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Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios reportedly faces layoffs amid game's release

This comes as Tencent and Ouka Studios owner NetEase are reportedly pulling investment out of developers in Japan.

TJ Denzer

August 30, 2024 8:28 AM

Image via Ouka Studios

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Chinese gaming giants Tencent and NetEase are reportedly starting to pull investment from Japanese studios, and we are already seeing the consequences at a studio that just put a much-anticipated title this weekend. Ouka Studios, owned by NetEase and developers of Visions of Mana have reportedly faced a mass layoff that could see the studio wind down to a closure after its remaining projects are finished.

Tencent and NetEase’s withdrawal from Japanese studios and Ouka’s layoffs came from a report by Bloomberg. According to anonymous sources familiar with the matter, Tencent and NetEase are turning their eyes back towards game development in China, which is seeing a resurgence. This has also reportedly been spurred by the hefty investment in Japan with only a “few hit games” to show for it. Tencent has supposedly begun to back out of several funding commitments, and NetEase is scaling down Ouka Studios for a closure soon.

Ouka Studios is most recently known for its work on the development of Visions of Mana, which officially released on August 29 this week. The group was formed in 2020, and quickly pulled in veteran developers from Capcom and Bandai Namco that made a game like Visions of Mana possible. We hugely enjoyed Visions of Mana’s combat, story, and characters, leading to a stellar Shacknews review. It's been reported that NetEase has already laid off much of the staff at the studio, keeping only essential personnel to wrap up remaining projects before a full closure.

It’s a shame that such a good game will now have the stink of video game industry layoffs on it, but this feels like only the beginning of bad news from Tencent and NetEase. As we watch for further consequences of this shift, stay tuned to Shacknews for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.