Japanese game creator Kenji Ozawa has announced the establishment of a new game company called Studio Sasanqua. The company was formally founded back in January this year, but the grand reveal came on March 3, along with the launch of the studio’s official homepage.
Ozawa, who will serve as Studio Sasanqua’s CEO, has a proven track record as a game producer at Bandai Namco Entertainment. In 2019, he joined the NetEase-owned Ouka Studios, where he co-directed Square Enix’s Visions of Mana. Ozawa announced his departure from Ouka Studios on October 31 last year, which came after a Bloomberg report that suggested NetEase Games was cutting jobs and planning to shut down the studio.
From mass layoffs to cancelled projects, the game industry has been plagued by uncertainty in recent years, making it difficult to try new things. Why then, did Ozawa decide to start his own company, even though his experience working in the thriving Chinese market could land him a job in no time? AUTOMATON talked to him to find out.
Ozawa explains that his misgivings about the recent state of the game industry greatly motivated his decision to establish his own company. These misgivings were born from witnessing multiple incidences of management not taking responsibility for company projects. He points out that although management is in charge of making high-level decisions (such as approving game projects and making investments), it’s the creators who are held accountable when a management-related mistake occurs, which often results in layoffs. Ozawa stresses that this puts too much responsibility on the shoulders of individual developers, who don’t have a say in companywide decision-making.
Based on both his personal experiences and what he’s observed in the industry in recent years, Ozawa emphasizes that “management needs to protect creators,” which includes motivating development and providing a psychological sense of security. As such, he decided to establish his own company in a way that integrates management and development, which usually tend to be separated. Ozawa says that he is fully prepared to assume responsibility if a project fails due to poor management decisions, and he is making sure that he is able to do so financially too. Studio Sasanqua appears to be funded by Ozawa himself.
Ozawa and his team will be starting off with small-scale projects developed in Unreal Engine, with the goal of eventually transitioning to full-blown, original PC/console games.
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