{"id":52544,"date":"2025-10-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=52544"},"modified":"2025-09-30T18:00:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T09:00:59","slug":"former-nippon-ichi-software-president-reveals-secret-author-persona-hes-been-using-ever-since-he-resigned-turns-out-hes-both-the-writer-and-producer-of-his-new-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-nippon-ichi-software-president-reveals-secret-author-persona-hes-been-using-ever-since-he-resigned-turns-out-hes-both-the-writer-and-producer-of-his-new-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Nippon Ichi Software president reveals secret author persona he\u2019s been using ever since he resigned. Turns out he\u2019s both the writer and producer of his new game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At this year\u2019s Tokyo Game Show, Japanese game studio SuperNiche announced their new game <strong>Etrange Overlord<\/strong>, set to release on March 26 next year. The game is described as a \u201csushi lane musical action adventure,\u201d but its word salad of a genre is far from the most chaotic news being revealed in the wake of the announcement. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202509\/53959\">Famitsu<\/a> reports, Roman Kitayama, the author of the original script the game is based on \u2013 never actually existed. Their true identity was actually Sohei Niikawa, the former president of Nippon Ichi Software and founder of SuperNiche.<\/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=\"\u3010TGS2025\u3011DAY02\u30fb\u9752\u6728\u7460\u7483\u5b50&amp;\u524d\u7530\u4f73\u7e54\u91cc\u00d7\u30d5\u30a1\u30df\u901a\u30fb\u96fb\u6483\u7279\u756a\uff01 \u5b9f\u6a5f\u30d7\u30ec\u30a4\uff06\u6700\u65b0\u60c5\u5831\u30b9\u30da\u30b7\u30e3\u30eb\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UGc7cMar344?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>While showing off some gameplay bits during Famitsu\u2019s special livestream on YouTube, NIS\u2019 former president Niikawa revealed brand-new information about his company\u2019s upcoming game \u2013 including the staff roll. According to Niikawa, the title is developed by Gemdrops, the studio which helped develop games like The Hundred Line, and published by Broccoli. Niikawa took on the role of producer, with RE:Zero illustrator Shinichiro Ootsuka in the art department. While most of the staff listed are familiar names in the industry, the identity of Etrange Overlord\u2019s \u201cup-and-coming\u201d original author Roman Kitayama was shrouded in mystery. That is, until Niikawa dropped the bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250930-525440001.jpg\" alt=\"Etrange overlord gameplay.\" class=\"wp-image-52550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250930-525440001.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250930-525440001-380x214.jpg 380w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was me,\u201d he confessed, pointing at himself. \u201cI quit my previous company and became a writer. And until today, I\u2019ve been secretly working as an underground author.\u201d Niikawa resigned from his role as the president and representative director of Nippon Ichi Software in August 2022, and immediately started working undercover, writing novels, manga scripts and game pitches. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RomanKitayama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X account<\/a> for his Roman Kitayama persona was created a month prior to his resignation, it seems like this three-year-long prank was a move he\u2019d been planning to pull ever since his days at NIS.<\/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=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u559c\u591a\u5c71\u6d6a\u6f2b\u306e\u6b63\u4f53\u304c\u5224\u660e\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<br>3\u5e74\u9593\u3001\u6b63\u4f53\u3092\u96a0\u3057\u3066\u6d3b\u52d5\u3057\u3066\u304d\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<br><br>\u4eca\u5f8c\u306f\u5c0f\u8aac\u5bb6\u30fb\u559c\u591a\u5c71\u6d6a\u6f2b\u3001\u30d7\u30ed\u30c7\u30e5\u30fc\u30b5\u30fc\u65b0\u5ddd\u5b97\u5e73\u3068\u3001\u305d\u308c\u305e\u308c\u306e\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8\u304b\u3089\u6d3b\u52d5\u3092\u767a\u4fe1\u3057\u3066\u307e\u3044\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u3053\u308c\u304b\u3089\u3082\u5fdc\u63f4\u3088\u308d\u3057\u304f\u304a\u9858\u3044\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NTgQ9EXls2\">pic.twitter.com\/NTgQ9EXls2<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u65b0\u5ddd\u5b97\u5e73\uff08\u30d7\u30ed\u30c7\u30e5\u30fc\u30b5\u30fc\uff09 (@soheiniikawa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soheiniikawa\/status\/1972250467645460961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On his official X account, Niikawa announced: \u201cThe true identity of Roman Kitayama has been revealed. I\u2019ve been secretly active [as Kitayama] for the past three years. From now on, Sohei Niikawa and Roman Kitayama will be announcing their future activities via their respective accounts. Thank you for your continued support.\u201d Despite the grand scheme coming to an end, it sounds like Niikawa will continue pursuing side projects under the name of Roman Kitayama, while keeping his main work as a game producer and SuperNiche representative under his real name. But as both of his personas are currently working on the same game \u2013 from a different position \u2013 fans should probably prepare themselves for double the mischief leading up to Etrange Overlord\u2019s release.<\/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=\"\u300e\u30a8\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30b8\u30e5 \u30aa\u30fc\u30f4\u30a1\u30fc\u30ed\u30fc\u30c9\u300f\u30a2\u30ca\u30a6\u30f3\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30e9\u30fc\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/djL3DfyJNpA?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><a href=\"https:\/\/etrange-overlord.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Etrange Overlord<\/a> is set to release on March 28, 2026, for PlayStation 4, 5 and Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Niikawa revealed as the true identity of undercover author Roman Kitayama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":52549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-52544","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 v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Nippon Ichi Software president reveals secret author persona he\u2019s been using ever since he resigned. Turns out he\u2019s both the writer and producer of his new game - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Niikawa revealed as the true identity of undercover author Roman Kitayama.\" \/>\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-nippon-ichi-software-president-reveals-secret-author-persona-hes-been-using-ever-since-he-resigned-turns-out-hes-both-the-writer-and-producer-of-his-new-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Nippon Ichi Software president reveals secret author persona he\u2019s been using ever since he resigned. 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