Yuke’s to acquire AQUAPLUS

Yuke’s will acquire Utawarerumono and ToHeart developer AQUAPLUS from Pole To Win Holdings for 783.52 million yen, the company announced (2). The acquisition includes AQUAPLUS subsidiary FIXRECORDS, and is expected to be finalized by September.

The acquisition comes after Pole To Win Holdings announced plans to sell off AQUAPLUS in a withdrawal from the media contents business.

Yuke’s said the acquisition will serve as an opportunity to combine its console game development capabilities with AQUAPLUS’ intellectual property and brand planning know-how to develop titles in new genres and from a different approach. By bringing some of AQUAPLUS’ development projects within the group, Yuke’s also expects to optimize resources and stabilize operations within its contract development line.

The company added that by incorporating AQUAPLUS’ expertise in the realm of bishojo adventure games, it aims to expand its development genres, reach new customer bases, and implement cross-selling strategies. Yuke’s also hopes to accelerate the global expansion of AQUAPLUS intellectual property by leveraging the localization, multiplatform support, and overseas publisher collaboration know-how it has built through the development of many internationally released titles.