Back in November 2013, terrible news hit with Rune Factory developer Neverland announcing that they had ceased operation and filed for bankruptcy – leaving the future of the franchise in doubt. But it seems like this may have had a domino effect on Marvelous AQL Europe who were planning on releasing their release of Rune Factory 4 later this year…. this effect being the cancellation of any release plans. No reasoning for why this game was cancelled was given, but the issues with Neverland could have been a main reason.
If this were on the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 or one of the other few consoles that supported region free gaming then it would be a simple import. HOWEVER as Rune Factory 4 was on the Nintendo 3DS which doesn’t support region free gameplay, PAL region games are effectively unable to play the game even if they were to put the money into buying a North American / Japanese release of the game.
Pity….. nobody wins in this case.