When a video game becomes a hit, and it’s in a style that many developers/publishers think they can replicate, then they’ll go all out to make their version of what they feel will be “just as big a hit.” For example, when The Pokemon Company released their original “pocket monster” titles on the Game Boy, which became a massive phenomenon, numerous other companies tried to do the same over time. In 2013, the team over at Level-5 came up with the idea of Yo-Kai Watch. In it, a young man would work together with these “monster spirits” to help defeat the more monstrous types of Yokai out there.
The games arrived in 2013, and since then, there have been a set of handheld entries and a few on console. As you’ll notice in the picture above and below, the franchise has made its home on Nintendo with decent success. Overall, about 17 million copies of the franchise have been sold, which doesn’t even touch on the manga and anime that have spun off from the titles.
We’re bringing up this franchise because Yo-Kai Watch just celebrated its 10th anniversary! So to honor that, Akihiro Hino made a Twitter post showing off some of the games and merchandise:
For those who don’t speak Japanese, the message states:
“Today is the 10th anniversary of “Yokai Watch”. It’s early… Thank you for all the celebratory tweets! The 10th anniversary special site has been released, so please join us today! The next work that builds on the flow of Yokai Watch is steadily progressing. The announcement is still a little ahead, but please look forward to it!”
So the team already has an idea for the next game in the line, and they’re working on it right now. That will excite many in the fanbase and could intrigue others who have heard of the franchise but haven’t played it before.
The big question right now is, “Where will it release?” The easy answer is the Nintendo Switch, but it could eye a multi-platform release to try and reach more people. Another avenue here is that the franchise has been more popular in Japan than it has in the West. So could the team at Level-5 have something in mind to make it more “accessible” to those in that part of the world?
Clearly, the development team wants to keep this series alive, and that’s respectable. So let’s give them time and then see what they come up with.
