It's actually the 20th anniversary of the "Digital Monster" pet toy franchise and the official "Digimon" website has launched a countdown for an event to happen.
It's going to be around 46 days from now that the teaser page countdown will end on Jan. 6, 2017 at 10:00 JST, according to Dualshockers. Being the teaser that it is, there hasn't been any other information on what the official "Digimon" website will reveal after the end of the countdown. However, the latest issue of V-Jump revealed that 20th anniversary project for the original "Digital Monster" toy has already begun, in which details of the said project will be unveiled sometime next month.
To those who want to know the term behind behind "Digital Monster," Bandai Namco released it back in 1997 as a series of virtual pets similar to -- and also heavily influenced by -- its predecessor, the "Tamagotchi." The toy game involving said virtual pets involves feeding, training, battling it, and even cleaning up after it. Originally, the Japanese company had intended the Digital Monsters to look cute and cuddly and iconic, but with the rising influence of Western comics back then, the Monsters took in a more edgier and bestial style.
In other news, Anime News Network reported that the next "Digimon" franchise, "Next Order," will be getting an international release soon. "Digimon World: Next Order" was originally released in Japan exclusively for the PlayStation Vita back in March. The international version for the PlayStation 4 is also set for release in Japan sometime on February next year.
The open-world game of "Digimon World: Next Order" will be released in in Europe for PlayStation 4 on Jan. 27 and in North America on Jan. 31, 2017.