TOKYO--D3 Publisher, a Japanese developer best known for its popular "Simple" series of budget-priced games, announced today that it will be opening an American branch with the aim of localizing and releasing its titles in the US. The subsidiary, called D3 Publisher of America, will be located in California and open on November 1.

　　Employing only five people in addition to current D3 president Yuji Ito, who will now head up the American branch, the subsidiary will start out small. D3 Publisher of America will have a capital fund of $2 million, and D3 Publisher will own 99.5 percent of the subsidiary's shares.

　　Until now, D3 Publisher licensed its games to publishers in America, like Agetec. By launching a subsidiary, D3 Publisher aims to directly market and release its games in America, which the company sees as a massive market that continues to grow at a rapid pace.

　　D3 Publisher's "Simple" series of games got its start on the PlayStation in 1998. Since its launch, the series has sold more than 13.6 million units in hundreds of different SKUs worldwide as of May 2004 (11 million in Japan and 2.6 million overseas). While the series' origins lie in relatively simple games such as chess and billiards, recent releases in the series have included such varied titles as The Sniper, The Catfight, and The Splatter Action.