{"id":58365,"date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=58365"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:22:09","slug":"cyberconnect2-taking-full-responsibility-for-hack-z-e-r-o-makes-development-way-easier-says-president-well-make-it-with-a-level-of-passion-never-seen-before-the-only-risks-are-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cyberconnect2-taking-full-responsibility-for-hack-z-e-r-o-makes-development-way-easier-says-president-well-make-it-with-a-level-of-passion-never-seen-before-the-only-risks-are-f\/","title":{"rendered":"CyberConnect2 taking full responsibility for .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O makes development way easier, says president. \u201cWe\u2019ll make it with a level of passion never seen before. The only risks are financial\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese developer CyberConnect2 recently announced <strong>.hack\/\/Z.E.R.O<\/strong>, a completely new entry in the classic action RPG series. While the original .hack series is owned and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, the brand-new installment, reviving the series after an extremely long hiatus, will be completely self-published by CyberConnect2. In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/983\/G098384\/20260217033\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4Gamer<\/a>, series creator and CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama talked about the advantages (and difficulties) of being able to publish the new title in-house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Matsuyama, internal discussions about potentially creating a new .hack game had been going on and off since more than 15 years ago, yet they never ended up coming to fruition. That is why, to coincide with the company\u2019s 30-year anniversary project, the studio decided to go and directly ask Bandai Namco Entertainment for permission to use the .hack brand and publish the new title.<\/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.hack\/\/Z.E.R.O.\u300f\u30c6\u30a3\u30b6\u30fc\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30e9\u30fc #hackZERO #dothack #\u30c9\u30c3\u30c8\u30cf\u30c3\u30af\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UcjZq9RWAH8?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>When asked whether taking on the task of fully self-publishing a game makes development easier or just complicates it, Matsuyama said that everything is much easier now that CyberConnect2 is able to take full control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEverything becomes way easier [with self-publishing]. That\u2019s the only answer. By placing full responsibility on ourselves, we\u2019ll be able to pour all of our know-how, ideas and passion into this work, and push it beyond its limit. That\u2019s why I\u2019m positive that .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O. will be made with a level of passion that\u2019s never been seen before. As for the risks, the only risk would be financial,\u201d Matsuyama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to both commission work and self-publishing, the director explains that resources are not infinite, and that time is also limited. \u201cHowever, with .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O. we\u2019ll be handling all of those important decisions by ourselves. Like, how deep we want to go with development.\u201d As Matsuyama notes, through this process, CyberConnect2 has all the freedom to choose to keep refining the game to the smallest details if they judge it would be beneficial for making their player base happy and turning the game into a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/hack-is-hack-and-sao-is-sao-looking-back-on-what-the-creators-of-both-series-had-to-say-about-years-of-copycat-accusations\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/hack-is-hack-and-sao-is-sao-looking-back-on-what-the-creators-of-both-series-had-to-say-about-years-of-copycat-accusations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201c.hack\u00a0is .hack, and SAO is SAO.\u201d\u00a0Looking back on what the creators of both series\u00a0had to say about years\u00a0of copycat accusations\u00a0<br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Developer and CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama talks about CyberConnect 2&#8217;s newfound freedom with publishing .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O. in-house. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":58367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-58365","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>CyberConnect2 taking full responsibility for .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O makes development way easier, says president. \u201cWe\u2019ll make it with a level of passion never seen before. The only risks are financial\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Developer and CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama talks about CyberConnect 2&#039;s newfound freedom with publishing .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O. in-house.\" \/>\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\/cyberconnect2-taking-full-responsibility-for-hack-z-e-r-o-makes-development-way-easier-says-president-well-make-it-with-a-level-of-passion-never-seen-before-the-only-risks-are-f\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CyberConnect2 taking full responsibility for .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O makes development way easier, says president. \u201cWe\u2019ll make it with a level of passion never seen before. The only risks are financial\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Developer and CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama talks about CyberConnect 2&#039;s newfound freedom with publishing .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O. in-house.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cyberconnect2-taking-full-responsibility-for-hack-z-e-r-o-makes-development-way-easier-says-president-well-make-it-with-a-level-of-passion-never-seen-before-the-only-risks-are-f\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260219-58365-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1317\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"739\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CyberConnect2 taking full responsibility for .hack\/\/Z.E.R.O makes development way easier, says president. \u201cWe\u2019ll make it with a level of passion never seen before. 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