If you thoughtFrom Software’s name made it confusing to talk about, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Koei Tecmohas formally assigned a development studio to their upcoming project -Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment. It’s being developed by AAA Studio. No, notaAAA Studio; they made a studio from scratch and literally called it “AAA Studio”.
Surely this will not lead to any confusing headlines in the near future.
The studio heads are Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja fame, and Ryota Matsushita, the director of Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity. All things considered, that seems like a fairly strong lineup for a new Hyrule Warriors title, but will it live up to the studio name’s lofty expectations?
Koei Tecmo certainly seems to think so. A Famitsu interview (viaGameranx) quotes Hayashi as saying, “Since AAA Studio doesn’t yet carry a particular color or brand identity, we can pursue the kind of interesting games we believe in.”
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According to Hayashi, many of those who worked under Matsushita and himself have been longing to ‘spread their wings’ and branch out from the identity of studios like Team Ninja. AAA Studio, being totally new, carries no preconceived expectations, and can express themselves to fans in a totally new way.
If the players end up enjoying and embracing those [new] games, the studio may naturally establish its own brand identity. That’s what we’re going for.
They’re doing this by developing a sequel to a Zelda-themed spinoff of the Dynasty Warriors franchise.One that’ll be canonto mainline Legend of Zelda games. Will AAA studio be able to carve out a niche identity for itself under the shadow of two major franchises? Stranger things have happened.
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Hayashi also wants to clarify that Koei Tecmo isn’t looking to force a new identity for the team just yet. It’s more about shedding expectations than creating new ones.
Existing studios like Team Ninja and Omega Force have “simply kept creating the kind of games they naturally excel at,” Hayashi says. Their brand identity, and the resulting expectations, came about fairly organically. He hopes that AAA studio can follow much the same process. “Their consistent output built that brand identity over time.”
AAA Studio And Its Consequences
So, what are the big takeaways here? First and foremost, that Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment may be looking to try out something fancy. Something to justify a whole new identity, and flex creative muscles that its developers haven’t been able to try out before. Keep an eye out for that when the game finally launches.
Secondarily, you’ll have to keep an eye out for that name cropping up when you least expect it. Headlines like “such-and-such game developed by AAA Studio” may not actually refer to a AAA studio. It’ll refer to AAA Studio, a studio which may or may not actually become AAA depending on how things shake out (if it does, does it get six A’s at that point?)
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