Japan’s video game industry sees small businesses teaming up to form alliances

Five Japanese game development companies have recently announced that they have formed a strategic business alliance under the name Byakugun. Byakugun was announced on August 29, consisting of the companies Matrix Software, STUDIOARTDINK, Profire, Meteorise, and Alfa System. The companies will apparently even share their staff and technology with each other, with the goal of overcoming issues such as lack of staff and opportunity.

Matrix Software was established in 1994 and has been involved in the development of over 150 video game and mobile app titles. They have notably worked with Square Enix and Chunsoft on Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, and their recent works include Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia and Omega Labyrinth Life. The strength of the company lies in its firm, solid development team of nearly 100 people.

STUDIOARTDINK, founded in 2001, is an all-rounder developer with a track record in a wide range of fields, from console to arcade titles. They are best known for the A-Train and Neo Atlas series.

Profire was established in 1996, and they have a wide range of activities, from game planning, design, and development to hardware design and server software development. They specialize in server technology that supports MMORPGs and online games, including backend and payment systems. The three companies described so far have been in a business alliance for some time, and now, with the addition of the following two companies, they have formed the alliance group Byakugun.

Meteorise, established in 2010, is a company focused on developing and operating app and consumer games. Recently, they have been involved in the development of titles such as Dragon Ball: The Breakers and Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, and have also been involved in creating and managing some of the visual effects for Granblue Fantasy Fes.

Alfa System, founded in 1988, handles contract development for major game companies, while also developing their own IPs, including titles like Shikigami no Shiro/Castle of Shikigami and Sisters Royale. In 2021, they became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meteorise.

Byakugun intends to leverage the unique strengths of the five companies to craft the most effective team compositions for various content. Their goal is detailed, high-quality development, which they will accomplish by sharing staff and conducting study sessions, sharing the technologies and capabilities of the five companies mutually, moving forward as if they were a single entity. Currently, they are already working on multiple projects.

Additionally, this is not an isolated case for the Japanese game development industry, as a similar alliance between the three companies, HexaDrive, Land ho!, and R-FORCE ENTERTAINMENT was announced in April this year. This alliance also aims to expand their development capabilities by rearranging personnel between the three companies and exchanging technologies. It seems that small and medium-scaled companies joining forces through alliances to overcome hurdles in the industry is becoming a tendency in Japan recently.

Written by. Remi Morisawa based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-08-30 14:48 JST)