The last time we got word of Tomonobu Itagaki's kill-'em-all actioner Devil's Third, publisher THQ was dropping the title due to profit concerns. Formerly the head of Tecmo Koei's Team Ninja development studio, Itagaki left on less-than-friendly terms to start Valhalla Game Studios.

A recent interview with Famitsu's Xbox 360 magazine shows that Devil's Third is still in production, but is now solely under the control of Itagaki and Valhalla.

"[The] most important thing is gamers' happiness. And people in business side like distributors and presses. And developers. It's a Happy Three. So we can't thank THQ enough. Anyway, we now own the Devil's Third IP."

It's honestly kind of weird to see the normally mouthy Itagaki being businesslike and polite--I'm used to him ranting like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder and dissing his coworkers like he disses the competition. In any case, Valhalla Game Studios is appropriately-named as "heaven for warriors," but Itagaki has a lot to live up to just to match up to Bayonetta and Vanquish. What do you think? Will Devil's Third show us what action games should be, or is it going to pull a Daikatana and be too little, too late after this much talk?

via Destructoid