Devil’s Third has been handed back to Valhalla Game Studios by THQ.

The publisher was holding the rights to the game, but due to development issues the title requires additional funding and was delayed until early 2013.

THQ had hoped to offload Devil’s Third onto potential publishers but did not manage to strike a deal with anyone.

“THQ confirms that the company will not be publishing Devil’s Third,” the publisher told Eurogamer. “All of the game’s IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team.”

Devil’s Third is the first game being made by Tomonobu Itagaki, who left Temco after creating big hitters such as Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden. Commenting on the situation he said:

“Most important thing is gamers’ happiness. And people in business side like distributors and presses. And developers. It’s a Happy Three. So we can’t thank THQ enough. Anyway, we now own the Devil’s Third IP.”