NIS America (NISA) and Spike Chunsoft have announced that the latter will be taking over publishing duties for the Danganronpa series.
For those unfamiliar, the games developed by Spike Chunsoft, and are a series of murder-mystery visual novels. Students with exceptional talents (even those in more dubious fields such as fortune telling or being a delinquent) have been trapped inside their school and other locations.
A sinister being using Monokuma pulls the strings, incentivizing the students to kill one another. A class trial then begins, where the murderer must be found, or the innocent- usually the protagonist- will be condemned to death.
Players must point out inconsistencies and present evidence, even while conversations and arguments are going at a million miles an hour. This leads to the series’ title, “dangan” meaning bullet in Japanese and “ronpa” meaning to refute.
While NISA had handled the publishing of the games outside of Japan, they have announced they would no longer be the publisher of the games on the PlayStation Store. The phrasing would seem to indicate that the titles will no longer be sold on the PlayStation Store, rather than just transferred to a new publisher.
“Select Danganronpa titles on the PlayStation™Store will no longer be available for purchase from NIS America. Please refer to the dates listed below for more information on when each title will no longer be available.
- Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girl (PS Vita) 08/31/2020
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PS Vita) 09/4/2020
- Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (PS Vita) 09/4/2020
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS Vita) 09/25/2020
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS4™) 09/25/2020″
Spike Chunsoft later announced on Twitter that they would be taking over publishing of the series. “Attention, students: Spike Chunsoft, Inc. will take over publishing for the Danganronpa series. Please look forward to an official statement once details are finalized.”
The reason why or how this change has come about is not yet known to the public. It would stand to reason there would be little point in transferring who would publish the games unless a new game was to come in the future. Spike Chunsoft hinted at their plans for the series’ 10th anniversary around the launch of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on Android and iOS.
Then again, even as ownership of IPs and publishing rights change it is rare to see a change for games already being sold on digital stores. The last main game (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony) was in 2017, with Danganronpa Trilogy in 2019.
This could mean Spike Chunsoft wish to have greater control over how a future title or port is distributed and localized worldwide, or some far more mundane dealings with contracts on older titles. We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Image: NIS America