The co -director of Visions of Mana says that his new study will protect his creators, after Netease’s decision to close his previous study.
Ouka Studios, the developer behind Visions of Mana, closed last year as part of a general expansion of investment in Japanese studies by Chinese companies Netease and Tencent.
One of the co -director of the game, Ryosuke Yoshida, announced in December that he had joined Square Enix, while co -director Kenji Ozawa formed a new developer named Studio Sasanqua, who officially appeared today.
In a new interview, Ozawa explained that one of the main reasons why he decided to launch a new study was to create an environment where management would assume responsibility for bad results, instead of assuming that responsibility for developers.
Ozawa told Automaton that he witnessed numerous incidents in which management did not assume the responsibility of the project, and explained that in their experience, although management is responsible for making investments, approveing games of games and other high -level decisions, when the projects are not successful, they are the creators who say goodbye while the management often remains without collecting.
According to Ozawa, this dynamic assigns too much responsibility to the shoulders of games developers, who are punished when things are not going well even though they have no voice in the greatest decisions of the entire company.
By explaining that “Management needs to protect the creators,” Ozawa said he established his new study to fuse management and development, and says that although he will work in the first game of Studio Sasanqua, he is also ready to accept responsibility if that game fails.
Studio Sasanqua will initially create smaller games developed in Unreal Engine before working to PC games and larger consoles, Ozawa added.
Last month it was reported that more than a dozen studies owned by Netease are potentially at risk of closing, including the manufacture of Nagoshi Studio and Grasshopper.
Previously known for its popular PCs and mobile games, Netease has expanded significantly in recent years, acquiring and establishing industry veterans studies in Japan, North America and Europe. However, as the games industry continues to support turbulent times, there have been signs that, in recent months, it could be reducing its ambitions.
