Osaka-based developer Yuke’s announced the acquisition of another niche but iconic Japanese developer, Aquaplus.
The announcement, made after the latest meeting of Yuke’s board of directors, revealed the acquisition of Aquaplus’ shares, bringing it into the fold as a subsidiary.
If you’re unfamiliar with Yuke’s, it often works as a contracted developer for other companies, including D3 Publisher on the Earth Defense Force series and 2K Games on the WWE 2K series until WWE 2K19.
As part of its strategy for medium and long-term growth, the company intends to create an independent publishing and development business model and to improve its own IP creation and management capabilities.
The choice to acquire Aquaplus was seen as strategically significant as there is a high affinity with Yuke’s existing business. Aquaplus owns popular and long-lived IPs and has achieved good results with its diversified media development, including games, anime, music, and live events.
The acquisition will complement the publishing capabilities that Yuke’s lacked, and will enhance the IP-based business model.
On top of that, the company plans to combine its console game development capabilities with Aquaplus’s IP planning and brand-building capabilities, enabling the development of games in new genres and with new approaches.
Yuke’s also aims to incorporate the know-how and experience that Aquaplus has cultivated in the field of bishoujo games (games featuring beautiful girls) and romance visual novels, with the expectation of increasing contact points with new users, expanding the customer base, and creating cross-selling opportunities.
On the other side, Yuke’s plans to use its localization and multi-platform support capabilities, and its experience in collaborating with Western publishers to accelerate the global expansion of the IP owned by Aquaplus.
If you’re unfamiliar with Aquaplus, it’s an Osaka-based developer well known for IPs like Utawarerumono, White Album, and the recently remade ToHeart.
