Harvest Moon Creator Announces "Project Happiness"

Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada recently set up his own studio, TOYBOX, with a simple message: "we are gaming for Love, Peace and Earth." Natsume, Rising Star Games and TOYBOX have just announced Project Happiness — a temporary title — with more details to come at E3.

The announcement doesn't give much more away than that, but does specify "Project Happiness will warm the hearts of gamers both young and old." Sounds very much like a Wada creation: as well as Harvest Moon, he also worked closely with Yoshiro Kimura on the similarly heartwarming Little King's Story.

Natsume, Rising Star and Wada all have plenty of history on Nintendo platforms, so we're pretty confident this'll come to 3DS or possibly even Wii U.

CODENAME: PROJECT HAPPINESS UNVEILED

Rising Star Games, TOYBOX and Natsume Inc. go for global happiness with new IP

31 May 2012 – Rising Star Games today announces its partnership with TOYBOX and Natsume to bring an exciting new IP to the global audience: Project Happiness (working title).

Developed by Yasuhiro Wada, the ‘Father of Harvest Moon’, and his new studio TOYBOX, Rising Star Games will publish the title in Europe and PAL territories - Natsume handling the Americas. More information about Project Happiness will be revealed by Yasuhiro Wada during E3 2012.

“Rising Star Games is privileged to work on the wonderful new IP Project Happiness with our friends at TOYBOX and Natsume,” said Martin Defries, managing director, Rising Star Games. “Our previous collaborations to bring great games to Rising Star Games European audience are 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.”

With decades of combined experience in producing family-friendly games, TOYBOX will delight gamers young and old with adventure, discovery and wonder.

“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."

"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.”

Yasuhiro Wada 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.