A lot more seems to be riding on the Western release on the Level-5/Studio Ghibli RPG Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch than previously anticipated. In a recent interview with Famitsu (translated by Andriasang), Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino stated that he would like to work on a sequel to the PS3-exclusive, but such development will be determined by Ni No Kuni‘s success in the international market.
Released in Japan late last year without the subtitle (and with a non-cell shaded DS version), Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch will land in the West in early 2013. The long turnaround is, according to Hino-san, due to Level-5 wanting to insure a worthwhile English translation (Ni No Kuni contains over one million spoken words).
To be expected. I think it will do pretty well, especially if Namco is smart on its advertising and states that Studio Ghibli worked on the game to provide the characters, story and art style. That would be the best approach for them to take.
Though I am still waiting for the DS game to be localized (probably not going to happen). It would be fun to play the game using the tome to figure out the puzzles and things. Might just have to get the Japanese version.