This past May PTW appointed Yuji Endo as the new President of Asia. We’re thrilled to bring his expertise in the gaming industry to our Asian studios and anticipate a long-lasting collaboration with him. We asked Yuji about his experience in the gaming market, his role at PTW, and his vision for the Asian region:

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I was born in New York, and spent most of my childhood overseas, including India, Pakistan, Texas, and Japan. I started my career in gaming at SEGA, taking care of the importing and exporting of game devices, as well as character IP licensing.

After SEGA, I worked for Softbank and Disney in entertainment and gaming. At Softbank, I brought new business to Japan and supported the new start-ups, including the launch of NC Japan, a joint venture between NC Soft and Softbank. At Disney, I was responsible for launching a few new services in Japan, including Disney Mobile (MVNO service), Disney Pass (Content subscription service), and forged a content licensing partnership with major content distributors in Japan.

Most recently, I was the CEO at Netmarble Japan, where we launched several titles, including Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, and Seven Knights II. We also created the Seven Knights TV Anime series with CREST, a PTW group company.

Can you describe your role as PTW’s President of Asia?

As President, I have two main roles: to ensure we provide quality external game development services for our clients, and to think strategically about how to leverage our resources to open new opportunities with new clients.

PTW offers a variety of services including localization, QA, player support, art, game production, and voice production. Which services will you focus on?

I am focusing on raising awareness of all our services to expand our client base and touchpoints by letting everyone know how broad our capabilities are. Every client has different needs at different times. We should let them know we can help them in many ways, serving them with our one-stop solution so they will come to us when they need help from external sources.

Which markets have the most growth potential?

There is a lot of growth potential in every market, and part of our mission is to develop this potential, wherever it’s found. In China, for example, we have growing opportunities to support local game developers to go overseas by providing Localization, LQA, QA, Audio, Art, and Player Support services tailored to their targeted markets.

In Japan, we are strong in supporting console games but can partner with more gaming companies in the mobile and PC fields.

In addition, the rapid growth of the film industry and webtoons in Korea, and the anime and video industry in Asia are also interesting areas to look at. For example, webtoons were first popular in Korea and now are big in Japan as well. Developed by Korean companies, Kakao’s webtoon service Picomma and LINE Manga are both on top of the list for app sales ranking in Japan’s app store now.

What are PTW’s strengths in Asia?

Our teams in Asia deliver flawlessly in all genres of game. We have talented local staff across the Asia studios in Tokyo, Naju, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, and Kuala Lumpur, offering one-stop solutions including localization, LQA, QA, player support, audio, and art services, helping our clients tap into the Asian markets without any language or cultural barriers.

In addition to games, we’re especially well-equipped to handle anime-related work. We have Delfisound, who has expertise in anime voice production, and Crest, who has an anime studio that can produce anime series.

Because these days more animations feature 3D, our 1518 Studios and Qbist can produce art and graphics, using their talented artists.

We could also provide localization services for scripts and subtitles. In Japan, there’s a new law passing that requires all animations to provide subtitles for audience members with disabilities, and one of our group companies, Palabra, could offer subtitle and voice guidance services for those groups.

Are you looking at any new business areas now?

Yes, blockchain games and the metaverse. These growing industries are still relatively young, but our in-house brand 1518 Studios is already doing some incredible work in these realms, and we are excited to bring those services to our clients in Asia.