Dentsu Entertainment USA and TV Tokyo have partnered with Hasbro to bring the popular multimedia franchise Yo-Kai Watch to Western markets, including North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.
Hasbro will create a toy line based on the franchise, which will be in stores in 2016. The press release stated that “the Yo-Kai Watch cross-platform experience will also include additional broadcasting, video game and merchandising relationships to be announced later this year.” This follows after many teases that the games will be coming West. Level-5 early last year filed a trademark for “Yokai Watch”. Will the West finally be getting Yo-kai Watch games?
Yo-Kai Watch, a series of video games created by Level-5 for the Nintendo 3DS, have sold 6.5 million units in Japan. The story centers on a young boy who gets a special watch, which gives him the power to discover and summon strange creatures called Yo-kai.
Yo-Kai Watch has been so successful in Japan that it’s spawned an anime, which remains the top-rated show for children across all genres on TV Tokyo; manga and related books, which have sold millions of copies; and many toys and other merchandise.
Thanks to Business Wire.