Ni no Kuni Dev Level-5 Reportedly All But Ceases NA Operations

Game releases outside Japan no longer certain

GamesIndustry.biz reports that Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom developer Level-5 has reduced its North American presence to a skeleton crew. According to sources close to the website and familiar with the situation, both Level-5 International America and Level-5 Abby began laying off the majority of its staff partway through 2019 as operations wound down. This has called into question the release of the studio's titles outside of Japan, with one source stating that "there were currently no concrete plans for any more Level-5 games" to come to other territories.

When layoffs occurred, no concrete reason was given. In the case of Level-5 Abby, however, employees were said to be "given every indication" that the developer would eventually be shuttered. One other indicator of operations slowing down is the lack of virtually any social media posting since October 2018. It is not yet known what this means for the third mainline Ni no Kuni title currently in development and its release in US and European territories.

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Source: Pushsquare