Japanese game company GungHo Online Entertainment, known as the developer of long-running mobile game Puzzle and Dragons, and more recently, as publisher of Nihon Falcom’s Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, has announced a change in administration on January 9, 2026. According to the official notice by the company, current president and CEO Kazuki Morishita will be stepping down from his role, becoming Chief Development Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors instead. This comes only a couple of months after a long campaign led by activist investors advocating for Morishita’s removal from the position.
Ever since January 2025, activist investor Strategic Capital has maintained a firm stance about Morishita’s dismissal, stating that it is a necessary step towards “reviving GungHo from being a one-hit-wonder.” Throughout the past year, the investors have been actively criticizing the CEO for “lacking awareness of his responsibilities,” citing “failure to produce a hit for 13 years since the release of Puzzle and Dragons,” and Morishita having a salary higher than Nintendo’s CEO, as some of the many issues within the company.
In September, GungHo officially rejected Strategic Capital’s aggressive proposals to fire Morishita, arguing that his removal “would significantly damage corporate value.” But only four months later, the CEO decided to resign. While it hasn’t been disclosed whether his decision was influenced by the activist investors’ campaign, the company writes that Morishita stepped down from his role as CEO and President in order to “devote himself more fully to directing and overseeing game development.” Starting from February 1, 2026, the position will be taken over by GungHo’s current CFO and Executive General Manager of Finance Accounting Division, Kazuya Sakai.
Citing “the company’s recent performance,” GungHo has also revised their remuneration system, resulting in lower salary payouts compared to fiscal year 2024. Notably, total remuneration for the presidential role in the previous fiscal year was about 288.4 million yen (around $1.8 million USD), while after the revision, the amount is estimated to shrink by about 63%, to 107.7 million yen (around $678.3k USD). The company describes the new system as a “performance-linked restricted share remuneration system,” which doesn’t allow payout of stock-based remuneration unless the comparative total shareholder return (TSR) growth rate is above 100%. As reported by GameBiz, GungHo has been seeing a continuous rise in stock prices following the two announcements, especially attracting market attention thanks to its remuneration system revision.
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