{"id":51510,"date":"2025-08-29T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51510"},"modified":"2025-08-29T18:14:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:14:31","slug":"japanese-game-companies-rarely-give-abandoned-ips-a-second-chance-neoneon-tribes-founders-hope-to-set-a-positive-precedent-by-reviving-tribe-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-game-companies-rarely-give-abandoned-ips-a-second-chance-neoneon-tribes-founders-hope-to-set-a-positive-precedent-by-reviving-tribe-nine\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese game companies rarely give abandoned IPs a second chance. Neoneon Tribe\u2019s founders hope to set a positive precedent by reviving Tribe Nine\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following its unexpected end-of-service announcement in May, Akatsuki Games\u2019 free-to-play ARPG Tribe Nine<\/strong> will permanently shut down on November 27. But in an unusual twist, three members related to the project requested permission from Akatsuki Games to take over (as an external party) and see to it that Tribe Nine\u2019s story gets a proper conclusion. The publisher granted them permission to establish Neoneon Tribe<\/strong>, a non-profit, unofficial doujin project dedicated to resurrecting Tribe Nine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is led by Kazutaka Kodaka, who created the original concept for Tribe Nine (but did not participate directly in development), former Tribe Nine producer Shuhei Yamaguchi (who has since left Akatsuki Games), and former scenario writer Katsunori Suginaka. Although Akatsuki Games still owns the IP, Neoneon Tribe\u2019s members hope that what they\u2019re doing will encourage others in the industry to revisit previously abandoned IPs, as well as nudge rightsholders to consider entrusting their franchises to people more interested in working on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking to AUTOMATON, Yamaguchi comments, \u201cThere are plenty of titles across the industry that haven\u2019t had sequels for years, and plenty of releases fans are begging for that never get made. I think that in such cases \u2013 assuming the company itself has no plans to do something \u2013 the industry should be more open to letting other motivated parties step in and move things forward.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tribe<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reviving old franchises is, above all, a hassle for companies, so IPs can end up being ignored even if there are individuals proposing promising ideas. \u201cIn most cases, I think companies judge it too troublesome to sort out the rights for works from 10 years ago, so proposals to revisit them aren\u2019t accepted most of the time. But Japan is full of such works, whether it be anime, manga, or games. When considering the broader perspective of sending Japanese content out into the world, I believe Japan should actively work towards enabling more flexible handling of such IPs. If our doujin project can serve as a forerunner of that, that would be very exciting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With how high-stakes game development has become, setting a successful precedent is key, Yamaguchi says. \u201cIf we can prove that a work once thought to have no value can regain commercial value, others will follow. In today\u2019s game industry, nothing moves without precedent, and this is why we see so many similar titles, or \u201c-likes\u201d of popular game systems. Because making games is so expensive, companies need prior success cases to base their moves on. But once a success story emerges, it tends to spread the idea that this approach is viable, so I hope we can pioneer a new path.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tribe Nine is available for free on PC (Steam<\/a>), iOS and Android until November 27. The members of Neoneon Tribe<\/a> encourage fans to play through all story chapters while the game is still available, as their doujin work will continue from where the game left off.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles: <\/strong>Tribe Nine\u2019s creators didn\u2019t want the game to go down in history as \u201cthat project that flopped in three months,\u201d which is why they\u2019re working for free to complete the story<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danganronpa creator says live-service games should offer players a genuine conclusion before ending services<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Tribe Nine producer Shuhei Yamaguchi talks about Japanese companies’ tendency to shelf old IP’s even when fans want a revival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":51514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese game companies rarely give abandoned IPs a second chance. 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