On March 3, one of the co-directors behind Visions of Mana, Kenji Ozawa, announced the creation of a new studio called Studio Sasanqua. According to Ozawa, the main objective of the new company is to protect creators and prevent them from meeting the same fate as Ouka Studios, which was shut down by NetEase right after Visions of Mana was released.
Visions of Mana is the latest entry in Square Enix's renowned Mana series, which came out more than 15 years after the previous installment. While Square Enix published Visions of Mana, it was developed by Ouka Studios, a NetEase subsidiary. However, in the same week the RPG launched, NetEase shut Ouka Studios down as part of its strategy to scale back its investment in Japanese studios.
Even more NetEase Games studios are reportedly at risk of defunding and closure due to the company's ongoing cost-cutting efforts.
After Ouka Studios was closed, one of Visions of Mana's co-directors joined Square Enix. Now, seven months after Ouka shut down, the other co-director of the RPG, Kenji Ozawa, has announced the founding of his own game studio, Sasanqua. In an interview with Automaton, Ozawa said that "management needs to protect...
