Tetsuya Nomura stated in a recent interview that they’ve been looking for “an opportunity” for a The World Ends With You sequel, but things haven’t yet worked out.
Nomura is the Creative Producer and Main Character Designer on the series and is perhaps best known for his work on the Kingdom Hearts series. In a recent post on Nintendo’s website featuring the developers behind The World Ends With You -Final Remix-, Nomura stated his intentions for the series and its future.
He mentioned that ever since the original was released back in 2007 for the Nintendo DS, fans have been asking him and his team for a sequel:
I’ve had a chance to attend various events in different countries during the 11 years following the release of The World Ends With You. On many occasions, I have been interviewed by both the fans and the media, who have told me how much they want me to make a sequel for The World Ends With You.
Nomura continues that they were looking for “an opportunity” but it never came to a realization. He also states that -Final Remix- will be the last time he works on the original game. His intention for working on the Switch release was to help in “creating a path to the next step” which he’s had ideas for since when the original came out 11 years ago.
We’ve been looking for an opportunity, and there were a few times we tried to get it started, but time passed without it ever coming to realisation.
There are a number of implications behind this -Final Remix- version. In addition to my intention of making this my last time working with the original game, I think this is the final chance for creating a path to the next step, which I’ve had ideas about since the first launch 11 years ago. Many thanks to everyone for supporting ongoing efforts.
Nomura basically says buy the game if you want a sequel. Sounds fair.
The World Ends With You, although a critical masterpiece, was never a huge seller. With the DS release selling around 800k units worldwide, disappointing numbers considering the DS’s circulation at the time. The game was released for iOS later in 2012, where again it received rave reviews. The World Ends With You -Final Remix- is the third release of the game and we’re hopeful that it manages to selling more than Square Enix’s expectation. However things don’t look good according to the game’s first week sale numbers in Japan. We’ll keep you posted when we hear more sales numbers in the coming weeks.
The World Ends With You -Final Remix- releases later this week on October 12 in the West exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. The game released a few weeks early in Japan on September 27.
Are you a fan of The World Ends With You? Will you buy the Switch release? Let us know your thoughts on the game and Nomura’s comments below.
