All of this ties into the company's 'five key values' of Magic, Innovation, Playful, Universal and Quality. All of these, Doucet tells us, can be applied to everything its team is doing, from creating a sound effect to putting together a PowerPoint presentation. Magic can relate to the technology aspect, which is the notion of discovering a mechanic that can make the hardware – whether it's a controller or a VR headset – feel magical. Innovation, Playful and Quality are self-explanatory, and Universal applies to the studio's desire to create games that appeal globally.
"We are in Japan, but we make games for a global audience. So we have to be clever about taking what's great about Japan... there's so much about the local culture and the culture of making games that's really unique, and adapting that for an international audience. For example, we work in Japanese and in English. So Japanese people learn English, and foreigners learn Japanese. We make sure there is this dual language and it's supported by the company. Having this international mindset is important."
Doucet – who is French himself -- says that around 75% of the studio is Japanese, with a growing number of people coming from around the world.
"There is a love story amongst a certain generation for Japan and what it represents. And developers are still very interested to come over and experience that. It's not for everyone's taste, but for those who like it, it's a particularly nice lifestyle."
For Doucet, what makes a game 'Japanese' isn't so much the genre, or the visual style, but rather it's around how a game feels.
"We want to make sure that when people play our games that there is a feeling, and you can't quite put your finger on it, that it's made in Japan.