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New interview with Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino (Guild Series, PS4, More)

D

duckroll

Member
http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20130405/1048563/

Nikkei did a rather lengthy interview with Hino. If anyone wants to translate the entire thing, feel free, but it's pretty fucking long. Some interesting points though:

- Fantasy Life has shipped about 300k units in Japan so far

- They are looking into porting more of the Guild series titles to iOS/Android, and possibly other platforms. Right now only Liberation Maiden is on iOS, but more will be coming. They're deciding on a title by title basis. They are also interested in releasing them on Android.

- Hino's next big challenge is trying to create a big Smartphone hit from scratch. He sounds very personally involved in this, and he wants to make something which can be exciting to play within 3 minute spans for people who are on the move while playing on their phones.

- Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon.

- Yokai Watch is their big commercial project for this year and he hopes that it is a big success. (No shit!)
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Interesting, that they`ll have announced their first PS4 project before something for WiiU. Doubt that its a L5 published title though.....Dark Cloud 3 would be.....good.
 
E

electroplankton

Banned
- Fantasy Life has shipped about 300k units in Japan so far
Nice! Totally unexpected.

- Hino's next big challenge is trying to create a big Smartphone hit from scratch. He sounds very personally involved in this, and he wants to make something which can be exciting to play within 3 minute spans for people who are on the move while playing on their phones.
Good luck!

- Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon.
Might this be a new jRPG for Sony?

- Yokai Watch is their big commercial project for this year and he hopes that it is a big success. (No shit!)
It looks cool.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Forgot about the Guild stuff, added to the OP.

It's also worth mentioning that Hino's impression of the PS4 is that it is not just a powerful machine, but it has strong communication functions. This networking element is what he finds more attractive about it. So whatever they're making is probably some sort of online game if I had to guess.
 
E

electroplankton

Banned
The Guild stuffs is the smartest move ever. I think they planned since the beginning to release them separately somewhere else. In the West it worked on eShop.
 
R

ReaperXL7

Member
The PS4 title i would assume would be the MMO he talked about in famitsu not long ago, unless they are working on something smaller first and then bring the MMO.

Either way, I know alloy of Gaf does not like Level 5, but they make allot of games i really like, and easily made one of my favorite JRPGs this generation, cant wait to see what they got next.
 
T

Takao

Banned
duckroll said:
Forgot about the Guild stuff, added to the OP.

It's also worth mentioning that Hino's impression of the PS4 is that it is not just a powerful machine, but it has strong communication functions. This networking element is what he finds more attractive about it. So whatever they're making is probably some sort of online game if I had to guess.
Click to expand...

WKC 3

why
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
duckroll said:
Forgot about the Guild stuff, added to the OP.

It's also worth mentioning that Hino's impression of the PS4 is that it is not just a powerful machine, but it has strong communication functions. This networking element is what he finds more attractive about it. So whatever they're making is probably some sort of online game if I had to guess.
Click to expand...

I could swear that he said the exactly same same about the Vita ? xD I wonder when they will announce something ground up developed for Vita.
 
R

Replicant

Member
- Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon.
Click to expand...

Please be Ni no Kuni 2!

Fuzz Rez said:
Weren't the sales kind of lukewarm? I loved the game but I'm not really expecting second game :( Maybe for Vita/3DS.
Click to expand...

In Japan, maybe. But it sold rather well in the west. NHF inferior handheld version.
 
S

serplux

Member
Fuzz Rez said:
Weren't the sales kind of lukewarm? I loved the game but I'm not really expecting second game :( Maybe for Vita/3DS.
Click to expand...

It did sell around 570,000 copies in Japan (for the DS version; the PS3 version sold around 100k), and Level-5's CEO said that he thought it was a hit, so I'd expect a sequel sometime. For what platform, I'm unsure.

cw_sasuke said:
I could swear that he said the exactly same same about the Vita ? xD I wonder when they will announce something ground up developed for Vita.
Click to expand...

They've pretty much transitioned all of their PSP/Vita titles over to the 3DS, so...
 
V

vareon

Member
- Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon.

Planning stages and announced soon? Sounds like Level-5!
 
Y

Yakitorii

Neo Member
The article is very inclining on the popularity of smartphone games and social gaming. Level-5 will be focussing a lot on it.

I am really interested in a Fantasy Life!
 
F

Fuzz Rez

Banned
Acrylic7 said:
hope we can get some Rouge galaxy 2 up in here.
I hope I'm not alone!
Click to expand...

I still need to play it! I lusted after it for years and when I finally bought it my PS2 gave up on me :( From the reviews I gathered it does have fair share of problems (what game doesn?) but it looks it's my cup of tea. I need to buy cheap PS2 since those bastards won't put it up on PSN.
 
S

StreetsAhead

Member
duckroll said:
- Fantasy Life has shipped about 300k units in Japan so far
Click to expand...

That's great. Nice to see another new IP doing well on 3DS. Maybe some superficial similarities with Animal Crossing helped too.

- Yokai Watch is their big commercial project for this year and he hopes that it is a big success. (No shit!)
Click to expand...

If it comes after Pokemon, maybe they can do the Fantasy Life thing and thrive off the hype, like FL and AC.
 
L

Lysander91

Banned
"Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon."
This can't be translated correctly.
 
F

Fuzz Rez

Banned
Lysander91 said:
"Level5 is currently in the planning stages for a PS4 title which might be announced soon."
This can't be translated correctly.
Click to expand...

Level 5 don't care. I'm still waiting for cardboard Senki for PSP. Or did they release it? There were some other PSP games announced that probably never see light of day.
 
Mikey Jr.

Mikey Jr.

Member
No mention of Ni No Kuni and how it sold, the only thing I give a fuck about.

Nice.


Level 5 said that if it sold well, they would look at a sequel. Arghhhh...............
 
L

Lysander91

Banned
Fuzz Rez said:
Level 5 don't care. I'm still waiting for cardboard Senki for PSP. Or did they release it? There were some other PSP games announced that probably never see light of day.
Click to expand...

If the PS4 launches in November they have less than half a year to develop the game.
 
F

Fuzz Rez

Banned
squall23 said:
wat?

Danball Senki 1 and 2 have already been released.........
Click to expand...

I just checked it as well. I just lost trace of them since they took their sweet time with them.
edit. I'm not sure if it even took that long but the hype around the games sure did die.
At some time it just seemed like Level 5 was announcing games and never releasing them. Ushiro is still in limbo or did they ninja release it as well?
 
H

Hours Left

Member
Just give me Fantasy Life, Starship Damrey, Time Travellers and PW vs. Layton and I'll be happy for a while.

(Two are all but confirmed, so we're on the right track.)
 
B

BishopLamont

Banned
Mikey Jr. said:
No mention of Ni No Kuni and how it sold, the only thing I give a fuck about.

Nice.


Level 5 said that if it sold well, they would look at a sequel. Arghhhh...............
Click to expand...
Considering Japan sales, and the relative success in EU/US, I think 1M~ worldwide is a realistic number.
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
Fuzz Rez said:
I just checked it as well. I just lost trace of them since they took their sweet time with them.
edit. I'm not sure if it even took that long but the hype around the games sure did die.
At some time it just seemed like Level 5 was announcing games and never releasing them. Ushiro is still in limbo or did they ninja release it as well?
Click to expand...

Ushiro turned into Time Travelers, which was released in Japan about nine months ago.
 
D

disco

Member
Looks like Nintendo is quickly losing one of its biggest supporters... Finally Level-5 is moving 100% behind iOS/Android. :(
 
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