Xseed is turning to one of its founders as to continue the reputation it’s built for localizing and publishing Japanese games in the United States.
Cofounder Ken Berry is now the president, CEO, and CFO of the Marvelous, USA, publishing label, taking over for Shinichi Suzuki, who’s moving into an advisory role. Berry is a founding member of Xseed, which formed in 2004 in Torrance, California.
Over the past 15 years, Xseed has built a reputation for good — and oftentimes great — localizations of Japanese role-playing games such as the The Legends of the Sky: Trail in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel. It’s a niche business, but it’s one in which Xseed has established itself as a champion of Japanese games from smaller studios. In recent years, it’s handled the likes of Story of Seasons, Akiba’s Beat, and Little King’s Story. Noteworthy releases this year include the upcoming Rune Factory 4, Heroland, and BurgeTime: Party!
Suzuki had been with Xseed as its president/CEO/CFO for seven years. Vice president of production Kenji Hosoi is taking on Berry’s former role of executive vice president.
Xseed’s founders included veterans of JRPG mainstay Square Enix (including Berry). The company has 22 employees.