Back in September, we announced that NetEase was shutting down Visions of Mana developer, Ouka Studios. At that time, it was revealed that Chinese companies were reconsidering their investment in Japanese studios—which hasn’t paid off like they thought.
It was recently discovered that NetEase has now erased the Ouka Studios website. A visit to the website now has the message “404 OOPS! CANNOT FIND PAGE!” GameBaba Universe machine translated the message that followed in Japanese and it read, “The page you are looking for could not be found.”
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Founded in 2020, Ouka Studios had offices in Japan and China and was headed by Tetsuya Akatsuka, a veteran of Bandai Namco Studios. Earlier this month, Akatsuka announced that he was leaving Ouka Studios to join Square Enix.
Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki revealed today on X that Akatsuka has deleted his work history at Ouka from his LinkedIn profile. While people may choose to delete their work history for different reasons, it often suggests a troubled severance of ties with former employers.
Tetsuya Akatsuka, who was the head of NetEase's Ouka Studios, deleted his work history at Ouka.
I mean, wow…. pic.twitter.com/ca2lNFILz5
— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) December 25, 2024
Earlier this month, it was also reported that Ryosuke Yoshida, the developer behind the Devil May Cry 5 and Visions of Mana director, has left Ouka Studios. Yoshida’s post on X confirmed that he left the studio at the end of October.
私事で恐縮ですが、10月31日でNetEase Ouka Studiosを退職しました。新設スタジオでしたが、集まったメンバーと会社のサポートのおかげで聖剣伝説VoMを完成させることが出来ました。貴重な経験を積むことができ、感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。
嬉しいことに、12月からはSQUARE…— Ryosuke Yoshida (@YoshidaBeer) December 2, 2024
Yoshida joined NetEase Games in 2020 after working at Capcom for 13 years. He first worked in Ouka Studios’ China office for three years before moving to their Japan office. Following the announcement, Final Fantasy Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi and other creators congratulated him for taking the decision.
Over two dozen game studios have been shut down this year with over 15,000 jobs lost in the industry. With analysts predicting deeper AI integration in the video game-making process, 2025 will likely see more waves of layoffs and studio closures.
