Chinese publishing giant NetEase was supposed to establish and invest in various Japanese studios to expand its global portfolio. However, it decided to shut down not just the website for Ouka Studios, the cult developer behind Visions of Mana, but also the development team. The studio that the company itself brought up in 2020. Afterward, the game’s lead developer suddenly cut all ties and any mentions about ever working at the Tokyo-based studio.
The drama began earlier this year. NetEase announced Ouka Studios’ closure on August 2024 — just days after the release of Visions of Mana. It was the fifth main title in the Mana RPG series, which started in 1991 on Game Boy as a Final Fantasy spinoff. While the latest entry can’t be considered a blockbuster hit by any means, the sudden timing of the announcement raised eyebrows among fans.
Then, without notice, sometime around December 25, anyone opening Ouka Studio’s netease-ouka.163.com will be greeted with a 404 error page. If we take a peek through Wayback Machine, the website was still working as of November 26. No one was sure when exactly Visions of Mana‘s Ouka Studio site was shut down by its parent company.
According to journalist Takashi Mochizuki, studio head Tetsuya Akatsuka removed all mentions of his involvement from his LinkedIn profile not long after the incident. Akatsuka, an industry veteran, previously worked as a Lead Planner for Namco titles including SoulCalibur from 1995 to 2012. Afterward, he became a Division Manager for seven years until 2019 before joining Ouka Studios.
His leadership has been a key selling point for Visions of Mana, making his apparent disassociation puzzling. But Akatsuka isn’t the only one leaving, as the game’s director Ryosuke Yoshida also joined Square Enix weeks before the site shut down.
NetEase has not explained the reason behind Ouka Studios’ website’s deletion or even an official statement about the studio’s closure. Some believe the move reflects broader restructuring efforts by the Chinese publishing giant, especially after Black Myth: Wukong‘s success. The public’s positive reactions to the action game were considered proof that Chinese developers should be able to grow locally sourced AAA games. Others simply suspect internal disagreements or poor sales performance of Visions of Mana played a huge role in Ouka Studios’ shut down.
For now, Visions of Mana remains available on various storefronts. But its developer’s abrupt disappearance casts an even darker shadow over the cult classic’s legacy.
