself as a “JRPG Guy” at the time. This would change. Let’s jump ahead to the PS3 generation now.
When compared to the PS2, the PS3 was painfully devoid of JRPGs, especially good ones. Even Square Enix’s entry into the FF series with Final Fantasy XIII was met with extremely mixed reception.
Ironically, it was this time of my life that I was solidified as a JRPG fan. This would come in the form of a one-two punch from Level-5. First would come White Knight Chronicles. A mediocre game by all accounts, but it caught my attention because of the Level-5 logo.
PS3-era is also approximately when I gained access to a computer with unlimited internet access. At some point, I came across a new game by Level-5 that was only out in Japan.
Ni No Kuni.
An open world JRPG with monster catching and developed in partnership with Studio Ghibli? Sign. Me. The. Fuck. Up.
Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to wait long. A North American version was announced in 2011 to release only a year later (which would go on to be delayed slightly to the beginning of 2013).
This would go on to be the second half of the one-two punch; by all accounts, it was a knockout. Desperately clambering for anything else to fill the void after completing this wonderful journey, I found myself looking back to the previous generation.
Using the aforementioned internet access along with pre-paid credit cards bought at the drug store, I began hunting for deals on eBay for PS2 JRPGs. I would get my hands on some great games like Tales of the Abyss, Eternal Poison, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, and Level-5’s own Rogue Galaxy.
It was around here that I became lost in the Japanese-role-playing-game sauce, and it can all be traced back to that one holiday afternoon watching my cousin play Dark Cloud.
It pains me to say it, but Ni No Kuni is around where Level-5 peaked. They don’t have the same groundbreaking releases as they did in past generations, instead focusing on sequels part of established media franchises and mobile games. Not to mention, their international releases have all dried up.
Since the release of Ni No Kuni on the PlayStation 3, Level-5 have released 47 video games (either published or developed, but for the majority, they have both credits). Of what they developed, just 4 were released to a gaming consoles, and were not a port or based on any pre-existing media franchise. They are:
- Time Travellers – 2012
- Fantasy Life – 2012
- Yokai Watch – 2013
- Megaton Mushi – 2021
Of these four games, only *one* game – Time Travellers – would not go on to become part of a running franchise or media series. I don’t want to say that you cannot make good games if they are part of a franchise, or if they are a mobile game. But, I think when the releases are this skewed, it’s reason enough to point it out. (Don’t worry, we’ll get into the data later).
So what exactly happened? How did one of the most talented studios in the world get reduced to creating sequels and mobile games? Is it simply a product of the gaming industry these days, or is there something more pernicious going on?
Let’s hit the history books (er, archived internet pages) and see just what happened with the rise and fall of Level-5.
// Level-1 – Vogue Galaxy [1998-2006]
Level-5 was founded in 1998 by the current CEO, Akihiro Hino.
Hino was and is the driving force of Level-5. He’s never one to settle. You’ll see that he constantly wants to take things to the highest level possible; whether that be on a technical level, or bringing an IP to a new medium.
This is even true of his company’s name.
In an interview with Eurogamer, he explains:
“The five stands for five stars. I always want to create five-star software where the quality matters more than anything.” [source]
He’s not one to stagnate.
Previously, he had worked at two other Japanese companies called SystemSoft and Riverhillsoft.
From the same interview, he says:
“When I joined SystemSoft, they assigned me as a producer, but my intention was always to be a programmer, not a producer. I wanted to create the game, rather than tell people how to create it. So I left after four months…”
Hino would then find himself at the aforementioned Riverhillsoft. He was there for almost 10 years, with his first credit being in 1989 as a programmer on Burai: Jokan.
Riverhillsoft had primarily worked on home PC games. They had some interesting games in their roster, but that’s a story for another day.
He had this to say about the experience:
“But, you know, the offer there was as a programmer. But I ended up as a producer there… [Riverhillsoft] was a big company and it had to be profitable, but I was made to create a lot of sequels and reboots. I wanted to do something creative, something new – and I thought in order to do so I would have to be independent.”
This is a guy who wants to be in the thick of it, making games. Even as CEO of the company, he’s kept this mindset. He still tries to drive new ideas and be as involved as possible with the studio’s work.
October 1998 rolls around and Hino creates Level-5. They quickly got to work on their first title: Dark Cloud. With support from Sony Computer Entertainment, they plan on Dark Cloud becoming a launch title for the PlayStation 2. Specifically, there was lots of talk about this game being an excellent representation of the graphical power of the new console.
In an IGN article published September 10, 1999 detailing the PS2’s launch titles, they have this to say:
“A young adventurer begins a journey in enchanted lands and dangerous areas to seek his fortune and fulfill his destiny. Sound familiar? Oh well, even if it does, this one is going to look better than any RPG you’ve seen so far.”
Although it wouldn’t make it in time for launch, it did release not long after, hitting shelves in December 2000 in Japan and May 2001 in North America. Prior to release, Ami Blaire (Director of Product Marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.) would call the game, “realistically brought to life by the technological capabilities of PlayStation 2,” and make note of its, “beautifully-rendered graphics.”
An early build of the game was even shown as an example of what the new console was capable of at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show.
But Level-5 would have more in store for the world than just a pretty game.
In a 1999 article by IGN discussing the TGS demo, they had this to say:
“What makes Dark Cloud so intriguing isn’t the graphics, which look as good as those seen on a Dreamcast or high-end PC. The hook here is the game’s Georama system, which enables players to create their own town using several onscreen tools.”
And they were totally right. Dark Cloud was an enthralling combination of dungeon crawling and town building, supported by a colourful cast of characters and a banger soundtrack. It would release to overall positive reviews, pulling an 80/100 on Metacritic.
The game had rocky sales figures in Japan, but did exceptionally well in North America.
Aside: For the development of the game, only 33 people were credited under Level-5 inc. That includes 7 actors. The fact that in just three years a team this small can turn around a game that is not only good, but touted as a next-generation powerhouse, is crazy to think about. Especially when compared to the scope of game development in 2023. Anyway, the story continues.
Level-5 would begin work on their next game, a spiritual successor to Dark Cloud. It was called Dark Chronicle, but renamed to Dark Cloud 2 for North America.
All the while, he was laying the track for their biggest game yet. I’ll let Hino tell you this part in his own words.
“Just as I was working on a project called “Dark Cloud 2,” a certain producer approached me about developing a project similar to Dragon Quest, but I was unable to take on the project because I didn’t have any free time at the time. However, one day at a drinking party with that person, I couldn’t help but list out my own complaints about Dragon Quest VII. My love for Dragon Quest is quite deep. We talked about it in detail, and then we ended up saying, ‘If there’s so much love, why not just make a Dragon Quest game?’ So, I created a 3D Dragon Quest as a demo.”
This is translated from an interview with Yahoo Japan.
Clearly, his demo sold them, because Level-5 would help develop Dragon Quest VIII. Of course, the usual Dragon Quest (prior to this game, Dragon Warrior) crew were all still involved. But regardless, this would be a massive win for Level-5.
Dragon Quest VIII would go on to not only become the fastest selling game on the PlayStation 2 in Japan, but the best-selling game ever on the console.
When Famitsu magazine sat down to talk with Hino for Level-5’s 20th anniversary, he talked a little bit about the development of the game.
Hino: It was basically “Keep your hands busy,” “Keep on moving and creating.” It was hard to say whether I was the president, game designer, programmer, scenario writer, or what have you.
Famitsu: So you were basically doing everything.
Hino: Yeah. To top it off, Dragon Quest VIII’s development was different from the Dark Cloud series. I believed that Dragon Quest needed a revolutionary change, while keeping the good points of Yuji Horii alive. While we had to implement what Horii-san wanted, we also had to show that it was made by Level-5. [source]
Although he was only listed as Director of Dragon Quest 8, it certainly sounds like he was as involved as ever.
It wasn’t just Square Enix who had noticed them, however. Microsoft had also taken an interest in the studio. Around the time they began development on Dragon Quest 11, they also began work on True Fantasy Live Online for the Xbox. This was planned to be an MMORPG, but would unfortunately be cancelled after a couple of years in development.
Not one to have still hands, they also had begun development on their largest game yet, Rogue Galaxy. At the Tokyo Game Show, where they showed off a two-minute trailer of the game, Hino says:
“As a creator, I always wanted to create a title that was as big as Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. I believe Rogue Galaxy is on the same scale. This title will be our challenge to all the RPGs in the world.” [source]
The game would release in 2005 in Japan, and 2007 in North America.
Before taking their next big step, they would develop one more game. Again for Sony, only this time, for the PlayStation Portable. Jeanne d’Arc released in 2006 in Japan, and 2007 in North America. It was, again, very well received critically.
In less than 10 years, Level-5 had gone from not existing to making some of the world’s biggest games for the world’s biggest publishers.
It was around now that they decided to make the move from making games for other people, to making games for themselves. Enter: Professor Layton.
// Level-2 – Breaking Free [2007-2013]
“Professor Layton was the first title we released as a publisher, so we were thinking that we absolutely had to make it a hit. To that end, from a PR and user perspective, we designed the game to appeal and be interesting to casual players. While it may have exceeded our expectations, we worked hard to make it a hit.
I have strong feelings for all our games but if I have to choose one title, it would be the Layton series as my favorite. It has a soft spot in my heart because it was the first title Level-5 published and it was so successful.” [Source]
Even if you’ve never played them, odds are you’ve seen the iconic top-hat adorned gentlemen from the Professor Layton games. To use Hino’s own term, the game falls into the “puzzle-adventure” genre. [source] The new game was inspired by a Japanese puzzle book series called Head Gymnastics that Hino was fond of. So much so that he hired the author to help design puzzles!
There are seven mainline entries in the series at the time of writing. The Layton series would go on to be quite successful. It’s still one of their most recognizable franchises, especially for international audiences.
Further, Layton would serve to test the waters for a new content philosophy: The Media Franchise
Media Franchise?
While the term Media Franchise is fairly self-explanatory – you have a collection of media produced for different mediums all connected by being about the same franchise, or property – understanding just how much more culturally impactful they are in Japan vs over here in North America is important.
The best example you can point to is Pokémon, the largest media property in the world. You have movies, shows, video games, cards, plush toys, figures, candy, etc. You name it, they’ve probably put Pikachu on it.
A classic example of the methodology behind a media franchise is when people pull out this fact at a party, like they were the first person to ever discover it: “Did you know they only made cartoons like He-Man and Transformers in the 80s to sell toys?? They didn’t even care about the show!”
This statement – alongside “Did you know Chai just means tea, you’re saying tea tea!” and, “Did you know Viggo Mortensen broke his toe when filming The Two Towers??” – top the list of “facts” that you don’t need to tell people anymore.
Regardless, it’s true. The point of a media franchise is not just to sell one product, but to sell, just that, a franchise. In Japan, though, the ferocity at which a media property will ingrain itself in the culture is cranked up to 11.
Let’s take Pokémon as an example. It’s not uncommon to see Pokémon in your day to day, given its popularity. But in Japan, especially around an event or release, Pokémon will be plastered absolutely everywhere.
This phenomenon even has its own name there: メディアミックス. The term translates to Mix Media. To uncover its origins, let’s head back to the 60s.
The following excerpt is from Marc Steinberg’s book, Anime’s Mix Media: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan.
The emergence of anime with Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy; 1963-66), the first made-in-Japan, thirty-minute, weekly television animation show, which went on air on January 1, 1963, proved a tipping point in the development of transmedia relations in postwar Japanese visual culture. It also saw the installation of character merchandising and the dissemination of the character image into the lives of Japanese children and, eventually, citizens of all ages.
…
Tetsuwan Atomu’s 1963 broadcast marked … a “turning point in postwar Japanese culture” that saw a shift in the relation between commodities and advertisement: “Whereas traditionally the method of selling a product was to advertise and sell a product based on its content, after Tetsuwan Atomu companies would advertise and sell products by overlapping the commodity image with a character image.”
Astro Boy lit the fuse that snaked its way to the media franchise dynamite, and it was no accident.
Aiming to quell the TV station’s anxiety about the cost of animation production and undersell the competition in advance, Tezuka sold each episode for less than it cost Mushi Production to make it…
This fateful move—known to the animation industry today as Tezuka’s curse—guaranteed that anime would develop as a transmedia system. Mushi Production and other anime studios henceforth would have to rely on other means, and other media-commodity forms, to recoup the costs of production. Indeed, Tezuka expected to recover his losses by two other means in particular: the royalties received by licensing his characters to commodity producers and the income gained by exporting his series to the United States and other markets.
This method of character commercialization was significantly inspired by Disney, and their cast of characters.
I would quote more from this book but because I find it so interesting, but this piece is long enough as it is. If you get the chance, check it out for yourself!
Back to Level-5.
Hino talks a lot about how being their own publisher meant they can take their IPs and utilize them across many different mediums. This was certainly the case for Layton, which wound up getting a movie, a TV series, a manga, a mobile spin-off, and even three novels.
The original trilogy would all release within just two years in Japan, all for the Nintendo DS. It should also be noted that Level-5 only self-published these games within Japan, with Nintendo taking on that role in bringing it to the international markets a year or two after the initial Japanese release.
This will be a common practice.
All the games in the Layton series would hit shelves internationally, and were quite well received both critically and by fans.
During this time, they would release another title destined for media-franchisedom. Inazuma Eleven.
Inazuma Eleven is a soccer RPG released on the DS, but initially only in Japan in 2008. PAL regions would see the game a few years later in 2011, near the release of the anime. It missed North America all together on the DS, but eventually wound up on the eShop for the 3DS in 2014.
Sales indicate that the series did quite well, at least at first. Inazuma Eleven (2008), Inazuma Eleven 2 (2009), and Inazuma Eleven 3 (2010) sold 530,000, 1,960,000, and 2,150,000 copies respectively.
The games, despite going up in sales, decreased in critical response. Inazuma Eleven 1, 2, and 3 scored 75, 74, and 72 (or 70, because they do the Pokémon thing and release multiple versions, and one scored two points higher) respectively. Still, they sold well and were reviewed decently. The series also got a manga, movie, and anime by 2010. This is a solid approach.
Then it gets a little funny.
The series would go on to have…
*checks notes*
16 video games released. 14 of those released in just five years.
It also received quite the collection of anime, manga, and movies.
Inazuma Eleven had two spin-off series, GO and Strikers. One game was confusingly called GO Strikers. There were also a handful of various other games.
One of these is Inazuma Eleven Everyday!!, which released December 12, 2012. In this case, you could only download the game if you provided two codes acquired from two other Inazuma games. Certainly unusual. They would go on to release Inazuma Eleven Everyday!!+ on mobile, which you could buy with real money like regular games.
Another is Inazuma Eleven Online, which released for free on the PC in 2014 (the series’ first time on this platform) but shut down less than a year later due to maintenance complications.
After the release of the first entry in the GO line (Inazuma Eleven GO) which sold 550,000 copies, no game in the series would be able to get back to where the original three were. There were a lot of games, and they came out very quickly. Some of them shut down less than a year after release.
Between December 12, 2012 and December 27, 2012, four games released. That’s four games in just 16 days!
Overall, the series would do well for itself, especially with the popularity of the second and third entries, but would eventually start to fizzle out.
After the release of the last main game, the series was brought back one more time for a mobile game called Inazume Eleven SD in 2020. It shut down less than a year after it launched.
Outside the games, manga and anime are also still produced.
At this point, the output at Level-5 is through the roof. They released 37 games in this period (between Jeanne d’Arc and Yo-Kai watch). That’s a lot of games in just 7 years.
Little Battler’s Experience was another media franchise developed around this time. The first game released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2011 alongside a series of plastic models. The property would quickly develop into multiple anime, manga, and toys.
The Toys were key, as this franchise very much feels like a vehicle for selling toys. The premise is that these little robot models had been developed but were too dangerous. That is, however, until the invention of Fortified Cardboard. They were then relaunched and sold to children.
I don’t know what they had in that cardboard, but I could certainly use some!
It feels very in-line with something like Bakugon or Beyblade, where the premise revolved around using a product that is also available in real life, and can be used in the same way.
Only one of these games would be release outside of Japan. LBX: Little Battlers eXperience would find its worldwide release through Nintendo in 2015, following the original 2012 release in Japan.
This series would get six entries in three years.
The series would do well for itself, especially with the popularity of the second entry that was released globally, but would eventually start to fizzle out.
After the release of the last main game, the series was brought back one more time for a mobile game called LBX Girls (oh boy). It was also called Soukou Musume or Armored Girls depending on where I saw it discussed. It was developed in partnership with DMM Games and focused around cute anime girls who wore LBX armour. It was a gotcha game. It was released in 2018 before being taken offline later the same year for long term maintenance. It came back briefly in 2020 before being shut down for good a year later.
Outside the games, an anime was still produced to go alongside Armoured Girls.
Sounding familiar yet?
Two cases of getting too big, too fast, without building a solid foundation and inundating your fans with content. Although these weren’t the media franchise grand-slams they were hoping for, they were far from done with the concept.
Level-5 would also release a small series of budget puzzle games as part of the Atamania series. They were compared to the Layton series, and only released in Japan in 2009.
There are a few key games from this era that stand out to me as being different from the typical releases we see in this period. The first of which is White Knight Chronicles.
Developed in partnership with Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, White Knight Chronicles was a JRPG for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in 2008.
The reviews were unfortunately not stellar, collecting only a 64 on Metacritic. I always felt like this game had an interesting personality. It could simply be that I was younger and had not quite developed my critical eye yet, but I had fun playing this game!
Level-5 would come back to do a sequel, and Sony would get someone else to make a prequel for the PlayStation Portable.
Next, they are back steering the Dragon Quest ship with Dragon Quest IX for the DS in 2009. It was met with both critical and financial success. It’s not surprising they brought back Level-5 after the success of Dragon Quest VIII, and they continued to push the franchise in new directions.
Dragon Quest IX allowed you to make your own character and play the game multiplayer with your friends. It sold 5.5 million copies and received an 87 on Metacritic.
One of the most standout games from this era – in this writer’s opinion – also happens to be my favourite. Ni No Kuni.
Level 5 partnered up with Studio Ghibli to bring this gem of a game to life. It’s stunning and wonderful in every way, and it deserves its own review.
Initially, it was released on the DS and only in Japan, but would be re-released after some serious upgrades for the PlayStation 3 as Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Bandai Namco would publish its worldwide release.
It was very well received and sold almost 2 million units between the two versions. It would go on to be re-released again as a Remastered version.
The following is a quote from Akihiro Hino about working with Studio Ghibli and the development of Ni No Kuni II. Although it’s from an interview about the second game, it has some interesting insights about the development of this one:
Hino says that Ni No Kuni wasn’t initially designed with the intention of creating a sequel, but the possibility of making a new game on more powerful hardware like the PlayStation 4 and modern PCs proved very tempting. “With all of these new resources at our disposal, it defines what we’re able to do, and opens up many doors to use that in a very compelling visual experience,” he says.
For Hino and Level-5, working alongside the talented animators at Ghibli has had a profound influence on how the studio goes about creating its games, especially when it comes to the seemingly small details. “In developing the first game, and of course this one as well, there were several meetings [with Ghibli] covering even very minute details,” [source]
There are two key points that I take away from this that are very insightful into how Level-5’s games end up faring. First, he mentions that it wasn’t initially planned to have a sequel; it was not planned on being a media franchise. Second, he talks about how involved Ghibli was with the development of the game.
There were also a handful of smaller one-off games that came out in this time. They are generally not significant to the library of Level-5 or their trajectory, so I’ll not allow my longiloquence to make this article any longer than it already is. (Yes, I got that word from the internet, leave me alone.)
Finally, we have Fantasy Life. An RPG life sim that seems quite different from what Level-5 had done previously. It was released in 2012 in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS. It would receive a decent 73 on metacritic and sell 1.11 million units. It scored much better with audiences, getting an 84. Furthermore, it was quite popular, and would eventually see a worldwide release in 2014.
Much like with Ni No Kuni, an interview with the developer about the game’s development can give some key insights into the game’s (and the series’) outcome.
This is from an interview from Famitsu with Akihiro Hino and Atsushi Kanno (the game’s director) on Polygon:
“Three years ago, when we first started on this project, it was a much more text-oriented game, with each Life having a really long story associated with it,” Level-5 head Akihiro Hino told Famitsu. “It was around two years ago when we decided to change directions, switching the graphics from 2D to 3D and putting more time into it.”
“I’ll never forget the day when we decided to go 3D,” added Fantasy Life director Atsushi Kanno. “I remember thinking about what a pain it was going to be. Hino talked about ‘making RPGs new,’ and that really stuck with me. In Japan, most RPGs are turn-based, but lately you see games like The Elder Scrolls and Fable; games that are sort of like MMOs you play by yourself becoming popular. I thought we could take what makes those games fun, approach it from a Japanese perspective, and make it into someone anyone can enjoy.”
At three years, they spent a lot longer working on Fantasy Life than a lot of the other games from this period. They also show that they are really trying to push boundaries with this one, making specific note of other Eastern RPGs that are taking things in a new direction, and a desire to bring that new direction to Japan.
Now, before we get to the big one, we have some patterns forming.
If you look at a lot of the series that have the most global appeal, and staying power beyond their initial release period, you have games like Dragon Quest, Fantasy Life, Ni No Kuni, and most of the games from the Golden Age (a period I made up for this article).
That’s not to say that the larger media franchises are objectively worse, of course. But I don’t think they quite live up to the standard of quality that Level-5 is capable of. They start out strong, but their rapid fire method of creating products dilutes the properties too much, and you end up with a majority of the titles being quickly forgotten, or not even seen by a large audience to begin with.
So what’s the difference? It’s not that Level-5 is not putting in the effort to make good games as part of their media franchises intentionally. Some of the Inazuma and Little Battler’s game have great reviews, and people like them! People want more games like them.
We talked about how Akihiro Hino is always wanting to push things to the next level. I think Level-5 simply takes this idea too far, too fast when expanding their IPs. Look at all the standout games I mentioned. They all had a creative partner or publisher in some capacity helping keep things in check, and they all were created with the intent of just being what they were at the time: One video game.
Dragon Quest had Square Enix, Ni No Kuni had Studio Ghibli, most of their golden age games had Sony as a publisher working with them.
When creating their own IPs, they have the freedom to put those properties wherever they want. I hypothesize that they get too caught up in trying to make them everything, instead of just something.
Clearly, this is alright by Level-5’s standards. As long as you keep making good games and putting your products in front of international audiences who like them, you’ll maintain your reputation. You can have media franchises come and go alongside these, and use the profits for further projects.
But problems arise when this is all you do.
// Level-3 – The Pokémon Killer [2013-2016]
July 2013 rolled around and Level-5 would release Yo-kai Watch for the 3DS. This was the first entry in what would go on to be Level-5’s largest success in the entertainment world by far, and it was entirely by design.
Having some success in the past with media properties like Inazuma Eleven and LBX, as well as a solid foundation of RPG games that are accessible to a younger audience, they were perfectly positioned to deliver the ultimate Media Monolith. Their experience with self-publishing in Japan now for a few years was certainly an asset as well.
From a gameplay perspective, you can clearly see some design elements that clearly speak to Level-5’s history. It’s a creature collecting game which they had experience with in Ni No Kuni, which released just two years later. Even the battle system is similar. It features a more passive battle system where your party handles the micro decisions on their own, and you activate abilities and direct the general behaviours and positions of them.
With all of this, they were ready.
It’s funny that Yo-kai Watch would go on to be discussed as a Pokémon killer, because initially, it had a different point of inspiration: Doraemon.
Originally devised in 1969, Doraemon was a manga that would morph into a colossal media franchise in Japan. It was primarily targeted towards children, and has been seen in all the usual places (manga, anime, movies, products, etc).
In an article on Kotaku, they provided this quote from an interview between Famitsu Weekly and Akihiro Hino:
“We’ve created a lot of different IPs, and I figured it was about time that we made something like Doraemon, that could be loved by many people over a long period of time. That was the start of it. I researched what would give something appeal and longevity, and pondered what would be relatable to people and developed the open world RPG that children could play, Yokai Watch. I think title’s popularity is the fruits of trial and error.” [source]
July 11, 2013 was the launch day for Yo-kai Watch. It sold over 53,000 units in its first week, which is not enough for the lofty ambitions Level-5 had for this franchise. About six months later, the Yo-kai Watch anime would premier. This would act as a nitro boost for sales of the game, with over 500,000 additional copies being sold. [source] Before the release of the second game a year later, they crossed a million units sold, and the ball was officially rolling.
Level-5 expected Yo-kai Watch to be big, as illustrated in this quote from Akihiro Hino from the same Kotaku article:
“When planning the first Yokai Watch, I already thought to release the sequel as 2 different versions.” Hino explained. “Children like having things that other people don’t have, so from a marketing perspective, having 2 versions is a good idea. Also, a lot of people play Yokai Watch with their parents. Where people would have some hesitation about getting 2 copies of the same game, if you have different versions, it’s a lot easier for them to buy both.” [source]
Even so, they couldn’t have predicted just how popular it would get.
Yo-kai Watch 2 would come out almost a year later, to the day. Dropping in Japan on July 10, 2014. This time, the game released in two versions (à la Pokémon) with a third, improved version hitting shelves in December of the same year (à la Pokémon).
The first two versions, Head and Founder, sold 1,316,707 in their first week, and the third version titled Headliner sold 1,244,171 in its first week.
By February 2015, Head/Founder would sell 3.1 million copies, and Headliner 2.6 million copies by June 2015. Those are Dragon Quest numbers, and this is *just* in Japan.
The anime was in full swing, with the third season releasing in July 2015. One movie had released, and a second was on the way for the end of the year. There were a handful of manga already ongoing or coming out in 2015.
In 2014, Yo-kai Watch mascot Jibanyan had replaced Pikachu for the front and centre spot on the World Hobby Fair spotlight.
Hino must have been happy to see his creation upstaging its very inspiration, Doraemon, who sits next to Jibanyan at a smaller size. [source]
The delightful little Yokai even replaced Pokémon from the annual McDonald’s calendar, a position they had held since 2007. [source] It was even pulling higher TV ratings than Pokémon for a while. [source]
You’d be a fool not to cash in on the merchandising opportunities of a property this crazy, so of course they did! For the fiscal year of 2014, Bandai Namco announced that Yo-kai watch was their “projected best-selling toy and hobby brand” with 40 billion yen. This was almost double the number they gave for Gundam, which was 22 billion yen. [source]
They had mascots running around in giant suits, they had Yo-kai Watch on trains, they had it on billboards.
Yo-kai Watch was absolutely massive. It was unlike anything Level-5 had ever produced before.
Then even went so far as to open a store called Yoroz Mart (Originally called Yo-kai Watch Yoroz Mart, but they rebranded in 2017) as a location to sell physical merchandise related to Yo-kai Watch, and later other Level-5 brands.
This was right around the time Level-5 decided to set up an operation in North America – called LEVEL-5 abby – in October 2015. This was done in an effort to more easily bring their properties to a global audience.
Here is a passage from their website, level5abby.com:
Multi-media entertainment company LEVEL-5 abby Inc. creates, produces and distributes highly engaging content for children, adults and game/anime fans worldwide. The company’s mission is to bring its universally-themed popular game and animation content from Japan to fans globally, across all platforms and all devices
It goes on to say this in the About LEVEL-5 Inc. section:
LEVEL-5 Inc. plans, creates, and markets video game software and produces mega-hit IPs targeting kids in Japan. The company specializes in cross-media strategies and oversees corresponding counterparts (anime, toys, manga, etc.) for its titles.
Then in the same section says this:
All forms of YO-KAI WATCH merchandise, including toys and games, are universally popular among people of all ages.
They target kids, but don’t worry, money- I mean everyone likes the stuff.
Furthermore, they go on to describe themselves as a “world-class entertainment brand,” a term that I can’t help but feel like 1998 Akihiro Hino would wince at.
It’s likely no surprise that the original Yo-kai Watch could hit North American shelves not long after, on November 6, 2015. It would also go on to release in Australia on December 5, 2015, and Europe on April 29, 2016.
Now, it’s probably around here that you’re thinking I’m just an old grouch who doesn’t like that Level-5 “sold out” and I think “their old stuff was better.”
First of all, the old stuff was better.
BUT! That’s not to say I dislike the new stuff. I still love Level-5. I even started playing Yo-kai Watch 3 alongside writing this piece. It’s charming, fun, colourful, and you can tell they still put a lot of care into it. It’s clearly written with a younger audience in mind, but there is still some wit behind it.
It’s just always a little disheartening when a company who is known from making really great and distinct games turns into a multimedia content factory because they saw the dollar signs. It doesn’t mean they can’t do both, but you wonder how long until the latter cannibalizes the former.
The game wouldn’t sell poorly, but it wouldn’t hit Level-5’s high expectations either. In an interview here with Nikkei Trendy here, Hino talks about the North American release:
The TV anime is getting high ratings on the local Disney XD, and there are some areas where it’s going well, but there are still a lot of issues. In particular, the game software is still around 400,000 copies sold, so if you consider it as a normal software, it can be considered a hit, but as a Yo-kai Watch, I feel that it is still quite lacking.
In North America, it seems like it takes a while for a certain piece of content to catch fire. We are currently in the process of launching the product, so we are doing everything we can to ensure that it will fully bloom in six months or a year.
All three versions of the second Yo-kai Watch games would also be released internationally, with various dates between September 30, 2016 and December 7, 2017 (varies by version of the game and release region).
With the first game not meeting their expectations internationally, they needed Yo-kai Watch 2 to “catch fire,” as Hino says. As noted, the second game was selling gangbusters in Japan.
When Yo-Kai Watch 2 hit North America, it was reported that it opened with just 35,000 copies being sold. [source] Vgchatrz.com has the total sales outside of Japan at 460,000 copies. This is not great considering the first entry sold almost this much in just North America alone.
Despite a weaker international hit, Yo-kai Watch 2 still tallied a staggering 7,300,000 units over its lifetime.
By the time Yo-kai Watch 2 started hitting shelves around the world, Yo-kai Watch 3 was already out in Japan. It released on July 16, 2016. It released with two versions, Sushi and Tempura (which is absolutely adorable).
Before we get to this, it’s worth pointing out that there have been a handful of Yo-kai Watch spin-off and mobile games at this point. Prior to the release of Yo-kai Watch 3, there had been five spin-offs in three years in addition to the mainline entries. If you count games with multiple versions, that’s ten games in three years.
The most notable of these was Yo-kai Watch Blasters. This game also had two versions, Red Cat Corps and White Dog Squad. It would get 693,538 sales in the first week in July 2015, and see 2,370,000 units sold over its lifetime.
Now back to Yo-kai watch 3. The game sold 632,135 copies in its first week. That’s a decline from the second mainline entry, as well as a decline (slightly) from the spin-off title Blasters. It would eventually hit 1,300,000 copies sold.
The third version, Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki, sold 337,979 in the first week and 653,000 overall.
vgchatrz.com has the total lifetime sales of the three versions combined to be 2,210,000 worldwide.
This is a serious decline from their peak.
During this period they would also release a few other games, mostly entries into their previous franchises that were fizzling out around now and a couple of mobile games, one of which is most comically titled: Earth Devastating B-Grade Girlfriend Z: Space War.
I hadn’t planned on writing much about the weird mobile games. But since this article isn’t long enough, and I had to read it, so do you.
EDB-GGZ:SW is played by, “spinning slots reels to fund a war fought by a special force of mercenary women,” as described by siliconera.com. [source]
The women have both combat and day job appearances. Going from their day job outfits to their combat outfits usually entails just wearing something with more cleavage.
Among the roster of well-rounded and respectfully written women, we have: Emiko, an employee at a pachinko shop who has gained superhuman strength through her “everyday struggles,” and transforms into a giant-hammer-weilding-bunny-girl. Of course she does.
We also have Yoko, who appears to more or less just be D.va from Overwatch.
In an interview with the developers, it’s noted that this is different from the kind of thing Level-5 usually makes. In perhaps the biggest self-own of all time, producer Ken Ogura says this:
I started planning this game because I wanted to make a game that was different from Level-5 in a good way. Since the smartphone was a new platform, I wanted to make a new game if I was going to do it. Therefore, we took quite a long time to prepare, and we worked on the plan.
Other games, like “Inazuma Eleven,” are popular with children, while others, like “Professor Layton,” resonate with a wide range of people. However, this time I wanted to throw a curveball. The underlying theme of “Earth Devastating B-Class Girlfriend” is that it’s a game aimed at myself.
Of course, what anime girl gambling game would be complete without romance. You can raise your love level and marry the girls! All of them!
In this world, it’s okay to marry five people. Isn’t polygamy the dream of every man? (lol)
The rest of the article can be read here if you choose, but you’ll have to translate it from Japanese.
Anyway, Level-5 was just starting to see the decline of Yo-kai Watch numbers, and they didn’t really have much else that was compelling to offer. If the journey of Level-5 was a rollercoaster, Yo-kai Watch 2 was the highest point. Currently, around 2016, we’re just starting to creep over the edge. We’re not barrelling towards the ground yet, but we’re tense with anticipation.
// Level-4 – The Fall [2016-2023]
I want to open this section with an exchange between the late, great Satoru Iwata and Tsunekazu Ishihara (President and CEO of The Pokémon Company) in regard to the development of the first and second generation Pokémon games:
Iwata: You’ve just used the term “ultimate” and I feel that even in their names, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver were meant to be the ultimate in Pokémon games.
Ishihara: That’s right. After we released Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, we began working on these titles, thinking that the ultimate in Pokémon games could only ever be Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver.
Iwata: Not in your wildest dream did you think that you’d be making more and more games after Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver. (laughs)
Ishihara: The reason that I licensed so many products and developed things like the trading cards was basically to ensure that Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver were successful. I felt that this was my primary role. So at that time, I worked with the assumption that after we put out Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, my work as far as Pokémon was concerned would be done.
Iwata: I see.
Ishihara: So for me, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver represented the finish line.
[source]
This way of thinking is critically important to establishing a media franchise. You can see the care they put into each spin-off item, but more crucially, they did this so that they could prop up their game for success.
Even the ancillary items are treated with care, as noted elsewhere in the discussion:
Iwata: You weren’t simply sticking pictures of Pokémon onto a variety of products, but you’d always say: “I want to know the reason why this Pokémon should be used on this product.”
We can directly contrast this to the methodologies of Yo-kai Watch, which was self-described to be a vehicle for creating as broad a media empire as possible. The games simply served as a jumping off point for the rest of their media.
Yo-kai Watch is different in this regard, from most of the great media franchises of the world (Pokémon, Doraemon, Star Wars, the MCU, Mickey Mouse, etc) in that its genesis came with the intent to reach media franchise stardom. Most other examples started out as simply a product, made for the sake of making something people wanted to make, and then collected fame because of its quality, which translated over time to popularity.
Despite lacklustre sales on Yo-kai Watch 3, Level-5 didn’t want to slow down.
Remember that physical store? Well, they would go on to open a total of ten locations.
The next 3DS entry would only release in Japan: Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Secret of the Legendary Treasure Bambalaya. Its week one sales were 208,000 and lifetime were 465,000 between the two versions. The game was also delayed by a week to work on some last minute quality improvements, but it still released with many bugs. Its launch date was December 16, 2017.
A third game was not released under the Busters 2 title, likely because of the low sales and negative reception due to the bugs.
The roller coaster is picking up speed now.
Level-5 was clearly losing grip of Yo-kai Watch. It was clear at this point that the “Yo-kai Watch boom” was behind them.
In 2017, Yo-kai Watch was #3 on Bandai Namco’s poll on children’s favourite characters. It was not even in the top 10 in 2018. [source]
It had previously been at the #1 spot in 2015, where it overtook Anpanman. Anpanman had been the reigning champ for a while, ranking #1 in this survey for 13 years in a row. [source] Anpanman would return to the #1 spot again in 2017.
It’s around now that Level-5 is trying frantically to stop them as they shoot speedily toward the ground (I don’t know why the roller coaster in this metaphor was designed by a psychotic Roller Coaster Tycoon player, but roll with it).
In 2018 they release three different mobile games (Yo-kai Sangokushi: Kunitori Wars, Yo-kai Watch: Gerapo Rhythm, and Yo-kai Watch World) in an attempt to get players who grew up with Yo-kai Watch, but are a bit older now and have phones.
They would release a movie and an anime under the Shadowside subtitle. The movie, Yo-kai Watch Shadowside: Oni-ō no Fukkatsu, would release in 2017 and be much darker and more mature in tone. The anime, just called Yo-kai Watch Shadowside, would air from 2018-2019. Like the movie, it had the same tone to help attract an older audience.
In general, it’s not a good sign if you are trying to chase your audiences. If you have to chase them, you’ve already lost them.
In 2019 we get the final two notable Yo-kai Watch releases.
First, Yo-kai Watch 3 comes out in Europe and North America. It hits the EU on December 7, 2018 and North America on February 8, 2019. Warning: it was not good.
The game sold only 30,000 copies in Europe, and an almost nonexistent 4,000 in North America. [source] This is in part due to a low print run and the fact that the 3DS was near the end of its lifespan. But regardless, this is an abysmally bad figure.
This is also the reason Yo-kai Watch 3 is so darn expensive and hard to find over here. At the time of writing this, the most recent sale on eBay for a copy of the game was $652.15 for a sealed copy, and $585.60 for a used copy!
Yo-kai Watch 4 would come out later that year on June 20, 2019. It had an opening week of 150,721 sales, and 291,878 by the end of the year. This is just a fraction of what the series used to do. At the time of writing, Yo-Kai Watch 4 is still not available anywhere outside of Japan or China.
Okay, one more time!
Overall, the series would do well for itself, especially with the popularity of the second entry that was released globally, but would eventually start to fizzle out.
After the release of the last main game, the series was brought back one more time for a spinoff.
Outside the games, some anime and manga were still produced. The anime would have budget and ratings issues, and even be temporarily pulled from Disney XD in 2019.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from our old pal Akihiro Hino! Let’s see what he has to say about all this. Here are some passages from an interview with him discussing Level-5 in 2018 and 2019, available here:
While we took on various challenges, it was a year in which we learned a lot, especially regarding our internal development structure. Level-5’s pattern is to have its main function as a game company, and then work on cross-media to make the content a hit. However, I recognize that in 2018, I did not fulfill my duty of “putting out a solid game.”
In 2019, our theme is “steadfastly regaining trust,” and we would like to increase our credibility as a manufacturer. We believe that 2020 will be a year in which we can compete in many ways, so in order to make that a reality, we would like to take action in 2019 in a way that solidifies ourselves.
The North American extension of Level-5, Level-5 abby, would see layoffs in 2019, and then close their doors entirely in 2020. [source]
They also released a spin-off called Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y – Waiwai Gakuen Seikatsu in 2020, which opened to only 3,000 copies in the first week, and 42,000 by the end of the year.
This is the last Yo-kai Watch game we would see, and it was the only game released in 2020.
As much as it was too little too late, it’s nice to see that Hino recognized one of the core problems: They just had not been putting out quality titles.
It’s important to note that there are other things going on at Level-5 at this time, not just Yo-kai Watch. We’ll circle back to those after.
So what exactly happened here? How did something go from being literally bigger than Pokémon (by some metrics. Yes, I know I’m being cheeky) to selling only 4,000 copies in North America?
There are a few things, which I have boiled down into three main problems.
First, the series just didn’t connect with people outside of Japan. They had high hopes that Yo-kai Watch would become a global phenomenon, but it just didn’t. A lot of people site the cultural difference as being too much for other audiences to relate to. You can’t “jelly donut” your way out of the central premise of your IP being very Japanese.
Not that I think this is a bad thing, mind you. If you’re reading this, you’re probably like me and think that the Japanese flavouring is what makes it special. It does have Yokai in the title, after all. But it’s important to remember that this was targeted largely at children.
I think a creature game centred around Yokai is still a genius premise. But when the show airs on Disney XD, and the series’ writing is clearly geared a little younger, you’re targeting people who just might not be able to connect with it as much.
This piece was critical, as one of Yo-kai Watch’s key pillars was that modern kids would be able to relate to it, as noted by Hino himself.
Secondly, the series wasn’t as dependable as you need a media franchise to be if you want to have the kind of success they were after. And I don’t mean undependable as in poor quality. It is simply inconsistent.
You had games that jumped from 3DS to mobile. Gameplay changed, heck, whole genres changed. You had Yo-kai Watch just dance! The tone also changed from a more comical and lighthearted feel to something a lot more mature in nature.
None of these things are bad on their own. However, when you have a hard time settling on an identity for your property, it muddies the waters. When you aren’t sure, your audience can feel that.
And of course, you can get away with these kinds of changes sometimes. Pokémon has an app that tracks your sleep, Digimon just came out with a visual novel / tactics game, Mickey Mouse has a cartoon where they look all gross and weird (in a cool way).
You can purposefully create these inconsistencies, but only after you have a solid foundation and loyal audience. This comes back to my point about them chasing their audiences. It’s harder to get invested in something when you can see its creators constantly changing it.
Third, they simply expanded too much, too fast. From the time they first launched Yo-kai Watch in 2013, to when they released the fourth entry in 2019, they put out a total of 17 video games. That’s almost 2.5 entries a year, and that’s not even counting the shows, manga, movies, toys, and everything else.
The first three mainline games game out one year apart. Contrast that to Pokémon, whose mainline games release an average of three years apart. You need to take a little bit of time to create thoughtful, solid experiences. I know they know how to do this, because they did it in the past!
I can hear you saying, “but 2R! They have other series and other games! You mentioned it earlier, those much be going great, right?”
Haha.
Let’s start with Layton, the seemingly bulletproof golden child of Level-5. In 2017 they would release Layton’s Mystery Journey for the 3DS, which would eventually have a global release on both the 3DS and Switch.
It would score the lowest critically of the entire series, getting a metacritic score of 73, or 72 on 3DS. It also sold only 550,000 copies. This is less than the previous entries on the 3DS (Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy) which sold 820,000, 810,000 respectively.
I haven’t mentioned too much about Layton this whole time, but it’s a series that has just been consistently good and putting up good numbers. Now, it’s seeing a downturn.
How about Snack World? Wait, I didn’t mention Snack World yet?
Snack World is – you guessed it – a media franchise!!! So far, it’s managed to keep itself in check though. It has some ports and upgrades to the original game, including an international release, along with a show and a couple of manga series.
By all accounts, it had a pretty reasonable start. It sold 97,534 units in its first week, which is higher than both the first Inazuma Eleven and Yo-kai Watch games.
Ni no Kuni, my beloved. There’s certainly no way they can mess you up, right?
Well, sort of. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom would release in 2018. Thankfully, it went relatively well! It got an 84 on metacritic, only one point shy of the last game, and sold 900,000 units. That’s less than the first game, but not bad all things considered.
Fans generally weren’t as in love with this game as the first one, with its user score dropping to a 7.5 when compared to the first game’s 8.7.
Now, here’s the “sort of”.
In 2021, they released a Ni no Kuni MMO. Akihiro Hino approached an external developer called Netmarble to make the game. They would offer guidelines to help them make it, while maintaining the Ni no Kuni-ness.
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds was exceptionally successful when it launched. It made $101.3 million in the first 11 days. This was the second-highest game across the Apple and Google stores. [source]
But there was trouble brewing on the horizon when it would make its global launch. Given how these things have gone so far, you might think you could take a guess as to what happens next. But this time, it’s different.
It’s NFTs!
I’ll let this quote from fanbyt.com do the talking, since they have already summarized it perfectly:
In a blog post from last month co-developer Netmarble detailed its plans to put Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds and all of its upcoming games in a “blockchain ecosystem,” which includes selling NFTs for popular IPs (including Game of Thrones, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Tower of God) and other digital assets and tying money to “MBX,” which is Netmarble’s blockchain currency.
What’s even more concerning, is that there is only a tiny mention of blockchain on their North America site, hidden behind multiple tabs. They are mostly showcasing that Level 5 is co-developing, assets and inspiration from Studio Ghibli, and that composer Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle) is also working on Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds. The language used around Cross World‘s connection to the blockchain is vague, buried, and unhelpful, and has fans questioning Netmarble’s motives behind using the Ni No Kuni IP.
Barf. I need say no more about this, aside from the fact that I am deeply saddened to see one of my most loved IPs used like this.
On to the next dumpster fire.
Fantasy Life Online. After going through multiple delays and a title change (it was originally Fantasy Life 2) the game came out on July 23, 2018. It got 2,000,000 downloads in the first nine days. [source]
It was released in North America on December 7, 2021. In a strange twist, they would shut down the Japanese version only a week later, on December 15, 2021. The reason given was that Level-5 “couldn’t provide a satisfactory experience going forward.” [source]
Well, that certainly bodes well for this game that just released internationally.
That version also shut down. The servers were unplugged on February 6, 2023. [source]
With that, there’s only one more game to talk about in this section.
Megaton Musashi is a-
Please don’t make me say it.
Please.
Megaton Musashi is media franchise. A media Fucking franchise. Yes, they’re doing another one. As of now it only has two games, the original from 2021 and a free to play sequel from the next year, both only available in Japan. There is also an anime with a couple of seasons, directed and written by Akihiro Hino himself. [source]
Even after all this, it makes me happy to see him still so involved in his projects.
The first game did pretty small numbers, only moving 11,378 copies in its first week. That doesn’t seem to have deterred Level-5 though.
Now we come to the present. The only international releases we’ve seen since Ni no Kuni II in 2018 have been MMOs. One of which is dead, and the other is a pay to win crypto NFT tumour of a game.
The Japanese side of things isn’t doing a lot better, either. They watched Yo-kai watch fizzle out, and are in the midst of a slow to start to another media franchise that might just see itself in another article like this a few years from now. They have some ongoing anime and manga series, but if you look around at Level-5, especially in 2023, you can’t help but ask, “what is going on?”
People online certainly are. Forums are filled with users asking Level-5 to bring back some of their beloved series. That, or hoping Nintendo or Microsoft just buys them out before they can self-destruct themselves.
To continue our rollercoaster analogy that I just made up halfway through the article, we’re now a pile of smouldering ruins, bodies flung in ever which direction, all caught on the stupid little roller coaster camera.
It prints a copy, spits it out, and it floats down slowly to the ground, only to be slowly swallowed up by the fire.
// Level-5 – Rebirth [2024+]
Akihiro Hino is a man whose name is known by few, but his work is known by many. I think the same can be said for Level-5 when you consider the scope of the gaming industry. Their impact on the gaming space, and entertainment space in general, cannot be understated.
Hino is very involved with the projects at Level-5. Some see this as a blessing, some as a curse.
One thing is for sure: they need to stop making questionable business decisions that end up tanking their games, and over-inflating their properties.
Some of their best work was done when they had a helping hand to reel them in.
So as we stand over the rubble of a once great company, what’s left?
Akihiro Hino crawls out of the fire, with just enough battery in the tank for one last go.
Level-5 came back in a very promising way this year. We’ve seen a handful of trailers across a couple of different events that look promising.
They showed off Megaton Musashi Wired, the next entry in the new mech franchise.
Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is the next mainline entry in its series. This one has been through a couple of delays and name changes. Originally set to be released in 2018, the current expectation is 2024. People are looking forward to this, but cautiously, as Level-5 has had issues getting this released.
DecaPolice was announced originally to have a 2023 release, but was pushed back to 2024. This game has a pretty cool style and takes for form of a crime themed RPG. It’s also a new IP, and so far, doesn’t appear to be part of a media franchise plan.
There is also a long-awaited sequel to Fantasy Life coming. Titled Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, the game was delayed to 2024 after an initial planned release in 2023.
In 2018 they also announced that they are bringing back a previously cancelled game titled Ushiro. The horror RPG was originally being developed for the PSP back in 2008 before it was cancelled. While there is no date yet, Hino conformed that it’s coming back to the Switch. I think this game looks super cool, so I’m very excited about this one.
It’s been pretty quiet out there about this one, aside from a trademark registration in 2022 for “HOLY HORROR MANSION” which may or may not be related.
You can check out the 2008 trailer for it here:
Professor Layton and The New World of Steam looks to be a return to form for the Layton series. The game will feature the titular Professor Layton again for the first time since the end of the second mainline trilogy. The release date is currently 2025.
This is frankly a very exciting line-up. It’s certainly more diverse than anything we’ve seen from them recently. Although a lot of these titles are burdened with delays, I’m electing for the glass-half-full method. Hopefully, they just announced these too soon since they realized they needed to get some new, quality games out there.
If they can’t pull out any wins with this lineup, well, I fear it’ll be dire straights for Level-5.
// Conclusion
Level-5 makes great games when they let themselves.
When they take the time to make a game for no other reason than to make a quality video game, it will be just that! We see this with their games that are the most long-standing – the ones people constantly ask for: Dark Cloud, Ni No Kuni, Fantasy Life, Layton.
When you create something with the intent that it becomes a media franchise, it means you are creating something for the sake of creating content. It is to formulate something that will be popular first, and good second.
It may still be good – many of Level-5’s were, at first. But when you cannot just create something, you need to create everything, something will eventually give. And when you aren’t even starting with a solid base, it’s like building a pyramid upside down.
Level-5 has proven time and time again that they are unable to manage a media franchise properly. Maybe they need to set their sights on slowing down and focus on the games first. Or, maybe they simply need to get help. If media franchises really are what they want to do, perhaps they should have someone else steering the ship instead of Ahikiro Hino. He’s proven himself to be a good writer, director, and game designer. Maybe business and intellectual property management aren’t his strengths.
The future of Level-5 is uncertain, but it looks more promising now than it has for a while.
Level-5 has created some of my absolute most cherished gaming experiences. Experiences that have defined who I am not just as a video-game enjoyer, but as a person. Experiences that will always be there, in my mind and, in some cases, available to play again. Experiences that I hope to live through again with my friends and family.
Regardless of what happens to them, Level-5 will go down as one of the greatest developers of all time, and one of the most important to me.
Now, there’s tidy, innit?
// afterword
Hey there, thanks for reading! I know it was a long one, but I hope it was as fun to read as it was to write. I had a pretty good scope of what I was up against with this one, but I still learned a whole lot of new things.
I had to rely on many different sources for researching this one. Please see below my list of sources, sorted as best as I could into topics. In addition to this list, many sales figures were pulled from vgchartz.
// sources
General
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2016/08/14/akihiro-hino-on-the-secret-of-level-5s-success-and-how-super-robots-are-now-a-blue-ocean/?sh=1429affc66fd
https://www.eurogamer.net/20-years-of-level-5
https://medium.com/shinkretro/level-5s-failures-what-they-didn-t-learn-from-their-mistakes-one-year-later-c74d210fe1a0
PS2
https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/09/21/tgs-1999-dark-cloud-first-impressions
https://freegametips.com/ps2-these-are-the-20-best-selling-games-in-the-history-of-playstation-2-in-japan/
https://www.siliconera.com/level-5-ceo-akihiro-hino-talks-about-working-on-the-dark-cloud-series-and-dragon-quest-viii/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-meeting-2005-new-games-latest-stats/1100-6129647/
Layton
https://kotaku.com/if-it-werent-for-this-book-professor-layton-wouldnt-ex-5988532
https://www.webcitation.org/6E0ycFyzL?url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000217531
Ni No Kuni White Witch
https://www.siliconera.com/ni-no-kuni-queen-of-the-holy-white-ash-will-journey-out-of-japan-in-early-2012/
https://www.siliconera.com/ni-no-kuni-has-a-new-name-for-north-america/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ninokuni-coming-to-north-america-early-next-year/1100-6335002/?sid=6335002&pid=998014
Fantasy Life
https://www.polygon.com/2012/12/19/3783480/akihiro-hino-on-fantasy-life-the-game-where-its-fun-to-do-pretty-much
Yokai Watch
https://kotaku.com/how-yokai-watch-was-engineered-to-be-a-massive-hit-1602863085
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-11-06/mcdonald-now-fully-on-board-the-yo-kai-watch-bandwagon/.80727
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-11-17/yokai-watch-jibanyan-ousts-pikachu-from-the-world-hobby-fair-spotlight/.81148
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-11-10/yo-kai-watch-projected-to-top-gundam-in-bandai-toy-hobby-sales/.80740
https://nintendoeverything.com/september-2016-npd-debut-yo-kai-watch-2-and-dragon-quest-vii-sales-wii-u-and-3ds-hardware-performance/
https://www.siliconera.com/week-sales-yo-kai-watch-3-cooks-sukiyaki-version/
https://kotaku.com/pokemons-former-rival-yokai-watch-is-having-a-terrible-1832585148
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-02-12/yo-kai-watch-franchise-last-retail-store-closes-on-february-24/.143307
Ni No Kuni II
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/20/ni-no-kuni-ii-director-akihiro-hino-on-his-ghibli-childhood-and-working-with-the-quot-nintendo-kingdom-quot.aspx
Abby
https://gamerant.com/ni-no-kuni-level-5-expand-globally/
LBX Girls
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-05-02/lbx-girls-soko-musume-smartphone-game-ends-service/.172358
Fantasy Life Online
https://massivelyop.com/2023/01/09/level-5s-fantasy-life-online-is-shutting-down-for-good-next-month/
Ni No Kuni Cross Worlds
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/07/the-ni-no-kuni-mobile-game-is-making-an-absolute-killing/
https://www.mmobyte.tv/ni-no-kuni-cross-worlds-is-officially-dead/
https://play2moon.com/ni-no-kuni-cross-worlds-p2e-success-but-bad-reviews-from-gamers/
https://www.fanbyte.com/legacy/ni-no-kuni-cross-worlds-releases-globally-with-insidious-nfts
International closure
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/level-5-international-america-closes-design-department
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/level-5-has-virtually-halted-operations-in-north-america
https://medium.com/shinkretro/level-5s-failures-what-they-didn-t-learn-from-their-mistakes-one-year-later-c74d210fe1a0
