February 9th, 2016. Bandai Namco Entertainment of America uploaded a video to their official YouTube channel, thanking fans for participating in the Operation Decode petition and purchasing 2015's Digimon All-Star Rumble, attributing the localization of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth earlier this month to their efforts. Four representatives testified their gratitude to fans, explaining that Operation Decode gave them "sixty-five thousand reasons" to localize Cyber Sleuth. The statement lines up with similar acknowledgements from producer Habu Kazumasa, who has been the number one fan of Digimon fans in the months leading up to Sleuth's international launch.
Fan reaction to the video has varied--one of the top comments on its page calls for Bandai to instead thank fans by localizing -next 0rder-. The narrative that Bandai is telling is clear, with its representatives all wearing fanmade Digimon shirts from Redbubble rather than any of the officially licensed ones. This is one victory that Bandai is ready to hand over to the world's Digimon tamers.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth launched in North America on February 2nd, 2016, and in Europe on the 5th of that same month. The game is available physically on the PlayStation 4, and digitally on both the PS4 and PlayStation Vita. Those that download the game during the month of February will receive all of its preorder DLC.
January 29th, 2016. In celebration of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth's international launch in North America on February 2nd and Europe on February 5th, producer Habu Kazumasa has sent out a special announcement through Bandai Namco Entertainment's European branch, thanking fans for their enthusiasm in supporting the Operation Decode petition. Stating that Cyber Sleuth is a game not just for Digimon fans, but for fans of role-playing games as a whole, Habu outlined how his aim was to capture an adult audience with the latest Digimon title, rather than its traditional child demographic. Ever since the financial problems of the Xros Wars era, Digimon has skewed increasingly towards a young adult demographic, targeting both fans that were children at the time of the franchise's height and newcomers with no prior familiarity to the series.
Habu has been an outspoken advocate of the fans in the past, repeatedlypointing outthe importanceof Operation Decodeto Sleuth's localization across many interviews with different publications. While Digimon has been backed into a corner for more than a decade by its failure to attract new audiences, Habu has hinted that the international success of Cyber Sleuth could lead to a franchise revival, including simultaneous worldwide launches of future games.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth will launch on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 in North America on February 2nd, 2016, and in Europe on February 5th, 2016. First print copies of the game will
come with downloadable content for Beelzebumon Blast Mode and Cherubimon Vice, two new Digimon exclusive to the international versions of Cyber Sleuth. While the Vita edition in North America and Europe is digital-only, the launch DLC will be available through the end of the month, and import seller Play-Asia is stocking a physical Asian-English edition of the game. The game is rated T in North America, and PEGI 12 in Europe.
On January 19th, Robert Ramsey of Push Squarepublished an interview with Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa, in anticipating of Sleuth's upcoming international launch. Habu discussed the methodology of his team's game design for Sleuth, explaining their reasoning behind directing a game at adults rather than children, and choosing turn-based over real time combat. One point in the interview stands out; when asked about calling Digimon the 'Pokémon of PlayStation,' Habu responded by defining an immense difference in concept and appeal between the two franchises.
"Pokémon is set in the fantasy world where the Pokémon's existence is normal. However, Digimon is based on a structure in which the various dramas are created by the encounters between the human beings of our reality and the Digimon from the unusual digital world.
While the Digimon's existence is abnormal and they are drawn as monsters, their common senses change through meetings between Digimon and humans, and then new relationships are created. I think this is the interesting, essential quality of Digimon."
Habu also pointed out that Digimon has become progressively more successful as a result of Digimon World Re:Digitize on the PlayStation Portable and Digimon Collectors on mobile phones shifting its age demographic higher. Implicitly, Habu is referring to the franchise's failure to appeal to children during the Xros Wars era--a time which proved devastating for the brand, in which less than 1% of all Japanese households were watching the TV anime, and initially strong toy sales ultimately petered into losses for Bandai.
Once again, Habu emphasized that there were originally no plans to
release Cyber Sleuth overseas at the time of its original development.
The producer attributed the game's international launch--as he has manytimesin thepast--to
the Operation Decode fan petition. As for whether future Digimon titles
will see localization, he stated "If this title becomes a success, we can hopefully consider a worldwide, simultaneous launch for the next title. [...] It will all
depend on [Cyber Sleuth's] success for the future."
The "next title" Habu alluded to is probably not meant to be thought of as -next 0rder-, due to the late stage of development the game is currently in and its rapidly-approaching Japanese launch date.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth will launch on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 in North America on February 2nd, 2016, and in Europe on February 5th, 2016. First print copies of the game will
come with downloadable content for Beelzebumon Blast Mode and Cherubimon Vice, two new Digimon exclusive to the international versions of Cyber Sleuth. While the Vita edition in North America and Europe is digital-only, the launch DLC will be available through the end of the month, and import seller Play-Asia is stocking a physical Asian-English edition of the game. The game is rated T in North America, and PEGI 12 in Europe.
In late December at Jump Festa 2016, journalist Katrine Baumgardt of Gamereactor DK interviewed Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa. Habu, who was dubbed over a translator for the interview, discussed his approach in designing the game to recapture former fans that had grown up with Digimon. Rather than the fantasy tone of past games, Habu gave Cyber Sleuth a science fiction slant that would deal more in the real world and in the Digimon's true nature as computer viruses.
Towards the end of his time, Habu touched on changes and enhancements made to the international version of the game, confirming for the first time that Cyber Sleuth's online multiplayer component will work across the PlayStation Network to connect players from around the world. This will allow players from North America and Europe alike to compete against one another, greatly
expanding the number of available competitors. Prior to this, in Japan fledgling tournament play emerged for Sleuth on top of its existing ranked multiplayer mode, being held as part of the quad-annual DIGIMADO event series. (Habu did not specify if the first version of the game launched in Japan, or the Taiwanese Sleuth that came out earlier this year, will be compatible with the English game.)
As in his numerouspastinterviews, Habu emphasized that the decision to localize Cyber Sleuth was motivated primarily by the Operation Decode fan petition. In choosing which Digimon players could choose to start the game with, Habu avoided choosing the most popular Digimon, instead making the iconic Agumon and Gabumon play a key storyline role. The starters for Sleuth were instead based around the traditional Vaccine-Virus-Data element triangle, which has had a background role in the Digimon games for many years. Habu also explained that as players clear the game additional times, they will be able to gain additional items and Digimon with each successive playthrough.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth will launch on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 in North America on February 2nd, 2016, and in Europe on February 5th, 2016. (In the interview, Habu says February 4th, but all previous information from Bandai has stated the 5th.) First print copies of the game will come with downloadable content for Beelzebumon Blast Mode and Cherubimon Vice, two new Digimon exclusive to the international versions of Cyber Sleuth. While the Vita edition in North America and Europe is digital-only, the launch DLC will be available through the end of the month, and import seller Play-Asia is stocking a physical Asian-English edition of the game. The game is rated T in North America, and PEGI 12 in Europe.
December 3rd, 2015. Bandai Namco EU announced over Twitter today that they will be interviewingDigimon Story: Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa at Jump Festa 2016, and the company is asking fans to submit their own questions. This year's Jump Fetsa will be held over December 19th and 20th at the Makuhari Messe expo center.
November 19th, 2015. In a recent interview with Todd Ciolek of Anime News Network, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa explained his decision making process behind the game. Habu has been the producer for Digimon games since 2008, around the era of Digimon Championship on the Nintendo DS. Being directed at both nostalgic fans and newcomers to the franchise, Habu chose the Story series for its easy-to-get-into features, and drew ideas from the franchise's original line of digital toys.
According to Habu, Cyber Sleuth was influenced by new technology and current discussions about virtual reality. He focused on including the most iconic Digimon to the game while introducing almost no new monsters, as opposed to forcing in all of the currently existing one-thousand-plus Digimon. Habu explained that the English version of the game's long-anticipated Hard Mode will be available from the moment the player starts the game, while the New Game Plus feature will be available after one complete run of Sleuth. He also alluded to modifications made to the strength of certain Digimon's skills, potentially rebalancing a somewhat skewed metagame.
“The localized version of Cyber Sleuth was approved because of a
passionate campaign run by fans that had a petition signed by 65,000
people. [...] When we found out we were so cheered
that we decided to bring a localized Cyber Sleuth to North America.”
As in previousinterviews, Habu emphasized the power of Operation Decode's massive fan petition in persuading Bandai to localize the game. The producer also touched on the idea of making "toys and animation based on this narrative and world," but the success of the game overseas is Bandai's first priority.
October 16th, 2015. Today Allisa James of DualShockerspublished her interview with Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa, conducted at New York Comic-Con just last week. In it, Habu describes how the game is designed "so people not familiar with Digimon would still be accessible," while at the same time "trying to target to older fans who were fans of Digimon as kids." Habu stressed that both the Cyber Sleuth team and those responsible for Digimon Adventure tri.'s development felt it was important to "take care of" their teen and adult fans, though the two groups were not actually collaborating. Cyber Sleuth had already finished development by the time work on the movies began, making the current direction of the franchise something of a happy accident.
The international debut of Cyber Sleuth came at the intersection of the franchise's new direction and immense western interest in the game. Habu was surprised by the passion of fans in the US, stating that seeing the Operation Decode petition made Bandai realize they could bring Cyber Sleuth to international players. He also referred to having a "sense of honor" about localizing Cyber Sleuth for the western market, nearly ten years after the second game in the Digimon Story series (Sunburst/Moonlight) had been translated in the west. A similar statement was made in his Gematsu interview from the same day.
Habu remained vague about just how many copies Bandai wants Cyber Sleuth
to sell in order to secure Digimon's future in North America, but
suggested reaching the same figures as in Japan. This would be about
120,000 units in ten weeks, four times the initial western sales of Digimon Story Sunburst/Moonlight in 2007. If Cyber Sleuth were to hit these numbers, it would tied with Digimon Savers: Another Mission for the fifth best-selling
Digimon game of all time, surpassed by Digimon Adventure Anode Tamer,
Digimon Story Sunburst/Moonlight, the original Digimon Story, Digimon World 2, and the fifteen-years record holder Digimon World.
On October 13th, JakeJames Lugos of The Koalitionalso published a video interview with Habu, who spoke through a translator. Here too Habu stressed the importance of the Operation Decode petition, emphasizing the 65,000+ signatures and his gratitude to those fans for demonstrating their enthusiasm. Habu reiterated his points about targeting both core fans and newcomers, and also revealed near the end of the interview that the original idea for the Cyber Sleuth's online multiplayer came from the handheld Digimon toys, referring to the Digital Monster, Pendulum, and Digivice games from 1997-2001. The Cyber Sleuth team wished to expedite the experience of battling and make it easier for Digimon tamers to do so.
October 10th, 2015. Today American games journalism outlet Gematsu published their interview with Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth producer Habu Kazumasa, conducted Friday at Comic-Con New York. In it, Habu explains how Cyber Sleuth was designed to attract new players unfamiliar with the Digimon brand, and the type of thought that went into revamping the Digimon Story battle system. Notably, Habu made direct reference to the Operation Decode petition responsible
for the games' western revival;
We knew we had a lot of fans here
in the global market because of the petition for the game’s
localization. The petition gave us a lot of strength and confidence that
we can still bring Digimon to a lot of fans here in North America.
We picked the Digimon Story series’ game systems instead of the Digimon World systems because we wanted a simplified battle system for new players to get into. We wanted this battle system to be very simple. Instead of the positioning thing, we redesigned the battle system with different kinds of features.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth will launch in 2016 for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. Gematsu suggested a unified release date for Cyber Sleuth between the game's North American and European releases.
