Is Devilish Brain Training ever coming out in Europe? (Patreon)

While not my usual area of investigation, region specific release news is something that I often get asked about. Rather a lot of people have wanted to know about the game 'Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can you stay focused?' specifically. The game was released in the US and Japan, before its European launch was abruptly postponed  a few years ago for an indefinite sum of time. I did my best to find out more about this.

First of all, it does appear that Nintendo is advising suppliers to refund and cancel pre-orders for the game in the UK. Two branches I spoke to had heard similar things coming from their departments that communicate with Nintendo UK.

Secondly, Nintendo UK officially has declined to comment on this matter. Their press team had no reply to give, so I reached out to their customer service, who gave me the least helpful answer imaginable:

'Nintendo has no official announcement about your query at this time.'

It's disappointing, albeit not at all surprising, that NUK's customer service has absolutely no autonomy from the rest of the larger corporate machine. If a fan approaches them with a reasonable question about having their pre-order cancelled, they're met with a generic, faceless response churned out by a PR drone.

Next, I tried a different approach and spoke to someone at Nintendo of Europe, as well as a media contact with strong ties to them. Both replied with the same bewildering claims - the European version of Devilish Brain Training is completely finished and yet it probably won't be released. Why? This was a question that neither of them could answer with any degree of certainty.

Sometimes this happens. Publishers have everything ready, and then at some stage, confidence in the product is lost. It appears that Nintendo of Europe was waiting for the right time to release Devilish Brain Training and it has not arrived. Perhaps they  have assessed that the costs of certification (e.g. packaging, distribution, etc.) outweigh the risk of financial failure. The game certainly didn't take off in other regions, which is a major factor for their consideration. This is only my theory, although this doesn't necessarily rule out a digital release.

In conclusion, it doesn't appear that Nintendo of Europe has any intentions of releasing 'Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can you stay focused?' anymore; at least not via physical copies. That could obviously change in the future: localisation on the product is finished, all of the European languages are ready - all it needs is that final green light. Having said all that, all the evidence points to a scrapped release that NoE is not denying or even commenting on. Manage your expectations accordingly.