Japanese game development company Yuke’s announced on August 4, that it will acquire Aquaplus as its subsidiary. Consequently, F.I.X Records, a company under Aquaplus, will also become a subsidiary of Yuke’s.
Aquaplus is a video game publisher that originally operated under the Leaf brand, with a focus on bishojo visual novel games. They have developed numerous console and mobile titles, some of their most famous ones being the ToHeart, Utawarerumono and White Album series.
In 2022, Aquaplus became a subsidiary of CREST, which was part of the larger Pole To Win group and handled content and media, including games. The following year, CREST merged with two other companies within the group and rebranded as HIKE, under which Aquaplus continued to operate as a game development studio.
However, on June 24 this year, Pole To Win announced that HIKE and its other subsidiaries will be going independent as a result of the corporation backing out from the digital media and content industry. On the other hand, it was decided that Aquaplus would not be made part of the new,independent HIKE. Instead, Pole To Win planned to transfer ownership to whichever buyer was most likely to maximize Aquaplus’ value as a game developer.
The shares in Aquaplus ultimately went to Yuke’s, a game development company known for its pro wrestling game series WWF SmackDown! and WWE2K. They have also worked on some of the Earth Defense Force titles, and have an unhinged anime-inspired shooting game Full Metal Schoolgirl set to release this year.
Commenting on the acquisition, Yuke’s explains that the fusion of Yuke’s development capabilities and the strength of Aquaplus’ IP and brand will open up possibilities for the development of brand-new genres and titles. By Yuke’s taking on some of Aquaplus’ development projects, they expect to optimize resources and stabilize the efficiency of commissioned work. Additionally, by implementing Aquaplus’ know-how in the bishojo and romance visual knowledge fields, they hope to expand their scope of development and reach a new audience. With the two companies having expertise in completely different genres and appealing to vastly different audiences, it will be exciting to see what new games this acquisition could bring.
