Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino has confirmed the next Yo-kai Watch game is currently in development, and while an official reveal is still some time away, there’s plenty of reasons to get excited now – particularly for Yo-kai Watch fans in the West.
‘Today marks the 10th anniversary of Yo-kai Watch. Time sure flies,’ Hino said on Twitter, per translation from Noisy Pixel. ‘We’re steadily working on the next instalment which incorporates the flow of the series. There’s still some time before we can make an official announcement, but stay tuned!’
Beyond the anime adaptation, the Yo-kai Watch franchise has largely been dormant over the last few years. Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y, a school-themed spinoff launched in 2020, was the last game to be released, although this (and many other games in the Yo-kai Watch series) did not leave Japan.
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Notably, the vast majority of Yo-kai Watch games have never released in the West – with Yo-kai Watch 4 being the most disappointing of the bunch. While Level-5 originally promised an English translation way back in 2019, it appears flagging sales may have led to the cancellation of this project.
Level-5 working on a new game sequel is promising in that regard.
During the company’s ‘Vision 2023’ showcase, it made clear that worldwide releases would be a focus going forward – with every game highlighted in the latest show being given a global release in 2023 or 2024. Should this stance be implemented for all Level-5 games going forward, Yo-kai Watch fans in the West could finally see older titles launching with official English localisations.
Should Level-5 plan to launch a new Yo-kai Watch game in future, Yo-kai Watch 4 would need a Western release, after all. As a chronological series, a gap in the timeline would cause major confusion. It’s not outside the realm of possibility, of course, and Level-5 could still choose to forgo a global release for upcoming Yo-kai Watch projects – but the circumstances would be right for a worldwide return.
In the West, it’s been five years since the last major Yo-kai Watch release, and many years of waiting for a new entry. While any return would be complicated by financial concerns and commercial viability, there’s certainly an appetite for more. With the announcement of a new Yo-kai Watch game currently in development, fans now have renewed hope for the future.
