Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview with Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma alongside Gust producers Junzo Hosoi, Keisuke Kikuchi, and Akira Tsuchiya about the future of the developer popular for the Atelier series.
A rather big change is happening for Gust, which is moving its head office from Nagano to the ultra-modern Minato Mirai 21 district in Yokohama, closing the physical distance with its parent company Koei Tecmo, which acquired the developer over eight years ago.
At the end of the interview, Hosoi-san mentions that among the unannounced games Gust has in development there aren’t just Atelier games, but also from other IP.
While he did not mention it explicitly, the rest of the interview focuses a lot on the importance of the creation of new IP, so it’s quite possible that we can expect something like that in the future.
That being said, cherishing the Gust-like flavor of the game was also mentioned as important.
Kikuchi-san added that in the first four years after Gust joined the Koei Tecmo group, the creation of new IP was a major mission for the developer. In the latter four years, he has focused on both expanding and creating at the same time. He aims to keep growing while cherishing each IP.
Tsuchiya-san mentioned that he’s thinking about how to provide entertainment that lets fans talk to each other. This also includes the importance of enabling various ways to have fun like events and related merchandise.
Last, but not least, Koinuma-san explained that starting this month, Hosoi-san will take on the role of Gust’s studio head, while Kikuchi-san will continue to support him as deputy studio head. As for himself, he’s really happy to have Gust as part of the team.
[Source: Weekly Famitsu]
