Creative Producer for Sony’s Fate/Grand Order Goes Independent

(Bloomberg) -- Yosuke Shiokawa, a key figure behind Sony Group Corp.'s multibillion-dollar smartphone game Fate/Grand Order, said Tuesday he left his position to go independent.

The 42-year-old creative producer was responsible for turning the game into one of the highest-grossing mobile titles in history. Launched in 2015, FGO is especially popular at home in Japan and gained traction in the U.S. and Asia. By the start of 2020, the game was estimated by Sensor Tower to have earned more than $4 billion. Sony publishes FGO and in December announced plans to acquire the game unit of its developer, Tokyo-based Delightworks Inc.

Shiokawa joined Delightworks in 2016 to help steer the game on the right track after it had struggled at launch. A quick turnaround under his leadership helped FGO attract enthusiastic and dedicated fans, some of them spending tens of thousands of dollars on in-game items each month. He later expanded the franchise to other platforms, including arcade and board games.

A Delightworks spokesman confirmed Shiokawa left the company at the end of January. His previous experience includes a stint at Square Enix Holdings Co., where he worked on marquee franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and I am Setsuna.

Psst.. Sony Has a Hit That's as Big as Pokemon Go in Japan

Shiokawa's studio, Fahrenheit 213, is wholly owned by him and will develop new franchises rather than working on existing titles.

“I plan to focus my career on creating new game franchises for any platform, regardless of their size,” he told Bloomberg. “Going independent opens up many opportunities to partner with other companies.”