PS3 version added to Vita version to make it easier to approach other markets

Bandai Namco Games announced at a press conference before the GameStart Asia event that it is localizing its Sword Art Online: Lost Song game for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in English for Asia next year.

While the company did not announce a release for North America or Europe, producer Yosuke Futami told the SGCafe website that the PlayStation 3 version will make it easier approach markets outside Asia: "If we were planning to release this only in Japan and Asia… if we were only concerned with the Japan and Asia markets, then maybe it'd be okay to just release it on the PS Vita console […] We want to get the game out to more people, so this time we've decided to release it on PS3 and PS Vita. "

Bandai Namco first announced the game's development at the 2014 Tokyo Game Show stage event on September 19. Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novel series already inspired the Sword Art Online -Infinity Moment- and Sword Art Online -Hollow Fragment- games for the PlayStation Vita system. The light novels also inspired two television anime series.

Text: Sword Art Online

Kirito: All right.

Text: The new game begins.

Text: The adventure moves to the world of fairies and magic, "ALfheim Online"...

Text: The stage moves to the sky...

Kirito: A new story of Sword Art Online that begins in ALfheim, a world of fairies and magic.

Text: A completely new story

Kirito: The place where we landed was the legendary continent where light and darkness intertwine: Swart ALfheim.

Text: The lost continent: Swart ALfheim

Kirito: Let's go! To the sky! A new game is starting!

Kirito: Sword Art Online: Lost Song

Text: In the long-lost legendary continent, a song of light and darkness echoes...

Kirito: This is either the light or the darkness that a virtual MMO left behind.

As in Reki Kawahara's original light novel series, you can fly in the game. More details will be in Vol. 576 of Dengeki PlayStation magazine on October 16.

[Via SGCafe, Gematsu]