Shonen Jump publisher Shueisha has established a company specializing in games

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-03-31 12:00 JST)

Shueisha announced the establishment of Shueisha Games. The new company was formed on February 16 and it appears that the long-established publisher of manga, novels, and magazines is making a concerted effort to tackle the games industry.

Shueisha Games’ operations can be broadly divided into two parts. The first is to expand support for the Shueisha Game Creators Camp project that had been previously established. The aim of the project is to discover and support creators involved in games and provide services like seminars, introductions to partner corporations, and help with advertising and development. The number of registered creators has already exceeded 4,000, with over 10 titles being supported, including upcoming releases like Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions, Oni (working title), and Ukiyo.

Their other focus is the creation of new, large-scale titles. The aim is likely to create new IP in cooperation with other game developers. The company also says they already have a smartphone game involving Shonen Jump manga creators and a large developer from overseas, and a multiplayer game from a large Japanese studio in development.

The president of Shueisha Games is Shinichi Hirono, who is also the president of Shueisha. The company’s board of directors includes former Weekly Shonen Jump and Jump Square editor-in-chief Masahiko Ibaraki, former Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Yoshihisa Heishi, and other higher-ups from Shueisha.

In addition, Masami Yamamoto, a former member of Sony Interactive Entertainment who supervised PlayStation C.A.M.P. and has a reputation for discovering talent, is an executive at the company. Michiharu Mori who could be described as the driving force behind Shueisha Games, is also an executive and in charge of promotion and business management.

Shueisha Games says that with the establishment of the company, they can use their knowhow in discovering and cultivating manga talent and bring it to the video game space. They also want to assist in making highly unique games by supporting collaborations with manga creators, authors, filmmakers, illustrators, and music composers.

In recent years, self-described “Games Editor” of WSS playground Daichi Saitou has helped bring forth hit titles by utilizing already existing IP and bringing creators outside of the industry into the fold. Shueisha likely sees space to bring their talent discovery and editing knowhow together with other creators to unlock new possibilities.

Speaking of publishing companies, Kodansha also launched a project called Game Creators’ Lab in 2021 with the goal of supporting game developers. With large Japanese publishing companies getting on board, we may see more room being made for the work of individual creators.