Earlier this week, Konami surprised many people when it published a brand-new game on the Nintendo Switch and other platforms called Skelattack.

If you're still wondering how this came about, it's all part of the Japanese company's new strategy to strengthen its position within the western market.

Senior European brand and business development manager at Konami, Richard Jones, explained to gamesindustry.biz how the company wanted some "complementary titles" to go alongside its major IPs:

Obviously everyone knows Konami, we have studios and teams in Japan, we have many well-known, well loved IPs. They're all being managed and looked after by our studios in Japan, and what we're looking for is complementary titles, to build the portfolio with things that perhaps [are] new to Konami -- Western titles for Western audiences.

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Konami says it's also open to projects of all sizes in the future - as long as it fits its criteria of being creative, innovative, and ambitious. It's in it for the long-term as well, according to Jones:

We're only now just going public with this, with the release of Skelattack, [but] I'm sure you can imagine that this has been planned for months. So, right now, we're looking at short and mid-term titles that need funding and publishing support to realise their potential. I think long-term, from my perspective, it's about forming creative partnerships with studios. It's about bringing original projects to fruition. This is something that we're keen to invest in and are willing to put time and resources into.

We are looking at this long-term, but we understand that in order to get to that point, there are steps along the path. We've been talking to many people, we have a few irons in the fire if you like, and hopefully you'll see some of those come to fruition in the not too distant future.

Are you looking forward to seeing what other projects Konami ends up supporting in the western video game market? Share your thoughts down below.

[source gamesindustry.biz]