Ben-DutkaIt was supposed to be one of THQ's single biggest projects, but developer Valhalla Games will now have to search for a new publisher.
Eurogamer has learned that THQ has returned the rights to Devil's Third to designer Tomonobu Itagaki and the team at Valhalla. The bottom line is that they just didn't feel it was a good fit.
That being said, former Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive guru Itagaki holds no grudges:
"Most important thing is gamers' happiness. And people in business side like distributers and presses. And developers. It's a Happy Three. So we can't thank THQ enough. Anyway, we now own the Devil's Third IP."
Apparently, the game is in the "final stage" of development now and unfortunately, this is the time when it's most expensive. The problem involved the necessary marketing and added cost; hence, THQ didn't see it fitting into their "mid-term plan." Finished Itagaki:
"They didn't want to part with this IP, but we all have to see into the future and at last they did, for us. We were anguished and they were really kind to us. Mr. Danny Bilson was searching for a way to work together until the very end. I do appreciate him and THQ managers that signed the transfer contract."
So who wants to pick this up? How's about you, Square Enix? You nabbed the formerly named True Crime: Hong Kong (now called Sleeping Dogs ) from Activision. Want another high-octane action project…?
