Visions of Mana director Ryosuke Yoshida has stop NetEase’s Ouka Studios in an effort to be a part of Sq. Enix following reviews of intensive layoffs on the former.
In a message on social media platform X, Yoshida mentioned that he stop Ouka Studios on October thirty first, however that he is “grateful to the event crew and NetEase for his or her help” in creating and releasing Visions of Mana.
Describing the method of creating the sport as “an excellent expertise”, Yoshida then says he “joined Sq. Enix in December”, pledging to “do [his] finest to make a recreation that many individuals can get pleasure from”.
The Visions of Mana director’s message drew responses from the likes of Palworld group supervisor John “Bucky” Buckley, who mentioned he is “wanting ahead to seeing what [Yoshida does] subsequent”, in addition to Sq. Enix’s Naoki Hamaguchi, who welcomed Yoshida to the corporate.
Yoshida’s resolution comes a couple of months after a report claiming that Ouka Studio, the developer of Visions of Mana, was hit by enormous layoffs on the day of the sport’s launch.
In response to that report, “all however a handful” of builders at Ouka have been laid off, and guardian firm NetEase was planning to shut down the studio. In fact, Yoshida would not affirm or deny this report, however the timing of his departure appears applicable if it is true.
Ouka’s obvious shutdown may additionally be coming from the identical place as NetEase’s latest resolution to drag funding from ex-BioWare author Mac Walters’ studio Worlds Untold, main mentioned studio to “pause operations” whereas it seeks an alternate supply of funding.
It is also potential that Sq. Enix’s willingness to rent Yoshida speaks to a want for the studio to make a followup to Visions of Mana, so this won’t be the final we hear of the franchise.
In fact, Sq. Enix itself hasn’t been having one of the best yr. Again in September, the studio admitted that each Last Fantasy XVI and Last Fantasy VII Rebirth “didn’t meet [its] expectations”, and in April, it declared a $140m loss amid a significant inner undertaking shakeup.
As for Visions of Mana itself, the sport is at present accessible for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox Sequence X|S. You may take a look at our evaluation right here.
