Natsume Announces New IP Codenamed Project Happiness

3DS

by J.P. Corbran - May 31, 2012, 5:02 pm EDT
Total comments: 7

The new game from the creator of Harvest Moon will be revealed at E3.

A new game from Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of Harvest Moon, will be unveiled by Natsume at E3. Codenamed Project Happiness, the game is the product of a partnership between Natsume, TOYBOX and Rising Star Games.

Wada left his position at Grasshopper Manufacture late last year, along with colleague Yoshiro Kimura, to form the new company of TOYBOX Inc. According to his presentation at this year's GDC, the game he is working on goes in "a completely different direction" from the farming mechanic in Harvest Moon. He also mentioned in a recent interview that he is currently developing for a portable game system.

"Project Happiness is an IP that is very close to my heart," says Wada, "and stems from years of working on other great titles like the Harvest Moon series." He goes on to say that "Project Happiness is not only meant to be a fun game experience, but I also want it to help expand the player's view of the world, and make them ponder what their life means to them."

The game will be published by Natsume in North America and by Rising Star Games in Europe, and the companies plan to release more information about it throughout the year, beginning at E3.

PRESS RELEASE

Codename: Project Happiness Unveiled

Natsume Inc., TOYBOX, and Rising Star Games Go For Global Happiness With New IP.

Burlingame, CA. - May 31, 2012 - Natsume Inc., a worldwide developer and publisher of family-oriented video games, announced today a partnership between Natsume, TOYBOX, and Rising Star Games to bring a new type of game to a global audience: Project Happiness (Working title; the final name of the title will be revealed at a later date). Natsume will be bringing this novel title to audiences in the Americas, with Rising Star Games publishing the title in Europe. The title is being developed by Yasuhiro Wada, the "Father of Harvest Moon," and his studio, TOYBOX in Tokyo, Japan. More information about the exciting new IP from Yasuhiro Wada will be revealed during E3 2012, taking place June 5th - 7th in Los Angeles.

"Project Happiness is the culmination of Wada-san's many years of creating fun and wholesome gaming entertainment, and we're incredibly excited to be working alongside TOYBOX and Rising Star Games throughout this project," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO of Natsume. "As more details are revealed throughout the year, players will begin to understand why we think Project Happiness will be the next major IP and fan favorite for Natsume."

Filled with adventure, discovery, and wonder, Project Happiness will warm the hearts of gamers both young and old! It's an experience that will fill you with motivation and magical memories!

"Project Happiness is an IP that is very close to my heart, and stems from years of working on other great titles like the Harvest Moon series," said Yasuhiro Wada, CEO of TOYBOX. "Project Happiness is not only meant to be a fun game experience, but I also want it to help expand the player's view of the world, and make them ponder what their life means to them. From the very beginning of the idea of this product, we knew that to help bring its true vision to light, we wanted to partner with quality publishers who share our values like Natsume and Rising Star Games."

"Rising Star Games considers itself privileged to work together on the wonderful new IP Project Happiness with our friends at TOYBOX and Natsume," said Martin Defries, Managing Director & COO of Rising Star Games. "Our previous collaborations to bring great games to Rising Star Games European audience has been a highlight of our game release history. The shared goal of all of us is to bring compelling entertainment to gamers, Wada-san and TOYBOX have an unquestioned skill in doing that."

Yasuhiro Wada and Natsume will host behind-closed doors meetings to reveal the first details of Project Happiness at E3 where Natsume will host a booth in the South Hall, booth 515. As the Project peels back its secretive curtains, players can find all the latest information via Natsume at www.natsume.com/facebook and www.twitter.com/natsume_inc.

Talkback

Jonnyboy117Jonathan Metts, Associate EditorMay 31, 2012

You haven't really unveiled anything when we still don't know the real name or even what kind of game it is, nor have we seen so much as a single screen of it.

Chozo GhostJune 01, 2012

I predict this will come out a year from now in Japan, and then a year after that it will come out in Europe. Then if we're lucky, about 5 years later after a huge fan campaign and petition, Reggie may finally decide to bring it over to North America at the tail end of the Wii U's life cycle.

ThanerosJune 01, 2012

Maybe a game about making your spouse happy :P: :

NWR_insanolordJ.P. Corbran, Community ManagerJune 01, 2012

Quote from: Chozo

Reggie has nothing to do with it. As I said in the article, the game is being published by Natsume in North America, so unless NoA decides to deny approval of the game for no good reason they will have no effect on when the game is released.

There are already perfectly good reasons to be upset with the way Nintendo of America operates; there is no need to invent new ones for the sake of complaining.

tendoboy1984June 01, 2012

Quote from: Thaneros

Maybe a game about making your spouse happy :P: : :

That would be pretty easy for most people. ;)

TeaHeeJune 01, 2012

I would be in a catch 22 then. Because the game would have to be about not playing games to make my spouse happy so by playing it I would of course make her unhappy. The point is she thinks I should play games less.

rlse9June 01, 2012

I hope this turns out to be something interesting. The first couple Harvest Moon games (SNES and N64) were absolutely brilliant games. The series since then has fallen off a little bit, the Rune Factory games were an interesting idea and some of the others were decent but nothing has captured the magic of Harvest Moon 64.

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