EDF 2025 Release Date

It's a good day to be an Earth Defense Force fan. Not only has the Vita game Earth Defense Force 2017: Portable received a release date, the latest entry in the series, Earth Defense Force 2025 may be coming out sooner than we thought.

Publisher D3 announced today that EDF 2017: Portable will hit the PlayStation Vita on January 8th, 2013 for a price point of $39.99. Originally, when D3 had announced a Winter release we were hoping for something closer to December, but the fact the game is actually coming out in North America is good enough news already.

Unfortunately, the title will only be made available as a digital download, a forty dollar digital download. The price is outrageous considering the game is a port of a five year-old Xbox 360 game. The title released in Japan back in September, suggesting the localization process was quite short if there was only a fourth month discrepancy between releases. D3 either needs to release a retail version of the game to make fans happy, or lower the cost of entry. As a huge EDF fan - and someone rooting for its localization - I can't help but feel a little disheartened.

Thankfully, there's some happier news, and it's that the Earth Defense Force 2025 - or Global Defense Force 4 may be coming out soon after 2017's re-release. Japanese retailer Rakuten has the game listed for a March 2013 release date in its home country of Japan. Though we'd expect the game to release a few months later for North America, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon actually released in North America prior to its Japanese release two days later.

As D3 has already confirmed a North American release for EDF 2025, we're hoping this means the game will see a much more unified release date across regions. Given the series' niche status however, March might not be the best time to release the game. After all, then it has to compete with other coop shooters, like Fuse and Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel.

In any case, it's time for the obligatory EDF chant. EDF! EDF!

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Source: PlayStation BlogSiliconera