Devil's Third Dev Moves From Japan to Canada

Devil's Third developer, Valhalla Game Studios, has moved its headquarters from Japan to Canada in order have a stronger "development base in Western countries."

Studio founder Tomonobu Itagaki, who designing 2004's critically acclaimed action game Ninja Gaiden, explained the decision to move the studio away from its native country in a post on the studio's official website.

"Our group has excellent staff who are able to compete in at the top level in the world. We believe this is one of our big advantages. To maximize this advantage, we have transferred our headquarters to Canada," he said.

"It is better to set a development base in Western countries than Japan in order to gather talented creators scattered from all over the world and I have made a judgment that Vancouver is the most appropriate place for this."

Itagaki added that being based in Canada would allow Valhalla to "challenge the battlefield in front of us to create exciting games."

"By acquiring a new base for success, which enables us to use our global network, we will produce new games which can give more surprise to the game world," he said.

"We will keep producing the best games in the world focusing on entertaining game fans all over the world. I'm in the state of bliss that can sail against this endless challenge."

Canada is a popular location for game development studios due to the tax benefits its government provides studios. In addition to Ubisoft, studios such as BioWare, Rockstar, and EA have studios in the country.

In GameSpot's Devil's Third review critic Sean Bell awarded it a score of 3/10, calling it a "clunky, frustrating action" game that has "plenty of bugs."

He continued: "Despite the occasional laughs and wonderfully weird multiplayer modes, Devil's Third is near-impossible to recommend. The numerous issues with the controls as well as crucial elements of the game's combat systems soon mount up to provide an experience that frustrates far more often than it entertains, resulting in a missed opportunity for what could've been a cult hit."