Level-5, the beloved Japanese studio behind games like Dark Cloud, Professor Layton, and Ni no Kuni, just released a localized version of its cult action RPG Megaton Musashi. But with the company's American branch recently shut down, it looks like there's nobody around to market the thing, and the surprise launch has absolutely bewildered fans.
Megaton Musashi originally launched in Japan back in 2021, promoted alongside an anime series that's now run for multiple seasons. Billed as a "mecha action RPG," it plays similarly to cult classics like Custom Robo and Gundam Breaker, but with a heavy emphasis on an extensive story about young mech pilots fighting back against an alien invasion.
Today has seen the launch of Megaton Musashi W: Wired across PC, Switch, PS5, and PS4. You'd be forgiven for not noticing the launch - I'm the exact target audience for a newly localized mech action RPG and it's literally my job to pay attention to video game news, but I only realized the game existed thanks to this tweet lamenting the game's lack of promotion.
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So, this is a big game by a veteran Japanese studio.Zero user reviews so far on Steam, from any region. Not even a joke one for spam. They just didn't market it at all. Didn't tell anyone it was launching.Level 5 are a baffling company. https://t.co/5cAs2mn5oLApril 25, 2024
There have been a few reviews on Steam since then - a few of which lament things such as "Why is this game not getting more attention?" - and they're absolutely glowing. It's clear a few hardcore fans of the franchise have been waiting a long, long time for this launch, but none of the marketing seems to have penetrated the wider gaming world despite the fact that Level-5 has put out plenty of well-known and well-loved games over the years.
You can probably pin the lack of marketing on Level-5's decision to shutter its American branch back in 2020. There have been a few trailers for the English release, but they've only appeared on Level-5's Japanese YouTube channel. The one meaningful bit of promotion seems to be the sudden localization of the anime series on Crunchyroll, which seems to have been announced just today.
So hey, consider this your PSA - Megaton Musashi W: Wired is out now, it looks neat, and if you're a fan of mech anime you should probably check it out. We're approaching Square Enix levels of failure to market here, but at least you know now.
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