Wakfu publishing rights in North America shifting from Square Enix to dev Ankama Games

Wakfu, the free-to-play MMO from Ankama Games that's at the center of a transmedia universe, will no longer be published by Square Enix in North America as of March 1, the companies announced today.

The publishing rights will transfer to Ankama, the creator and developer of the Wakfu brand and video game. Ankama already publishes Wakfu worldwide outside of North America.

"Ankama Games will assume full responsibility and control over all operational procedures including community management, customer support, promotion, sales, marketing and other live operation duties," reads a letter addressed to the Wakfu community.

"We will do our utmost to ensure that the transition will be as seamless as possible and without interruption of service," the letter says.

According to an FAQ posted along with the letter, nothing related to actually playing Wakfu — users' accounts, characters and servers — will change when the shift occurs. However, Square Enix's community management team for the game will be replaced by a new group from Ankama, and players will have to accept a new terms of service agreement from the studio.

"We sincerely thank our North American players for your tremendous support throughout the past two years, and look forward to seeing the community grow even greater as the World of Twelve continues moving forward through 2013 and beyond," Ankama says.

Wakfu launched last February and is available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Ankama released a spin-off game, Islands of Wakfu, on Xbox Live Arcade in 2011. The Wakfu universe also includes a cartoon and a trading card game.