I know that headline looks ominous, but what we have here is a potential changing of the guard situation. NIS America announced that the Danganronpa games it published are basically about to change hands on the PlayStation Store. The five titles it acted as publisher for outside Japan are about to no longer be theirs and, as such “will no longer be available for purchase from NIS America.” Dates were offered for each game, with Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls’ PlayStation Vita version as the first “victim” at the end of August 2020. Spike Chunsoft has not yet issued a statement.
So here’s what happened and, for people who might not know, why NIS America was the publisher when Spike Chunsoft is behind the series. The original Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was developed by Spike, with subsequent entries being Spike Chunsoft projects. At the time they were released, Spike Chunsoft wasn’t self-publishing outside of Japan. Now Spike Chunsoft does. It is the publisher for the PC versions of the series’ games and the recent mobile ports.
So, here are the dates when five of the Danganronpa games NIS America published will no longer be sold from the company on the PlayStation Store. Note that Danganronpa 1•2 Reload and the PlayStation 4 version of Dangaronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls are not on the list.
- August 31, 2020: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PlayStation Vita)
- September 4, 2020: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PlayStation Vita), Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (PlayStation Vita)
- September 25, 2020: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita)
As a reminder, 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the Danganronpa series, with the celebration involving things like Danganronpa games being ported and a TV web series.
