"Kenji Ozawa, co-director of Visions of Mana, launches fresh studio after exiting NetEase"

Visions of Mana co-director Kenji Ozawa has opened a new studio known as Sasanqua.

This news follows Ozawa’s departure from the NetEase-owned Ouka Studio, the developer responsible for last year’s RPG Visions of Mana, which was published by Square Enix. In August, just days after Visions of Mana release, the studio was reportedly set to close as its parent company had cut “all but a handful of jobs”.

In conversation with Automaton about his new venture, Ozawa said he was motivated by the current state of the gaming industry to create his own studio. The Sasanqua head noted that while management is in charge of decisions such as investments and approvals, it is often the creators themselves who suffer when a management-related mistake occurs.

“Management needs to protect creators,” the new studio founder said, adding that Sasanqua will integrate management and development.

Sasanqua appears to be funded by Ozawa directly, with the head telling the publication he will shoulder the responsibility of any failed projects due to poor management decisions, seemingly taking a pop at NetEase.

For the time being, Sasanqua will focus on smaller projects developed in Unreal Engine. The aim is to eventually transition to original PC and console games.

As for NetEase, the company laid off an unspecified number of the Marvel Rivals development team last month, including game director Thaddeus Sasser. This was despite the game being an undeniable success. The Marvel Rivals publisher claimed these layoffs were a “difficult decision” made to “optimise development efficiency” for the game.