Toybox Hopes To Make Original IP With Deadly Premonition Developer

After working at Marvelous Entertainment and Grasshopper Manufacture, the father of Harvest Moon, Yasuhiro Wada started his own company in August 2011 called Toybox. Right now, the Tokyo-based developer only has two employees, Wada-san and Deadly Premonition producer Tomio Kanazawa. Toybox is starting off small, but they will be working with lots of talent they’ve come to known over the years, like Access Games.

"We coordinated a licensed deal with Marvelous AQL with another publisher for the EU and US. At Toybox, we’re producing the enhanced version of Deadly Premonition for PS3 with additional scenario elements," Wada said in an interview with Siliconera. "Deadly Premonition has a very deep scenario and world that influence other people, that I hope gets people thinking about the environment and I hope it will have a positive impact in the real world."

"Tomio is a good friend of Swery and we are talking to them about original IP. We hope to work with them, but nothing has been planned yet," added Wada. "It won’t be a sequel to Deadly Premonition, but it will be a new title."

Toybox’s other title tentatively called Project Happiness will stick with the company’s philosophy of "We are gaming for Love, Peace and Earth." Project Happiness is designed to be a feel good game, which Wada-san hopes will expand the player’s view of the world. Natsume will release Project Happiness in North America and Rising Star will publish the title in Europe.

"Launching new IPs is difficult, when you’re not developing for iOS or social games, retail is a hurdle. Toybox is going to try. Our philosophy is we’re going to launch new IPs for consoles and handhelds, which might be linked to iOS, Android, and other devices to build a brand."

I asked Wada-san if he’s going to work with Little King’s Story creator Yoshiro Kimura, too. "Right now, I’m not working with Kimura-san, but he is a good friend. He has been impressed at smaller games since they have many new ideas."

Siliconera will have more details about Project Happiness during E3.