Level-5's 3DS smash hit Yo-Kai Watch will be leaving the comfort of its home country to explore international markets in 2015. This news comes directly from Level-5 president Akihiro Hino, who spoke to ZAKZAK, a digital branch of Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper. The quote was then translated by NeoGAF user zeromcd73:
In regards too foreign markets, we have been taking a look at it in regards to Yo-Kai Watch. We are in development planning to release it sometime next year. We think it has a big appeal as a very Japanese-ish fantasy story. We already have support from a foreign toy maker company saying that it will be a definite success.
If you haven't heard about Yo-Kai Watch, it is the latest gaming craze sweeping Japan. It's often described as the next Pokemon, only instead of capturing pocket monsters, you are befriending Japanese spirits. The original game was released in July 2013 and had very slow sales for a few months. However, once a tie-in anime began airing, sales shot up astronomically, helping it cross the million mark. A sequel was released this July two forms — mirroring Pokemon's typical dual SKUs — and after only one month on shelves, it managed to break two million copies sold.
Localization plans have been brewing for a while, but it's suspected that those plans weren't launched right away due to how heavily the games rely on Japanese culture and mythology. With such sales numbers, however, Level-5 would be foolish not to give a worldwide release a shot. Looks like they finally decided to charge ahead.
