Devil's Third Developer Valhalla Game Studios Goes International and Launches Vancouver HQ

Never seen this guy without sunglasses before.

"We want to gather talent from across the world".
Well you're not gonna get it all by asking them to move into a blizzard. You're better off in London, New York or California for that.

@Expa0 : Same here, they are still on the picture.

I wonder who funds Valhalla. 1 game in 6 years which didn't sell good.
I liked Devil's Third alot myself thou.

I hope they become successful. I mostly prefer Japanese made games than Western ones.

@Dezzy Actually Canada is one of the premier places to find talent for video game development.

Bioware (Do I even need to list what they have done?)
Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)
Ubisoft Montreal (Assassin's Creed & Watch Dogs)
Next Level Games (you know those guys who made the new Punch Out and Luigi's Mansion)
Capcom Vancouver (Dead Rising 2&3)
Relic Entertainment (Homeworld & Warhammer 40,000)
Even Rockstar have branches in Canada in both Toronto (helped develop GTA V) and Vancouver (Max Payne 3)
Behaviour Interactive (helped develop Wolfenstein: The New Order and Fallout 4)

I would not say that Canada is not a place to find top notch talent. Canada is a growing powerhouse for developers in North America and Vancouver is also getting larger with each year in developing the industry.

@Ventilator I was wondering the same thing. This sounds like a really expensive move for a company that has only produced one game to mediocre reviews and one that nearly didn't even get finished if Nintendo hadn't picked it up.

Hopefully EA wont purchase them at the sight of good progress

@Dezzy I actually don't think we got any snow this winter here. Just rain and rain and more rain.

It's always nice to see a gaming company coming into your back yard essentially. It feels like we've been losing companies here. I believe rockstar closed their doors a couple years back and a couple others I can't recall.

@FragRed : Yeah. Their next "big game" is a port of a unpopular games, where single player is removed.
Since they are 2 teams now, maybe they can make 2 games at the same time.

@ARM1384 Nice to hear it has been nice over in Vancouver. We have had the same thing over on the east coast. A lot of rain and not too much snow. Feels weird to say that about Canada in winter time.

Yeah heard about that. I think they merged with the Toronto branch.

@Dezzy Errr, Canada has several of the biggest video game studios. Montreal is one of the center city for that (somehow).

Does anyone here got Devils Third? How is the online doing...? Is there like, 30 persons on the busiest day or...?

I was honestly interested in those multiplayer modes.

"...We will keep producing the best games..." They'll have to start doing that before that can keep doing it, unless he feels Devil's Turd is one of 'the best games.' Though perhaps he is referring to what Valhalla's staff did before they joined Valhalla.

@Expa0 LOL I literally clicked on this article to post the same thing. I didn't know the sunglasses came off.

Tomonobu Itagaki has wonderful eyes. First time Ive seen him without shades on. I do think this could be the next 'Platinum Games' studio (sort-of). And even though Devil's Third was a bit generic, it was a decent first game from a 'new' studio/development team. It can only go up from here.

@Wexter you forgot EA Sports is based in Van. My cousin used to work there

@NinChocolate Oh, really. What was it like there? Or did he tell you?

@Operationgamer17 ya he said he liked it. They have nice facilities there with different services for recreation and comfort. He was hired by Microsoft after a few years of writing code for EA

To me this shows Itagaki is really commited to make more western style games. I can't help but think that his core fans love his work that had a bombastic Japanese style instead.

The question is: is he better off making great games a small niche will always buy, or average games there is a chance a percentage of a big market may buy? Time will tell....

@Thegentleman Lol, judging the quality they could muster for Devil's Third that will be a long time coming!!!

I really enjoyed Devils third. It was basically red steel 3. It's a shame I can't log more hours playing team death match.

I believe DeNA also has a Vancouver studio

To fight the horde, singing and crying, "Valhalla, I am coming!"

I would like to check out devil's third eventually still, it was a shame how it played out in the marketplace it had a lot of initial promise.

Canada also produces FIFA, NHL. Yeah, Canada... it's in the game.

@Dezzy LOL at thinking Vancouver has blizzards. We barely ever have any snow let alone blizzards. It's the warmest city in the entire country. Also, we have Klei, who make Don't Starve and Invisible Inc.

@Smokingspoon
I wasn't talking about Canada, I was talking about Vancouver. Montreal's nearer to more civilization!

Sounds pretty ambitious; I wonder where he got the capital (was Devils third successful??). That would be funny if he has financiers from the Japanese underworld.

Devil's Third was supremely entertaining trash. Not sure how it could have been the foundation for a successful studio, though.

@Dezzy Isn't Valhalla supposed to be among snowy mountains?

As always, modesty is the greatest quality of this team... They just need to male some good games, then they should talk again, not that DT isn't good, but they need a Little more effort. Wish them good luck, but i'm skeptical if they don't change their attitude...

@Dezzy Vancouver is like, less than 3 hours driving to Seattle, and it is also probably in the top 5 for biggest cities for game development in NA

That is what I'm trying to figure out what he meant by "blizzard" and "civilization". I mean Vancouver is one of the least snowy areas in Canada and as you pointed out is just a skip of the pond away from Seattle.

Hurray, more developers in Canada!

@Dezzy My bad. I think Vancouver is more associated as being the capital of scifi, especially X-Files.

I like his hair

Haha, he looks kind of like an asian Tommy Wiseau.

Dear Itagaki-San

I know you're not working on Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3. But could you make an Xtreme game for NX too? Only with Nintendo characters? And if you do, please remember that half of all gamers are women. Demographics are changing all the time. So, please, for Nintendo Beach Xtreme, give Link a private paradise.

Yours Truly...
me!

Is that a cave woman?

Devil's Fourth when?

Sweet, maybe we'll see more interesting projects pop up. I'm already looking forward to their RUNE engine.

I don't think I have ever seen this man's eyes! Hope it works out for him.

So he definitely has a pair of eyes....

make something good and we'll talk

I would like too see Itagaki-san too develop another game for the NX from the ground up, enjoyed Devils Third even tho it had problems.

Wow, he looks like a trustful fellow.....NOT

@Dezzy Ubisoft? Eidos? Gameloft? Warner Bros.?

@TheDavyStar

Lol, people maybe slightly misinterpreting what I was saying. I wasn't saying Vancouver was necessary a bad place. Just that it's not the first place you'd think of to deliberately move to if your intent was to "gather talent from across the world". New York, Toronto or London would probably be better. They're all much nearer to heavily populated areas. That's all I was saying!

@Dezzy Oooohhh, I see. Whoops!

@Smokingspoon usually about 3 if inactive
about 20-25 if active

it's a local community, I usually see the same people plus a few newcomers each day, it's pretty nice.

@Smokingspoon usually about 3 if inactive
about 20-25 if active

it's a local community, I usually see the same people plus a few newcomers each day, it's pretty nice.

@boopidy That's pretty low.. Unless it works alright for that game. There's probably 6 times that amount still playing Counter-Strike 1 lol

Anyway, I'm still interested, I just hope I can find it on discount or rental before it's too late.

@Smokingspoon You could tell it was meant for a huge audience, but I dunno, it works pretty well the way it is, plus you can meet some friendly people in the chat room

tbh, I can't put that game down, this and Pokken are the two games I am absolutely in love with at the moment, single player is meh, but online is super addictive.