Yoshimi Yasuda, executive producer of Lollipop Chainsaw and producer of the 2024 remastered version Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, recently talked about what it looked like working with Warner Bros. for the original game. In 2012, Grasshopper Manufacture teamed up with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now Warner Bros. Games) for overseas publishing of Lollipop Chainsaw, and according to Yasuda, the US publisher had a positive influence on the game’s development.
“I learned so much from working with Warner Bros. on the development of Lollipop Chainsaw, especially when it came to publishing,” Yasuda writes on X. Apparently, the producer was especially impressed by the company’s QA (quality assurance) approval process. He says that trying to meet the standards of Warner Bros.’ QA lead – a certain Mr. Mario – was both a challenging and “eye-opening” experience for him.
Specifically, Warner Bros. took issue with the design of Juliet, Lollipop Chainsaw’s protagonist, deeming it “not cute enough.” This led to the dev team refining her design over and over, all the way until the game’s master build was completed. “The Japanese side kept working to make Juliet a strong, sincere, and lovable heroine. I think she became such a beloved character thanks to Warner Bros.’ dedicated support, and I’m truly grateful for that,” Yasuda comments.
Naturally, advocating for a cuter Juliet is not all Warner Bros. did, as the publisher was also responsible for bringing Hollywood filmmaker James Gunn on board as a scenario writer. Lollipop Chainsaw’s US-side producer Scott War also helped make sure Suda51 got to realize his original vision without being impacted by Western norms. Somewhat amusingly, Warner Bros. also advised the team to rename Juliet’s boyfriend from the lame-sounding “Romeo” to the, at the time, cooler “Nick.”
Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is available for PC (Steam), PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Xbox Series X❘S, and Nintendo Switch.
