was a video game development, entertainment and holding company. It was founded in 2008 as in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. An international division was later founded in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, which acquired all intellectual property and shares of the original Valhalla Game Studios and other affiliates, effectively making them subsidiaries of the Canadian company. To differentiate, the original Valhalla Game Studios is alternatively referred to as VGS Japan. VGS Japan is best known for '' Devil's Third'', their flagship title which went through a long development cycle. Valhalla's parent company, Wake Up Interactive, was acquired by

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

for $44 million in November 2021. The following month, Wake Up merged the staff and operations of Valhalla Game Studios into another subsidiary, Soleil Ltd., effectively closing down Valhalla.

Staff

The studio is run by former

Tecmo was a Japanese video game company founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in the Kudankita district of Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Prior to 1986, Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

staff: Satoshi Kanematsu, who worked on ''

Monster Rancher ''Monster Rancher'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese media franchise and series of life simulation role-playing video games created by Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo). The series consists of fifteen games across numerous different video game platform ...

'' and '' Rygar'', and

Tomonobu Itagaki (born April 1, 1967) is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the ''Dead or Alive'' series and also reviving the '' Ninja Gaiden'' franchise in 2004. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. ...

, a game designer known for his work on the ''

Dead or Alive A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...

'' and ''

Ninja Gaiden is a media franchise based on action video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word " gaiden" in the North American ''Ninja Gaiden'' title means "side story" in J ...

'' series.

List of games developed by VGS Japan

Projects

Since 2009, the company had been working on '' Devil's Third'', a "hyper-violent shooter". Originally developed as a title for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

, the game was eventually developed exclusively for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

. Following the closure of development partner THQ, intellectual property rights to ''Devil's Third'' were given back to Valhalla Game Studios. The game was re-announced by Nintendo at

E3 2014 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014 (E3 2014) was the 20th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 10, 2014, and ended on June 12, 2014, with 48,900 total attendees. Ma ...

; the title released in 2015. It received "generally unfavorable" reviews from critics, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. In November 2015, it was announced that Valhalla and

Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. (formerly ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher. It develops and publishes titles including ''MapleStory'', ''Crazyracing Kartrider'', ''Sudden Attack'', ''Dungeon & Fighter'', ''The First Descendant'', and ''Bl ...

would be releasing ''Devil's Third Online'', a PC port of ''Devil's Thirds multiplayer mode, as part of a partnership. The title would go into open beta in December in Japan and would release in the same region in late January. It was confirmed that features that were absent in the original, such as voice chat, would be added to ''Devil's Third Online''. After a delay, the title released in Japan on June 8, 2016.

Litigation

In November 2015, it was reported that

Valhalla Motion Pictures Valhalla Entertainment Productions, Inc. is an American film and television production company. Their productions include AMC's ''The Walking Dead'' television series, its companion series, ''Fear the Walking Dead,'' and the spin-off, '' The Wa ...

was suing Valhalla Game Studios for trademark infringement, likely due to their similar name and logo. On March 24, 2016, the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

denied Valhalla Game Studios' trademark registration on the grounds that there was likelihood of confusion between Valhalla Motion Pictures and Valhalla Games Studios' mark.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Tencent Games Japanese companies established in 2008 2021 disestablishments in Japan Canadian companies established in 2014 Video game companies established in 2008 Video game companies established in 2014 Video game companies disestablished in 2021 Defunct video game companies of Canada Defunct video game companies of Japan Video game development companies