So sad.  Hope he goes out on a strong note.  Will this come out before or after layton vs phoenix?

No more Nintendo Power and now the end of Professor Layton. Someone better send a suicide prevention squad to Unclebob's location.

I hope they at least do more movies in the future.  I can't go completely without Layton!!

I don't get it.  Do Level 5 simply not like making money?  Why in the world would they retire Layton?  What are they going to do, continue the series with Luke as the protagonist?  Because last I checked, the Luke fan club had a membership count of 0.

Or are they simply going to stop making these puzzle/adventure games?  Which I equally cannot understand.  Are sales on a precipitous decline?  Is there a throng of people out there who are getting tired of all the Layton games?  If there are, please, shut up, you are stopping me from getting my Layton.

The series was always plotted for a 6-part release, sadly. And quite frankly, after Unwound Future I don't see it being physically possible for this game to get any nuttier.

I remember reading that they expanded into iphone territory with a new series about Layton's son, set far into the future. I know, it sounds terrible to me, too.

The ending of Unwound Future did leave it open for more stories, particularly with a certain letter that was sent at the end - but ambiguous endings aren't uncommon in long-running storylines.

The story here is a bit misleading. This is the last game for Layton the character. They did not speak of it being the last game for Layton the series.

The plots for the games in the prequel trilogy seem way more insane than those of the original trilogy. If the Curious Village is chronologically Layton and Luke's fourth adventure, they shouldn't be even slightly phased by the time they are faced with the events of that title. Curious Village should seem decidedly ordinary compared to the three mysteries that occurred before it.

I look forward to playing the English version in like 20 years

I don't see how the Layton series can go to iOS devices, considering that Nintendo co-publishes the games along with Level 5 (meaning that Nintendo owns part of the IP rights).

I've only played the first three games, which chronologically are the last three games, and I really enjoyed them, but I think the decision to close the book on the Layton series is a good one. I'd have absolutely no problem with them continuing to release more games in the Layton universe, with a focus on different characters and new mechanics etc, it's just that the well worn-worn format of the Layton games have become a little stale. It's time to press the reset button, and I'm glad that Level 5 have acknowledged this.

Nintendo doesn't own any of the rights, they simply have an agreement to publish the game outside of Japan. It's like how Nintendo has no rights to Killer Instinct just because they published it. Or Ridge Racer 64. Publishing a game has nothing to do with owning rights to the IP. I could give you dozens, maybe hundreds, of examples.

I can give you examples of where the publisher DOES own the IP rights:

- Microsoft and Mass Effect 1
- Sony and the Resistance and Ratchet & Clank series (developed by Insomniac, an independent developer)
- Sony and the Journey, Flower, and, Flow games (developed by thatgamecompany, an independent developer)
- Nintendo and Fluidity (developed by Curve Studios, an independent developer)

A majority of the games published by Sony are owned by them, even for games that are made by external (independent) developers. Don't believe me? Look at the copyright (C) info on the title screen; if it says "Copyright (C) #### Sony Computer Entertainment", then it's owned by them.

Microsoft and BioWare had a contractual agreement for the publishing rights to the first game. Microsoft does NOT own any part of the IP itself.

There is a difference between publishing rights to a game and owning it. Nintendo does NOT own any part of the Layton games, Level-5 just has an agreement with Nintendo to let Nintendo publish the games since they can do a better job of it.