Tomonobu Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios has been hard at work on Devil’s Third, but there are serious impediments to the game coming out. The expense of releasing the game has reached a point where THQ can no longer spare the expense.
“The profitability profile for Devil’s Third no longer met our internal threshold and we are currently in discussions with third parties regarding the future of this title,” said THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell. “There were a couple of unforeseen events that happened during the development of Devil’s Third. One was the company that Valhalla was using for the engine went out of business, so we had to assist Itagaki and the team with a new engine – it took a fair amount of time and cost a fair amount of money.”
Another major business factor is the appreciation of the Japanese Yen destroying the game’s profit potential. While none of this bodes well for Devil’s Third, Farrell said that none of this has anything to do with the quality of the first game for Itagaki since he left Team Ninja in 2008. “We think it’s an excellent franchise; we’ve really enjoyed working with Itagaki-san, and we’re going to explore other opportunities with him and others to make sure this product comes to market,” said Farrell.
