Level-5 CEO hints that Nintendo convinced him to agree to another Professor Layton game

The CEO of Level-5 has hinted that Nintendo convinced him to greenlight another Professor Layton game, despite him being hesitant to do so.

As reported by Automaton, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino had a discussion with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Hori at Tokyo Game Show, during which the topic of the Professor Layton series came up.

During the discussion, Hino explained that he felt the Professor Layton series had reached a “beautiful” conclusion with the last game, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, in which details of Layton’s past are revealed and the six-game story comes full circle at the end.

As such, Hino said he was wary about making a new game in the series, given how well it had ended and how there hadn’t been a new title in more than a decade.

However, Hino said his mind was eventually changed, saying: “Certain individual[s] from the industry really wanted us to release a new game.”

Specifically, he said the company “had a strong push coming from company N”, which it appears to be referring to Nintendo.

All six of the main games in the Professor Layton game series, plus spin-off Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, were initially released exclusively on Nintendo systems. While Level-5 published them in Japan, Nintendo published them in the rest of the world.

The Professor Layton series was extremely popular on the Nintendo DS and 3DS, with over 17 million units sold by June 2018.

The seventh main game, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, is currently in development for the Switch and is set to release in 2025.