{"id":45990,"date":"2025-03-24T15:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T06:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=45990"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:47:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T06:47:57","slug":"visions-of-mana-director-talks-about-premature-closure-of-netease-games-ouka-studios-and-his-experience-working-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-director-talks-about-premature-closure-of-netease-games-ouka-studios-and-his-experience-working-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions of Mana director talks about premature closure of NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studios and his experience working there\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this month, Kenji Ozawa, co-director of Square Enix\u2019s Visions of Mana<\/strong> and former developer at the NetEase Games-owned Ouka Studios, announced the establishment of his new game company Studio Sasanqua<\/a>. In a recent interview with Chinese gaming media 3DM,<\/a> Ozawa looked back on his experience working at Ouka Studios and shared some thoughts about its premature closure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Studio<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ouka Studios was a hybrid Chinese-Japanese game company founded in 2020 by NetEase Games. It employed veteran Japanese developers scouted from big companies like Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom and Square Enix. It notably developed Visions of Mana, the first new mainline entry in Square Enix\u2019s Mana series in 17 years. However, soon after the release of Ouka Studio\u2019s first and only game in August 2024, rumors started circulating that NetEase Games was cutting jobs and planning to shut down the studio<\/a>. This was confirmed indirectly later that year, when the studio\u2019s homepage was deleted<\/a> and key figures like Ryosuke Yoshida<\/a> and Kenji Ozawa announced their departures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on Ouka Studios\u2019 closure, Ozawa comments, \u201cOf course, I think it\u2019s a shame, but rather than holding a grudge against NetEase, I\u2019m thankful to them for giving me the opportunity.\u201d He mentions that if he were working in Japan, his chances of being entrusted with developing a major console game at his age and experience level would have been slim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visions<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Ozawa, game media reporting on his criticism of NetEase Games has only shown one side of the story. \u201cI think it\u2019s a shame that the studio was disbanded, as we needed more room for trial and error in order to prove ourselves, but on the other hand, it did leave us with very valuable experience in development.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ozawa also praises the work environment at Ouka Studios, commenting, \u201cNetEase gave the development team a great deal of decision-making power, and even top management members would communicate with the staff on a regular basis. In my opinion, this kind of excellent game development environment is hard to come by in other commercial companies.\u201d Ozawa suggests that his decision to establish his own game company was influenced by the fact that he didn\u2019t expect to find many companies with a similar work environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visions<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Explaining the meaning behind \u201cStudio Sasanqua,\u201d the name of his new studio, Ozawa mentions that he wanted it to inherit part of Ouka Studios\u2019 legacy. \u201cAlthough Ouka Studios no longer exists, for me personally, that experience is still very beautiful and precious, so I chose to continue to use a flower as the name of the studio, hoping to make use of the technology and experience accumulated at Ouka Studios in the future.\u201d Interestingly, \u2018Ouka\u2019 refers to cherry blossoms, while \u2018Sasanqua\u2019 is a species of camellia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Ozawa also seems determined not to repeat Ouka Studios\u2019 mistakes, as his policy for his new company<\/a> is to remain self-funded as much as possible, and to create an environment where development staff won\u2019t face layoffs due to fallout from managers\u2019 decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related article: Exclusive: Visions of Mana\u2019s directors talk about the high-speed, hands-on game development process that\u2019s only possible at a hybrid studio<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visions of Mana co-director Kenji Ozawa addresses closure of NetEase Games-owned Ouka Studios following establishment of his own company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":45994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-45990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nVisions of Mana director talks about premature closure of NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studios and his experience working there\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Visions of Mana co-director Kenji Ozawa addresses closure of NetEase Games-owned Ouka Studios following establishment of 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\/visions-of-mana-director-talks-about-premature-closure-of-netease-games-ouka-studios-and-his-experience-working-there\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visions of Mana director talks about premature closure of NetEase Games\u2019 Ouka Studios and his experience working there\u00a0 - 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