Griptonite building new Shinobi for 3DS

Washington studio Griptonite Games is building a Shinobi game for the Nintendo 3DS, a new leaked video confirms.

Griptonite, part of the Foundation 9 group of studios, has specialised in building handheld games for over ten years. It has released titles on the Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and iPhone.

Now a new internal video – appeared to have been published on YouTube without consent – shows Sega is entrusting Griptonite with its Shinobi licence.

Sega has declined to comment on the video (published below), but a spokesperson told VG274 that an official announcement would come shortly.

The deal with Griptonite shows Sega is willing to partner with external western studios, even to revive an IP which has much potential for the publisher.

The deal also continues the so-called “silent success” of the Foundation 9 group of studios, which last year was named the fifth biggest money-generating studio (based on Develop 100 data).

This wouldn’t be the first time Foundation 9 has worked with Sega on the Shinobi licence. In 2009, Backbone Entertainment rebuilt the original Shinobi game for release on Xbox Live Arcade.