Report: New Level-5 North American Location To Develop Games

Fukuoka, Japan-based Professor Layton developer Level-5 is using its new California offices not only for sales and distribution duties, but also actual game development, according to media reports. "We have five staff members at present [in California]," said Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino in an interview with Japanese business outlet Nikkei Trendy, as translated by Andriasang. "Titles that are being planned in the North American office are being developed in that region," Hino added. "The office staff is mostly Japanese, but we're using a style of development where we collaborate with local staff, so I believe we'll be able to make something that matches the North American market well." He also hinted that the studio could be looking at downloadable game development for mobile platforms and home game consoles. The studio is currently primarily focusing on gaming markets in Japan, North America and Europe. News of a North American Level-5 office emerged early last year. Publisher and developer Level-5 is also the studio behind games including Dark Cloud, Inazuma Eleven, White Knight Chronicles and the popular Nintendo DS RPG Dragon Quest IX, which has sold 5.3 million units to date.