Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios is reportedly set to close its doors as a result of NetEase and Tencent scaling back their investment in Japanese studios, according to a report on Bloomberg.
Despite investing heavily in Japanese game development in the past few years, the Chinese industry behemoths have allegedly started to reconsider their strategy as the investments have yet to really pay off significantly. As a result, NetEase has “cut all but a handful of jobs” at Ouka, despite Visions of Mana only launching this week.
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The plan is to completely close the Shibuya-based studio after the remaining staff oversee the release of its final project. NetEase still has a number of Japanese studios under its belt, including No More Heroes creator Grasshopper Manufacturer, Nagoshi Studio, Pincool, Studio Flare, and GTRACK50.
Speaking with Bloomberg, Robin Zhu, an analyst with Bernstein, commented:
We may be approaching a point where Tencent and NetEase begin to scrutinise their returns more closely,. Globally, the video gaming industry has retrenched post-COVID, and many large publishers have reduced headcount or scaled back investments. Anecdotally, the Japanese developers’ desire to tightly control what can be done with their IP has sometimes been a source of friction.
Visions of Mana is now available for PS5 & PS4, and you can read our full verdict here.
[Source – Bloomberg]