Kenji Ozawa, the co-director of Visions of Mana, has revealed that he has established a new development team with the goal of protecting creators.
Studio Sasanqua was officially unveiled today following the closure of Visions of Mana developer Okua Studios last year, after NetEase and Tencent scaled back its investment in Japanese developers. Ryosuke Yoshida, also a co-director on the game, subsequently joined Square Enix in December 2024.
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Speaking with Automaton, Ozawa-san has offered insight into the creation of his new studio, revealing that he was motivated by the recent misgivings and state of the games industry. He observed that while management is in charge of making high-level decisions, the creators are held accountable when any mishaps are made at management level, often resulting in layoffs.
Ozawa went on to say that his observations and personal experiences in the industry has resulted in him believing “management needs to protect creators,” such as motivating development and offering a sense of security. This is the main reason he decided to establish is own company, and says he is prepared to assume full responsibility for the failure of a project due to poor management decisions.
The first project at Ozawa’s new studio is said to be small-scale and will be powered by Unreal Engine, and will eventually transition to full-scale original PC & console titles.
[Source – Automaton]
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