Marvelous, XSeed Form U.S. Co-Publishing Agreement

Japan-based publisher Marvelous (No More Heroes, Harvest Moon) and LA-based XSeed have announced a new agreement to establish a new co-publishing presence in the U.S., starting with PSP RPG Valhalla Knights 2 and more unannounced titles to follow. It's not yet clear if the news negates or supports earlier reports from the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, when Harvest Moon creator and Marvelous president Yasuhiro Wada suggested the company could open a U.S. branch within the next two years. At the time, Wada said the company would likely leave the Harvest Moon franchise with Western publisher Natsume. Marvelous traditionally has licensed out other titles to various publishers, including Ubisoft for the U.S. release of No More Heroes. The companies say the new deal will "help to establish a U.S. publishing presence for Marvelous Entertainment and will provide XSeed Games an opportunity to access and bring to market titles from Marvelous’ portfolio of high quality, popular games." The new agreement will begin with the fall 2008 launch of PlayStation Portable RPG Valhalla Knights 2, which the companies say gives "fans of the original game a vast and expansive world to explore, and the customization tools to create the ultimate battle party" with new races, job classes, weapons, magic spells, foes, and armor. Said Wada of the new deal, “We’re pleased to be able to announce our new expansion into the largest gaming market in the world, the United States. I’m confident that together with our co-publishing agreement with XSEED Games, we will be able to hit the ground running as we ramp up our US operations."