{"id":67651,"date":"2026-06-04T14:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67651"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:25:30","slug":"el-shaddai-creator-sawaki-takeyasu-to-head-new-japan-studio-founded-by-vampire-survivors-developer-poncle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/el-shaddai-creator-sawaki-takeyasu-to-head-new-japan-studio-founded-by-vampire-survivors-developer-poncle\/","title":{"rendered":"El Shaddai creator Sawaki Takeyasu to head new Japan studio founded by Vampire Survivors developer\u00a0poncle\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Given the massive success of\u00a0Vampire Survivors\u00a0<\/strong>and the recently released\u00a0Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hardly surprising that the\u00a0UK-based indie studio\u00a0poncle<\/a>\u00a0is spreading its wings and\u00a0establishing\u00a0a new studio in Japan.\u00a0Leading the studio is none other than\u00a0former\u00a0Capcom dev and\u00a0creator of\u00a0El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron<\/strong>,\u00a0Sawaki Takeyasu.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with\u00a0Weekly\u00a0Famitsu\u00a0(as reported by\u00a0Gematsu<\/a>),\u00a0founder and Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante revealed that the idea of opening a Japan-based studio had been on his mind for years \u2013 fostered by his love for Japanese video games and positive experiences while visiting the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His idea started to take shape in 2023, when poncle chief strategy officer Matteo Sapio introduced him to Takeyasu. Galante was a longtime fan of Takeyasu\u2019s artwork and his contributions to Okami, where Takeyasu served as a character and monster designer (the studio name \u201cponcle\u201d comes from the tiny, sprite-like race that appears in the game). Takeyasu, on the other hand, was a big fan of Vampire Survivors, despite the hit indie being released only a year before their meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

As the head of\u00a0poncle\u2019s\u00a0Japan studio,\u00a0Takeyasu\u2019s\u00a0job is to support the company\u2019s\u00a0broader\u00a0goals while\u00a0establishing\u00a0a firm foundation in the country. While the studio’s scale has yet to be\u00a0finalized, the plan is for\u00a0poncle\u00a0teams to remain\u00a0relatively small.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeyasu said that he hopes to build a studio driven by passion and market trends, and to create opportunities for aspiring developers regardless of their age or experience. His first order of business is to increase awareness of Vampire Survivors in Japan and to foster an environment where developers can experiment with new ideas through small-scale projects. Considering Vampire Survivors has a dedicated Japanese X account<\/a> with thousands of followers, it seems like he already has a good head start.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galante adds that \u201ccreating games the team wants to make, respecting players, and prioritizing accessibility\u201d form the core principles of poncle\u2019s development philosophy, and apply not just to Vampire Survivors and Vampire Crawlers, but to future projects as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward, the plan is for regional teams to work on separate projects (poncle also established a new studio in Italy). Though collaboration between studios is still possible, the idea is for development to be largely handled independently, with Galente confirming that a new game could be coming from the Japan Studio. While future games might draw from the Vampire Survivors universe, poncle is also interested in creating new IPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:\u00a0El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron\u2019s brand-new spinoff is a surprisingly chill Reversi-based game made by the title\u2019s OG creator<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante recently revealed that poncle plans to open a new studio in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":67656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-67651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nEl Shaddai creator Sawaki Takeyasu to head new Japan studio founded by Vampire Survivors developer\u00a0poncle\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante recently revealed that poncle plans to open a new studio in Japan, headed by Sawaki Takeyasu.\" \/>\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\/el-shaddai-creator-sawaki-takeyasu-to-head-new-japan-studio-founded-by-vampire-survivors-developer-poncle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"El Shaddai creator Sawaki Takeyasu to head new Japan studio founded by Vampire Survivors developer\u00a0poncle\u00a0 - 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