Visions of Mana Dev Basically Shut Down Just as the RPG Releases | Push Square

pushsquare.com:

Ouka Studios, the Tokyo-based team that just brought us Visions of Mana, is reportedly on the brink of being closed down. To be clear, the new Mana title is published by Square Enix, but Ouka Studios — the game's primary developer — is a subsidiary of Chinese colossus NetEase. The outfit was first established in 2020.

According to Bloomberg, NetEase has already cut most jobs at the company, with only a handful of employees left on for the sake of upcoming releases. It's an undeniable hammer blow for the studio, which, again, has only just launched Visions of Mana on the 29th August.

Reportedly, these cuts are down to a change in perspective at NetEase. The tech giant is apparently «rethinking» its strategy when it comes to investing in Japanese game development — a sector that isn't paying out like NetEase had previously hoped it would. Supposedly, fellow Chinese conglomerate Tencent is having similar doubts.

We don't know whether there were any post-launch plans for Visions of Mana in the pipeline, but it's fair to assume that beyond basic updates, the RPG won't be getting any notable support.

Branching out

Eyes open

What do you make of this news? Despair at how quickly developers can come and go in the comments section below.

Robert (or Rob if you're lazy) is an assistant editor of Push Square, and has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Persona, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Trails, Tales — he's played 'em all. A little too much, some might say.

Bad news. I hope something similar won't happen to Concord studio

This is just pure s**t. Its getting rediculous now.

I wonder how this will be twisted to somehow be Squares fault?

What a time to be a video game developer.

@Cloud39472 or even Sony’s fault somehow