Children of Mana in not-developed-by-Square-Enix shocker.

Seiken Densetsu is coming to the DS sometime next year, but it won't be from the hands we expected. Square-Enix have passed the project onto a developer named Nex Entertainment, desiring to farm the series out to different studios as part of the World of Mana project. Nex were chosen, apparently, because of their familiarity with the franchise.

Series producer Kouichi Ishii broke the news in the latest issue of Nintendo Dream, making Children of Mana the second Seiken Densetsu title not to be developed by the company (the other being Sword of Mana on the GBA, made by Nintendo-founded studio Brownie Brown). The decision may not be received well by series' fans.