Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy - 3DS/mobile differences, Switch talk & more

Coming from an MCVUK interview with Level-5 Abby’s director of games marketing Lucy Pozniak...

On the game's size

“We have a new hero, [Layton’s daughter] Katrielle, who’s opening up her detective agency. In addition, whereas previous titles have had bigger, more overarching story puzzles or a main mystery to solve, this one is broken into 12 chapters and it’s about solving different mysteries within those chapters.”

On supporting 3DS

“Whether you play it on Android, iOS or 3DS, it doesn’t matter, you’re going to have the same experience. What we’ve done is that we’ve made sure there’s absolutely no disparity between the players, so everyone is getting the same content and the same story. Even with pricing and everything else, we’re very confident about how the fans will perceive it.

We’re not just going to go with mobile like everyone else has gone with mobile and leave the 3DS or the console player behind. The key for us is to make sure we have the same integrity, the same kind of fan experience across all platforms. Mobile just gives us an opportunity now to really reach out to a bigger mass audience, because [before] we were limited to a very [particular kind of ] DS or 3DS title. So now we have the opportunity to talk to more people and find out what really works best for each platform.”

On considering bringing the game to Switch

“We’ve looked at [Switch]. There are some challenges that we fully understand at this time. One of the things we understand is that the Switch has a portability factor, which is really good for this title. However, the challenge for us is the fact that once you dock your system it’s no longer a handheld, so it’s just understanding that [particular issue].

In addition, we know there are so many 3DS owners who have played Layton previously, so we want to make sure those people who already have devices in their hands have something to play. So specifically the design at this time is for 3DS, so those players can play some more, and for new players who don’t have a 3DS system, that’s why we’ve co-developed for smartphones, so they can jump on this time. But in the future, we’re definitely looking into adapting for the Switch. We love the Switch and we’re trying to put as much on there as we can, but right now, this title is for 3DS and smart devices only.”

There's two other points in the interview worth noting. So far, the Layton series has managed to move 16 million units worldwide. On top of that, Layton's Mystery Journey will have “certain in-app purchases” .for mobile users and a “fuller package” for 3DS