Level-5, the studio behind Professor Layton, Yo-kai Watch, and Ni No Kuni has hinted that will once again begin operating outside of Japan in global markets following the closure of its North American Operations in 2020.

The company has published a new job posting on its website that states that they are once again planning to develop games for global audiences due to the current success of gaming in international markets.

“With the recent globalization of the game business, we are looking for people to maximize the business scale as a content holder and actively develop Level-5 IP not only in Japan but also on a global scale”.

The last major console game Level-5 localized was Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold which was released in Japan in 2018 but was only localized in 2020. Since then the vast majority of their games have been Japanese exclusives, the most notable of these being Yo-Kai Watch 4 which launched in 2019.

In 2020, Level-5 ceased operations outside of Japan and allegedly laid off much of its office staff. No clear reason was given for the halt in localization however an inside source told Gamesindustry.biz:

“Employees were “given every indication” that the studio would be closing down, with one or two employees remaining for a few more months to carry out essential functions throughout the process while the company consolidated its business between the Japan office and international advertising and branding company Dentsu”.

Hopefully, this latest news means that Level-5’s games will be released overseas in the near future but for now we’ll have to wait and see.