Atlus takes over Dragon's Crown publishing, says it's forced to increase the price

Atlus has taken over publishing duties for Vanillaware's PS3/PS Vita game Dragon's Crown, and has called Ignition Entertainment's previous announcements for the game "ambitious and unfounded conjecture." Ignition has suffered numerous setbacks in recent years, including layoffs, multiple office and studio closures, its abandonment of internal game development, and alleged mismanagement of company funds. Last June the British publisher said it would ship Vanillaware's action RPG in 2012 with a budget price of $29.99. When Atlus announced it's acquisition of the North American and Japanese publishing rights for Dragon's Crown on Thursday night, though, it said that release estimate and price aren't possible. "... The game simply cannot retail for $29.99," said Atlus' PR manager Aram Jabbari. "We don't know where that price point came from, but it is a logistical impossibility. We're all gamers and we all wished it could be so, but it would have essentially destroyed any chance for profitability." He continued, "When we took over the reins, we realized that a lot of the information made available to the public was ambitious and unfounded conjecture." He also suggested Ignition released this information without first discussing it with Japanese developer Vanillaware (Muramasa, Odin Sphere). "The release timing, the pricing, and many of the features detailed for fans and members of the press were simply unknowable at the time they were disseminated (and frankly we were quite shocked to find out that many of the details were made public unbeknownst to even the developers)," said Jabbari. Ignition (now a part of Disney after the corporation purchased Ignition's parent company UTV in February), released its own statement regarding the discrepancy. "Since the initial announcement, information on timing and features in the game have changed, and other details regarding design and functionality are yet to be determined," said Ignition Entertainment SVP Lokesh Dhar. Atlus now says Dragon's Crown will release in North America in 2013. Members from its Persona series development team have become involved with the project to serve as producers. The game is currently listed for $49.99 on Amazon.