The Last Story, the latest RPG from
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and his studio Mistwalker, will release in North America this year thanks to niche publisher Xseed Games.
It's uncharacteristic for Nintendo, which co-developed and published the Wii game last year in Japan (it's also shipping the game in Europe this week), to allow another company to localize and sell one of its titles. Sega publishing
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the West is another rare exception.
But Nintendo has experimented with its Japanese RPG releases for Wii recently, such as
choosing to sell Xenoblade Chronicles in the U.S. with a limited release through GameStop and its own website, following a fan campaign to bring the title Stateside.
Mistwalker's
The Last Story was also a part of that campaign, as gamers noticed the RPG received rave reviews and even a system bundle in Japan. Many were also attracted by the involvement of
Final Fantasy veterans like director Hironobu Sakaguchi and composer Nobuo Uematsu.
The Last Story will likely be one of the few major titles for the aging Wii console this year, as Nintendo focuses on putting out its Wii U successor this holiday season. Xseed hasn't set a specific date for the game's release yet, though it intends to put it out this summer.
Xseed specializes in releasing Japanese games that tend to have limited appeal but devoted audiences, such as Nihon Falcom's
Ys series, CyberConnect 2's
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, and Acquire's
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls.
