A Natsume’s Book of Friends game has been announced. More information will be announced on December 23 at 25:00 JST but, for now, the Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki’s Diary Twitter account is up.
ROCC TALK: Bushiroad Spotted
We’ll find out more about the game in about a week, but we can confirm one thing and assume another: Bushiroad is the publisher and the game is more likely to be on consoles than mobile.
Over the last year, Bushiroad has been investing more in console games while downsizing their mobile operations. They’ve shut down multiple games, including their Shin-chan runners and a Revue Starlight game, and transferred operations of others, like D4DJ Groovy Mix.
According to their FY2025 1Q briefing (Page 23), Bushiroad has 8 unannounced games in development: 6 console, 2 mobile. When we consider Bushiroad’s track record, their efforts to scale back mobile game development, as well as the fact that a console game is literally three times more likely, I’m sure it’s a Switch game. I can’t predict what kind of game this will be (because I’ve never read the manga nor watched the anime) but, given Natsume’s Book of Friends’ comparative lack of a presence in the West, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game skips the usual Western release and PC port. (Update 12/23/2024: Switch confirmed, PC confirmed, Western release currently up in the air.)
More information on Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki’s Diary will be revealed on December 23 at 25:00 JST (December 22 at 11:00 am EST), but it can be assumed that this will be a Bushiroad-published Switch game.
UPDATE (12/18/24 @ 11:36am): The official Twitter account for Natsume’s Book of Friends: Hazuki’s Diary has been verified because it’s an affiliate of Bushiroad. All that’s left to confirm is whether the game is console or handheld.
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