Five years ago, famed game designer of the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden franchises, Tomonobu Itagaki, left Tecmo to form his own studio, comprised mostly of former Team Ninja developers, called Valhalla Game Studios. After the formation of the studio, they announced a brand new action game that blends first-person and third-person gameplay called Devil's Third, later said to be a Wii U exclusive.

Recently, concern over the quality of Devil's Third stirred rumors that Nintendo of America had dropped out of localizing the game, which has been stuck in development hell for the past five years. These rumors were only substantiated when the European release date for Devil's Third was announced to be August 28th, with no statement from Nintendo of America as to when fans could expect the game to hit North American shores. However, Nintendo has now reconfirmed that they will indeed be bringing Devil's Third to North American Wii U owners.

Following this reconfirmation, Tomonobu Itagaki released this statement:

Devil’s Third delivers a unique combination of shooting and melee combat to provide Wii U owners with a fresh action-oriented experience. We’ve been working hard on the game and can’t wait for fans to get their hands on it later this year.

When Devil's Third releases later this year, it will be available at both retail and digitally through the Nintendo eShop. However, it's now been revealed that the game is no longer entirely exclusive to the Wii U, as a free-to-start PC version is in the works as well, though that version of the game will be published by Valhalla Game Studios and not Nintendo.

Despite the fact that there will be both a PC and a Wii U version of the game, the Wii U version of Devil's Third definitely seems to be the definitive experience. The PC version is a free-to-start multiplayer only experience tailored specifically for that market, whereas the Wii U version will include the multiplayer mode as well as a single player story mode.

Over its excessive development cycle, Devil's Third has had very little details released. We know that the game has been inspired by martial arts and will feature an extensive weapon customization system, and it won't be blisteringly difficult like Itagaki's other recent titles, such as the Ninja Gaiden games.

That being said, some gameplay footage of the game has leaked online in recent weeks, which has shaken many's confidence in the long-gestating title, and helped to fuel the rumors of Nintendo dropping out of publishing it. However, with Nintendo's announcement today, it seems as though they are indeed bringing Devil's Third to North America by the time 2015 comes to a close, and furthermore, those without a Wii U will be able to play an abridged version of the game on PC.

Devil's Third is set to release at some point in the final quarter of 2015 for Wii U, with a multiplayer-only free-to-start PC version coming at an undetermined point as well.

Source: IGN