Visions of Mana co-director launches studio to protect creators
After NetEase closed his last studio, Kenji Ozawa says developers shouldn’t take the fall for management mistakes
The co-director of Visions of Mana says his new studio will protect its creators, following NetEase’s decision to close his previous studio.
Ouka Studios, the developer behind Visions of Mana, was closed last year as part of an overall scaling back of investment in Japanese studios by Chinese companies NetEase and Tencent.
One of the game’s co-directors, Ryosuke Yoshida, announced in December that he had joined Square Enix, while co-director Kenji Ozawa instead formed a new developer called Studio Sasanqua, which was officially unveiled today.
In a new interview Ozawa explained that one of the main reasons he decided to launch a new studio was so that he could create an environment where management would take responsibility for bad results, rather than placing that responsibility on developers.
Ozawa told Automaton that he witnessed numerous incidents where management didn’t take responsibility for project, and explained that in his experience, although management is responsible for making investments, approving game projects and other high-level decisions, when projects aren’t successful it’s the creators who are laid off while management is often left unscathed.
According to Ozawa, this dynamic puts too much responsibility on the shoulders of game developers, who are punished when things don’t go well even though they don’t have a say in larger company-wide decisions.
Explaining that “management needs to protect creators”, Ozawa said he set up his new studio to merge management and development, and says that while he will be working on Studio Sasanqua’s first game, he’s also ready to accept responsibility if that game fails.
Studio Sasanqua will initially create smaller games developed in Unreal Engine before working its way up to larger PC and console games, Ozawa added.
It was reported last month that more than a dozen NetEase-owned studios are potentially at risk of closure, including Nagoshi Studio and Grasshopper Manufacture.
Previously known for its popular PC MMOs and mobile games, NetEase has expanded significantly in recent years, acquiring and establishing studios from industry veterans in Japan, North America, and Europe. However, as the games industry continues to endure turbulent times, there have been signs that, in recent months, it could be scaling back its ambitions.
