Marvelous Switches To Licensing Model, Sells Stake In Rising Star Games

Citing lower than expected sales in the West and difficult market conditions, Marvelous revised their plan for overseas distribution.

Previously, Marvelous Entertainment’s strategy was to establish worldwide presence. They opened a North American subsidiary and made a joint venture with Bergsala, a Nordic Nintendo distributor, to start Rising Star Games in Europe.

Marvelous announced today they sold their 50% stake in Rising Star Games to Intergrow, a Japanese company that handles video, PC, and mobile phone games. Intergrow actually has a deal with Bergsala too. Those two companies formed Gamebridge, a London based publisher that handles Japanese games such as Happy Party with Hello Kitty and Friends and Overturn for WiiWare. This may explain why Rising Star Games and Gamebridge are working together on Way of the Samurai 3.

For future overseas releases, Marvelous will use a licensing model. Overseas publishers like Atlus, Ubisoft, Ignition, Xseed, and now Rising Star Games will have to bid for rights to Marvelous titles. Series developed by Marvelous include Harvest Moon, Luminous Arc, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and No More Heroes.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, which currently has no release date in Japan, comes out next week in North America care of Ubisoft. Ignition will publish Deadly Premonition for Xbox 360 next month.