The soccer RPG game is planned to be released on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch platforms, as well as on smartphones. The launch was scheduled for the summer of 2018, but was delayed for October 2018, then for the winter of 2018, then for 2019, then for spring of 2020, then for 2020 in general, and finally this announced delay, totaling a total of six postponements.
Level 5 founder Akihiro Hino stated via the developer's official blog that there have been development issues, which has made production more difficult and consequently there are many delays to release.
According to Hino, bad reviews from online users greatly reduced the motivation of the development team, and Level 5 almost considered canceling it. The company decided to continue thanks to the support of a sector of fans.
The company seeks to create an improved game engine based on the Yo-kai Watch series of games to launch a high-quality Inazuma Eleven game. For this new game, Level 5 seeks to create it without having to adjust to the series that is currently broadcast.
Originally, the game was titled Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin, and will continue to build on the franchise's Ares no Tenbin story, but Level 5 will add some additional stories including characters from past games.
The site also revealed the game's new lead, Unmei Sasanami, a boy who loves soccer but can't play due to trauma from his past, so he only supports the players.
Source: Inazuma Eleven: Eiyū-tachi no Great Road game's website (Akihiro Hino) via Gematsu
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