The development team behind Taiko no Tatsujin, one of Japan’s most popular rhythm game franchises, recently announced that it would be revising the fonts used in the arcade version of the game starting August 19. While the reason behind this decision has not been disclosed, many suspect that it may be a result of contract revisions for the widely used font service LETS.
Until late 2025, the LETS plan (formerly known as Fontworks LETS) for video games allowed developers to integrate high-quality Japanese fonts into their game builds for a fairly affordable price of about 60,000 yen a year (around USD $380 at the time). However, after an acquisition by the US company Monotype, it was announced that the video game-specific service would be effectively discontinued in favor of a new, more generalized one. Its successor, Monotype Fonts, whose Standard plan would allow for game integration, was set to cost over $20k per year, which was deemed unaffordable even for more well-off development studios in Japan.
Following backlash from Japanese indie developers, Monotype decided to revise the plan in April 2026. The new yearly plan would be priced at 49,500 yen for the yearly base LETS subscription + 33,000 yen for game/app integration (this used to be 49,500 yen + 11,000 yen, meaning the latter expense has tripled in price). However, while a total of 82,500 yen (around $520 USD) is still better than $20k USD, the catch was that there would be a cap on distribution volume (meaning how many units you can ship). While Monotype argued that that the limit was sufficient for “typical indie game release scale,” it had not disclosed any specific figures, which again, left many developers uncertain about using the service.
The change in pricing and vague conditions have, as a result, caused many developers to opt out of LETS and seek out other similar services or free font providers.
Although Taiko no Tatsujin is definitely not an indie game (the game is developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment), many believe that the recent font revision announcement could be related to the aforementioned LETS controversy. This theory is based on the fact that the game is currently using the Oedo Kanteiryu font, which was originally provided by Fontworks LETS. However, since the Taiko no Tatsujin developers decided not to disclose the reason behind the change of fonts, it might be best to wait and see if any other video game companies announce a similar move in the future.
