On January 19th, Robert Ramsey of
Push Square published 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
many times in the past--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.
