“Kung-fu punk” action RPG Phantom Blade Zero may not be indie in scale, but it’s definitely indie in spirit, creator says

Phantom Blade Zero developer Soulframe talks about the difficulties of the transition from mobile to AAA development.

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Angelic Agency: Soul Salvation Unit is a supernatural mystery VN following a detective duo that can peek into the memories of ghosts. Steam demo out now

Angelic Agency: Soul Salvation Unit tells the story of officer Tsujitsuma and his buddy Damian as they investigate supernatural murder cases.

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Gundam SEED FREEDOM ZERO director says the upcoming film brings late wife and SEED writer Chiaki Morosawa’s final screenplay to life after nearly being shelved - AUTOMATON WEST

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom Zero is set to premiere in North America in February 2027.

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Developers of AI-powered driving game take out loan to keep Steam demo running after surge in players pushes AI costs past $1,000 a day - AUTOMATON WEST

Teach My Little Sister How to Drive uses external AI models (Gemini and ChatGPT) to generate real-time conversations.

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Ace Combat 8 players in Japan are affectionately headcanoning its ace pilot protagonist as a helpless "airhead" outside the cockpit, thanks to clumsy story moments and awkward QTEs - AUTOMATON WEST

In ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, players take on the role of silent protagonist Rex, an ace pilot who racks up impressive achievements in aerial combat. However, a popular headcanon has recently been ...

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Lawsuit over Sanrio’s Kuromi comes to a close as court acknowledges Studio Comet as the original creator but dismisses copyright claims

The lawsuit first came to light in February 2025, when animation company Studio Comet sued Sanrio over the character.

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The Hundred Line director says a larger studio would force his team to take on projects they don’t want just to stay afloat, intends to stay small and outsource

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy director Kazutaka Kodaka talked about his approach to game development with Too Kyo Games.

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What are the “indispensable” elements Crazy Taxi: World Tour inherits? Developers talk about the importance of music, balancing freedom and restrictions, map design, and more

Interview with Crazy Taxi: World Tour creative producer Kenji Kanno and Director Yo Momotani (Part 2).

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Japanese 3D mecha action indie CodePhantom gets Steam demo. “No-nonsense” robot combat

CodePhantom is a single-player mecha action game featuring ground combat and aerial battles.

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Anime-styled magical girl action roguelite Bless You Again to get Steam demo next week

Bless You Again follows the story of the battle mage Lily who ventures into a dungeon labyrinth in pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone.

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Nara☆Koi, an otome game in which you romance Japan’s historical figures as the genderbent version of a 7th century diplomat, announced for Steam and Switch

In Nara☆Koi, the player gets to be romantically involved with historical figures like Prince Shotoku and Otomo no Yakamochi.

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PC-98 cult classic horror game Dead of the Brain is coming to Steam on October 30, with English support for the first time

Dead of the Brain is a cult classic zombie game by eroge developer FairyTale.

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Yoko Taro says he already achieved his game development dreams with Drakengard, and now works “to prevent dementia”

In a recent discussion panel with Keisuke Okabe, NieR and Drakengard creator Yoko Taro talked about his plans for the future.

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Diss Diss Discussion, an ensemble drama VN that pits opinionated students against each other in heated school policy debates, gets Steam demo

Diss Diss Discussion is an upcoming coming-of-age visual novel by Frontwing and Bushiroad.

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Transport Fever 3 developers sit down with the creators of the A-Train series for a railway geek-out: “Japan is the real-life Transport Fever”

Roundtable interview between the developers of Transport Fever and the A-Train series.

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Nihon Falcom significantly revises yearly earnings forecast as Kyoto Xanadu, Trails in the Sky remakes perform strongly

Nihon Falcom has revised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending September 2026.

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Japanese publishers reportedly outraged after domestic company admits to selling large volumes of books to AI developer Anthropic

Nippan reportedly admitted to selling books, but said it had not understood the purchases to be for the purpose of AI training.

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Arknights: Endfield comes to Steam on October 15. Cross platform saves supported

GRYPHLINE announced that Arknights: Endfield would come to Steam on October 15 alongside the new Sanctuary of Ink update.

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Former Capcom developer says years of extreme crunch culture are part of why Japan’s game industry has so few female directors

Masakazu Sugimori, known for his work on Ace Attorney and Viewtiful Joe's music, recently talked about the lack of female directors in Japan's game industry.

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Japanese developer alleges unpaid outsourcing fees for 4 games drove his company into financial ruin, with 70 employees laid off - AUTOMATON WEST

The CEO of Tokyo-based software developer OGIX recently blew the whistle on domestic mobile game company Poppin Games over unpaid dev fees.

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Dual blade-wielding catgirl roguelite Eternal Palace Sakura crowdfunds 200% of its original goal

Eternal Palace Sakura developer Denneko Yuugi announced that the game has crowdfunded over 1 million yen via its recent Campfire campaign.

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