Hudson Soft USA, which is the American arm of Hudson Entertainment, will be closing at the end of February. The decision to close the California facility appears to be fallout from Konami’s total acquisition of Hudson Soft.
The Hudson Soft facility in San Mateo most recently was responsible for the American release of Lost in Shadow on the Wii. The U.S. operation primarily worked on conversions of Japanese Hudson titles for release in the North American market; however, many Japanese titles have struggled to find an audience and this is a situation that is not unique to just Hudson these days.
With the closing at the end of February, all projects that were in development in the Hudson Soft USA facility have been canceled. Sources that we spoke with indicate that the closing of the U.S. facility will lead to even fewer Japanese titles being converted or localized for release in the West. While some believe that this is a sign of the changing tastes of consumers in the video game titles they choose to play, others tell us that the market going forward will continue to be much less dominated by Japanese releases than it has ever been in video gaming history.
