{"id":67506,"date":"2026-06-02T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67506"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:03:10","slug":"former-dragon-quest-producers-studio-pincool-was-hit-by-netease-games-funding-withdrawal-before-securing-a-new-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-dragon-quest-producers-studio-pincool-was-hit-by-netease-games-funding-withdrawal-before-securing-a-new-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Dragon Quest producer\u2019s studio\u00a0PinCool\u00a0was hit by NetEase Games funding withdrawal before securing a new partner\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Square Enix veteran\u00a0Ryutaro Ichimura<\/strong>, who\u00a0was the lead producer on\u00a0Dragon Quest\u00a0VIII and IX, recently\u00a0talked to\u00a0Famitsu<\/a>\u00a0about\u00a0what\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0been up to at his new company\u00a0PinCool<\/a>.\u00a0Ichimura left\u00a0Square Enix\u00a0in 2023\u00a0and became the CEO of\u00a0NetEase Games-funded studio\u00a0PinCool\u00a0the same year.\u00a0Although the company has\u00a0lived to\u00a0celebrate its third anniversary and\u00a0release\u00a0its debut game\u00a0safe and sound,\u00a0PinCool\u00a0did not go unscathed when NetEase games\u00a0decided to\u00a0change its\u00a0investment\u00a0strategy\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0Japanese market, according to Ichimura.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2024, it was reported that after investing heavily in several Japanese game studios employing renowned creators, NetEase Games was looking to back out<\/a> from many of its ventures. This was followed by news of Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios shutting down<\/a>, and more recently, of Nagoshi Studio losing funding while in the middle of developing the large-scale cinematic action game Gang of Dragon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, PinCool was also hit hard by NetEase Games pulling its support. \u201cWe had prepared ourselves for something like that to happen eventually since establishing the studio, but it happened sooner than we expected,\u201d Ichimura told Famitsu. At the time, his studio had been working on three unannounced projects, one of which survived because it was smaller in scale and nearly complete. The rest were long-term projects and thus had to be scrapped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

However, thanks to Ichimura\u00a0anticipating\u00a0the worst-case scenario even before NetEase Games officially announced it would withdraw funding,\u00a0PinCool\u00a0was able to\u00a0find a new partner,\u00a0the US-based investment company\u00a0Initiate Games.\u00a0PinCool\u00a0became a subsidiary of Initiate Games\u00a0with\u00a0its whole team intact, and in 2025, it released its first game,\u00a0Pritto\u00a0Prisoner<\/a>.\u00a0Ichimura says that it was thanks to\u00a0the game\u00a0being almost complete and in a playable state that his studio was able to secure a partner willing to invest in them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward, PinCool plans to continue working on indie-scale games with its small in-house team, as well as pitching larger-scale titles to external companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/strong>\u00a0Ryutaro Ichimura says he left Square Enix after the company shifted to safe \u201ccopycat\u201d projects modeled after existing hit games\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryutaro Ichimura recently talked about the “turbulence” his studio PinCool experienced after NetEase Games abruptly withdrew funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":67508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[261,17],"class_list":["post-67506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Dragon Quest producer\u2019s studio\u00a0PinCool\u00a0was hit by NetEase Games funding withdrawal before securing a new partner\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ryutaro Ichimura recently talked about the "turbulence" his studio PinCool experienced after NetEase Games abruptly withdrew funding.\" \/>\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-dragon-quest-producers-studio-pincool-was-hit-by-netease-games-funding-withdrawal-before-securing-a-new-partner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Dragon Quest producer\u2019s studio\u00a0PinCool\u00a0was hit by NetEase Games funding withdrawal before securing a new partner\u00a0 - 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