As a videogame publisher, Ubisoft have more ties to Japan than you might know. In 2008, Ubisoft acquired a Japanese developer named Digital Kids who have been developing the publisher’s highly successful Petz games in recent years.
In North America, Ubisoft have published select Japanese games like the PC version of Resident Evil 4 and No More Heroes and No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Conversely, in Japan, they have a game distribution agreement with Square Enix, who distribute their products in the territory.
At the end of 2009, Ubisoft’s Executive Director in Europe, Alain Corre, spoke to Japanese magazine, Famitsu, about the company’s desire to create hit games targeted at the Japanese market, provided that they could find suitable talent to develop such a title. While there’s been no indication of this so far, Ubisoft are taking steps to appeal to the Japanese market…on Mixi.
Mixi is one Japan’s leading social-networking websites with a userbase of 20 million that Ubisoft are hoping to appeal to with Castle Land, their first Japanese-language title on the service, released in December.
Castle Land was originally a Facebook game titled Castle & Co., a kingdom-management RPG. The game has you managing a kingdom, constructing buildings and setting up decorations. Since Castle Land is a social game, you can also visit the kingdoms of your friends and assist them.
