{"id":56292,"date":"2026-01-30T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56292"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:40:23","slug":"aquaplus-expects-quality-of-its-future-games-to-rise-dramatically-thanks-to-new-parent-company-yukes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/aquaplus-expects-quality-of-its-future-games-to-rise-dramatically-thanks-to-new-parent-company-yukes\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquaplus\u00a0expects quality of its future games to \u201crise dramatically\u201d thanks to new parent company Yuke\u2019s\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aquaplus recently announced that Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered<\/strong> will launch worldwide on May 27, 2026. With this being the conclusion and final installment of the long-running JRPG series<\/a>, Aquaplus will be moving on to Jasmine and other new IPs going forward. According to the company\u2019s COO Naoya Shimokawa, future releases will likely see a significant bump in quality, thanks to Aquaplus\u2019s new parent company Yuke\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Yuke\u2019s, with its track record in developing pro wrestling games, announced that it was acquiring Aquaplus<\/a> in August last year, it came as a pretty unusual surprise to fans of both developers. Apparently, it was also a surprise to Shimokawa himself. Talking to Famitsu<\/a>, he comments, \u201cI bet a lot of people thought, \u2018Why Yuke’s?\u2019 And honestly, I did too, and I heard similar reactions from within the company (laughs).\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Utawarerumono:<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, after becoming a fully-owned subsidiary of Yuke\u2019s, it seems Aquaplus\u2019s possibilities have expanded significantly. \u201cWhat I actually felt after joining forces with them was their high level of development capability. They particularly excel in 3D technology and have extraordinary development skills, and I think the quality of Aquaplus games will rise dramatically.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the two developers don\u2019t have any solidified plans yet, Shimokawa has been in talks with Yuke\u2019s president Yukinori Taniguchi about someday making a large-scale game that combines Aquaplus storytelling, characters and music, with Yuke\u2019s advanced development capaibilities. While Yuke\u2019s has already been vocal about how valuable it considers the Aquaplus acquisition<\/a> for its future project, this is the first time we\u2019re hearing directly from Aquaplus\u2019s side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/strong>ToHeart developer Aquaplus is being sold off by parent company \u2013 currently in talks with multiple parties<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aquaplus COO, game producer and composer Naoya Shimokawa recently addressed last year’s acquisition by WWE developer Yuke’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":56327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nAquaplus\u00a0expects quality of its future games to \u201crise dramatically\u201d thanks to new parent company Yuke\u2019s\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aquaplus COO, game producer and composer Naoya Shimokawa recently addressed last year's acquisition by WWE developer Yuke's.\" \/>\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\/aquaplus-expects-quality-of-its-future-games-to-rise-dramatically-thanks-to-new-parent-company-yukes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aquaplus\u00a0expects quality of its future games to \u201crise dramatically\u201d thanks to new parent company Yuke\u2019s\u00a0 - 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