Level-5 Also Planning European Subsidiary

Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino first revealed international expansion plans for this company during a seminar in Tokyo earlier this month. A newspaper came through today with a few more details.

In an article in today's morning edition, The Nishi Nippon Shimbun reports that Level-5 will kick off its overseas attack this summer with a US subsidiary. Later this year, it plans on forming a similar subsidiary in the United Kingdom.

During his speech, Hino mentioned the US subsidiary, but did not mention the European plans. Level-5's Layton series has enjoyed particular success in Europe.

The paper refers to the subsidiaries as "software sales companies," suggesting that they won't be responsible for development. It does not share specific titles. Currently, Nintendo handles the publishing of the Layton series, but Level-5 has a number of other self-published properties that haven't made it out of Japan.

According to the paper, Level-5 expects sales of over 10 billion yen for the current fiscal year, up from last year's 7 billion yen.