Mystery Publisher Behind Muramasa: The Demon Blade Revealed

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No, it’s not XSEED. While XSEED was scheduled to localize and publish the game in the U.S. until a few weeks ago, this is no longer the case. A press release confirmed that Muramasa: The Demon Blade will be published in the U.S. by Ignition Entertainment.

“Ignition Entertainment is immensely proud for the opportunity to bring Muramasa: The Demon Blade to the legions of North American gamers yearning for top-quality, original action games on Wii.” said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. “The talented developers at Vanillaware have crafted an absolutely stunning adventure through feudal Japan that balances subtle, sophisticated artistry with razor-sharp, addictive gameplay.”

“We continue to maintain our strong commitment to bring quality games to the marketplace,” said Ajay Chadha, President of Ignition Entertainment. “We feel deeply honored for the opportunity to bring Vanillaware’s magnificent masterpiece Muramasa: The Demon Blade to gamers stateside.”

“We developed Muramasa: The Demon Blade in the same way as we did Odin Sphere, so there are bound to be a lot of similarities. I want it to be a very fun game for everyone who picks it up,” said George Kamitani, game director and Vanillaware President.



Those worried for the quality of Murarama’s localization after Ignition’s last published game, Lux-Pain, can lay their concerns to rest, claims Ignition’s Shane Bettenhausen. In a subtle comment left on NeoGAF, Mr. Bettenhausen had this to say:

The Lux-Pain localization situation (that occurred before my time) will have absolutely no impact on Muramasa. I believe that you’ll be pleased with how this one is handled. Cheers…



By “situation,” we assume Mr. Bettenhausen is subtly referring to the fact that MMV translated Lux-Pain inhouse and left the English voice-over work and publishing duties to Ignition. We hope by “how this one is handled,” he also subtly refers to the presence of both English and Japanese language tracks on the disc. Furthermore, we would even be so bold as to assume that Muramasa: The Demon blade will come with the gorgeous pre-order bonus scroll that Japanese gamers were lucky enough to receive along with the game, seeing as how Ignition, too, seem fond of giving away not-so-subtle collectibles alongside their releases.


Muramasa: The Demon Blade is currently scheduled for a September 2009 release in the U.S.


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Image of Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.