In late 2025, Monotype faced significant backlash in Japan after announcing that it would effectively discontinue an affordable font licensing plan widely used by developers (from indies to major franchises like Persona and Fate/Grand Order) to embed high-quality Japanese typefaces into games. This move came shortly after Monotype acquired the original provider of the service, Fontworks, and at the time, the only alternatives Monotype offered were enterprise-oriented plans costing upwards of $20,500 USD per year (compared to the original $380).
After temporarily restoring access to existing LETS subscriptions until March 31, 2026 (in response to concerns voiced by developers), the company has now issued a new statement outlining how its font licensing for games will work.
Monotype says that the LETS plan has been revised to “better reflect the needs of indie developers.” The updated plan is priced at 49,500 yen for the yearly base LETS subscription + 33,000 yen for game/app integration (this used to be 49,500 yen + 11,000 yen, meaning the latter expense has tripled in price). One improvement is that there will seemingly be no limit on integration in multiple titles.
On the other hand, Monotype has introduced a new cap on distribution volume (meaning how many units you can ship). While the company states that the limit is sufficient for “typical indie game release scale,” it has not disclosed any specific figures, which leaves Japanese developers uncertain about what qualifies as acceptable use.
For projects exceeding the undisclosed distribution cap or those targeting large-scale global releases, Monotype directs developers toward alternative licensing plans, such as app-specific licenses via its MyFonts platform or customized enterprise agreements, which leaves mid-sized projects in an awkward position.
This latest update appears to be Monotype’s first concrete step toward the “new services for the Japanese market” it previously promised following December’s backlash. While the announcement indicates that Monotype will continue to refine how things work, for now, many of the concerns voiced in 2025, particularly regarding pricing transparency and scalability for commercially successful titles, seem to remain unresolved.
