{"id":44990,"date":"2025-03-03T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=44990"},"modified":"2025-03-03T12:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T03:36:10","slug":"former-dev-from-netease-games-ouka-studio-establishes-his-own-company-that-wont-push-the-responsibility-of-management-onto-developers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-dev-from-netease-games-ouka-studio-establishes-his-own-company-that-wont-push-the-responsibility-of-management-onto-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"Former dev from NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studio establishes his own company that \u201cwon\u2019t push the responsibility of management onto developers\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese game creator Kenji Ozawa has announced the establishment of a new game company called <strong>Studio Sasanqua<\/strong>. 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\u2019s official homepage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1685\" height=\"664\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1685px) 100vw, 1685px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-44990-header.jpg\" alt=\"Studio Sasanqua company logo\" class=\"wp-image-45019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-44990-header.jpg 1685w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-44990-header-380x150.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-44990-header-768x303.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-44990-header-1536x605.jpg 1536w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ozawa, who will serve as Studio Sasanqua\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/chinese-publishers-such-as-netease-might-be-abandoning-japanese-developers-after-years-of-investment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cutting jobs and planning to shut down the studio<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I retired from NetEase Games Ouka Studios on October 31st!<br>I gained a lot of valuable experience, such as Visions of Mana and launching the Shibuya base!<br>It will be a little while before I can talk about what I will do next, but I will continue to work in the game industry! I\u2026<\/p>&mdash; Kenji Ozawa\/TBD&#8230; (@KenjitheEMO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KenjitheEMO\/status\/1863441472764400016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 2, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s 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\u2019t have a say in companywide decision-making.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29019-001.jpg\" alt=\"Visions of Mana semi open world\" class=\"wp-image-29026\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29019-001.jpg 900w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29019-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29019-001-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29019-001-600x337.jpg 600w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on both his personal experiences and what he\u2019s observed in the industry in recent years, Ozawa emphasizes that \u201cmanagement needs to protect creators,\u201d 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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"STUDIO SASANQUA: new game development studio announcement\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-bepiAuDR-g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related Articles:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-director-ryosuke-yoshida-leaves-netease-owned-studio-and-joins-square-enix\/\">Visions of Mana director Ryosuke Yoshida leaves NetEase-owned studio and joins Square Enix&nbsp;<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/netease-deletes-website-of-visions-of-mana-developer-ouka-studios\/\">NetEase deletes website of Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After leaving NetEase Games&#8217; Ouka Studio and directing Visions of Mana, Kenji Ozawa is starting up his own company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":29014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-44990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former dev from NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studio establishes his own company that \u201cwon\u2019t push the responsibility of management onto developers\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After leaving NetEase Games&#039; Ouka Studio and directing Visions of Mana, Kenji Ozawa is starting up his own company.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-dev-from-netease-games-ouka-studio-establishes-his-own-company-that-wont-push-the-responsibility-of-management-onto-developers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former dev from NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studio establishes his own company that \u201cwon\u2019t push the responsibility of management onto developers\u201d\u00a0 - 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