


The company stated that much of the early information supplied by Ignition, such as an estimated North American retail price of USD$29.99, and a release window of Spring 2012, were 'ambitious and unfounded' and would have to be changed, with a new release date set for some time in 2013. In April 2012, Atlus announced that they would be taking over publishing duties from UTV Ignition Games and key members of the company would be involved in development of the game as producers. Originally set to be published by UTV Ignition Entertainment, who had published Vanillaware's previous Wii title Muramasa: The Demon Blade, following the company's retirement from international development and restructuring, all rights and duties were transferred to Atlus. A separate version for the PlayStation Vita was developed due to the success Capcom's Monster Hunter series had on PlayStation Portable, with its connectivity to the PlayStation 3 version added because 'we wanted our game to have a feature where people can get together and play.' Kashow Oda, publishing producer of Ignition Entertainment stated that the company signed on with the project because they 'respect Kamitani’s artwork and unique style' as well as being intrigued by its online mode. Kamitani, who had previously worked with Capcom on Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, said that he always wanted to develop a game that would 'advance the genre', of similar titles such as Golden Axe and The King of Dragons while still keeping it 2D. Art director George Kamitani first had the idea for Dragon's Crown thirteen years before its release, immediately after production of Princess Crown for the Sega Saturn in 1997, but claimed that he was unable to find a publisher willing to support the project, which at the time was intended for the Sega Dreamcast.
