So, with another mainline Youkai Watch announced (another YW3 version), it really seems like Level 5 is just carelessly riding the wave of YW's success. Yet this makes me wonder the future of the franchise. The 3DS will be replaced shortly, and with the NX still shrouded in mystery, Level 5 has to choose how to keep the franchise going from that point on.Level 5 has an unhealthy tendency of burning their blockbuster franchises too soon, and then jumping to the next (Inazuma Eleven and Prof. Layton come to mind).
They could either keep the franchise on the 3DS for as long as they possibly can, or jump as fast as possible to the NX to capitalize on the new system. Maybe they do like Pokemon and wait until the NX has a seizable userbase before releasing YW4-5. They could, however, go to mobile entirely. Small kids are the bulk of its fanbase, and they all have phones. But it's very dangerous releasing a game in mobile, specially if they decide to keep a somewhat full price (20-45€), because those amounts in mobile are really big comparatively.Or they can try and create another blockbuster IP and abandon YW when they decide it doesn't do the numbers they want.
What will they do? It's really one of the biggest IPs of this gen, but I don't think it has the bases to sustain itself througout the years, and Level 5's past history doesn't help.
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