Vanillaware shares horror story of tourists barging into their studio unannounced  

Unicorn Overlord and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim developer Vanillaware announced that they have officially settled into a brand-new office in Osaka, Japan on December 2.

Reminiscing about their old workspace, the developer’s veteran artist Shigatake shared a certain “horror” anecdote on his personal X account. 

I heard that at our previous office, there was an incident of overseas tourists (?) visiting without an appointment and barging into the development studio of their own accord. They took a bunch of photos and left. We use card keys at our new office, so it should be fine now…

While it seems that Vanillaware was a victim of outright trespassing, which is bad for obvious reasons, this is not the first time similar incidents have happened to game companies in Japan. There have been multiple cases of fans visiting the premises of their favorite Japanese developers without prior notice nor a clear purpose. This is not only considered to be poor manners, but a security risk as well. 

In responses to comments below his post, Vanillaware’s Shigatake mentions that he is grateful to overseas fans, but that he was caught off guard by the “lack of common sense” of the unwanted visitors. 

There have even been instances of people bragging about their abrupt visits to famous game companies like FromSoftware, but even if you get treated kindly and don’t get shooed away, keep in mind that there is a big chance you’re inconveniencing the people there (starting from the fact that they will probably have to find an interpreter for you) and compromising the security of their workspace.