The studio that is developing the upcoming role-playing game Visions of Mana, Ouka Studios, is reportedly going to be shut down by parent company NetEase after the release of its latest title.
The situation comes as Chinese companies Tencent and NetEase are supposedly trying to scale back their investments in Japanese video game studios. The decision is reportedly due to a lack of big hits in the video game industry.
Ouka Studios Could be Shutting Down
A recent report by Bloomberg noted that NetEase has already let go of developers from Ouka Studios, which is a process that allegedly started this spring. The parent company seemingly only has a few people left over at the studio in order to oversee the launch of its final games before its inevitable closure.
Furthermore, Tencent acquired the rights to publish the mobile version of Bandai Namco's Blue Protocol MMO. However, the latter recently announced that it was ending support for the game in 2025, alongside the cancellation of its Western release via Amazon Games, according to GameSpot.
There are rumors that there are misaligned goals between Tencent and Japanese game developers as the latter wants to create smaller-scale and lower-risk projects. On the other hand, the former wants globally successful franchises. This meant that Tencent had higher expectations when it came to funding these developers.
Some of NetEase's other investments in Japanese studios include Nagoshi Studio, which is led by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, along with its acquisition of Grasshopper Manufacture. The latter is the studio behind No More Heroes.
NetEase is apparently intending to shut down the Shibuya outfit of Ouka Studios, which had opened to much fans' enjoyment in 2020. Since then, the studio has gone on to hire veterans from big names such as Capcom and Bandai Namco, said Bloomberg.
Investments in Local Studios
There were also talks that the success of soulslike Black Myth: Wukong, which was able to sell more than 10 million copies in three days and was made by a small Chinese developer, also inspired NetEase and Tencent to look for domestic investment candidates.
However, NetEase said that it had no news to announce when it talked to Bloomberg regarding the closure of Ouka Studios. On the other hand, Tencent said that it was "always making necessary adjustments to reflect market conditions."
The situation comes as in the past two years, there have been countless video game industry layoffs as major companies, such as Microsoft, Sony, and Embracer Group have cut jobs or shut down entire studios, according to IGN.
