Level-5 has enjoyed plenty of success as a company, with brands such as Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven, but Yo-kai Watch has been on another level entirely. Just recently the company announced that the IP has sold over seven million games on the 3DS, 200 million Yo-kai medal toys, 10 million books, and its movie has made over $60 million at the box office. That's all in Japan alone, showing what a phenomenon it's become.

Despite its consistently strong run in Japan, and the fact that the third main series game is due to be announced soon (not counting all the multiple iterations of previous entries individually), it's surprising that we're yet to have full details of how the franchise will come to the West. Level-5 has said it's working on it, and the challenge will be determining which games to localise, in what form, while also tying in the anime and merchandise to try and replicate the success enjoyed in Japan.

We seem to be getting tangibly closer, however, with Viz Media confirming that the anime series will be "coming soon" to Europe.

That's all we know, but if there's to be a strategy to maximise the popularity of the IP, we suspect a game and other merchandise won't be far behind.

Are you excited about Yo-kai Watch coming to the West?

[source gonintendo.com]