Tencent cancels development of a mobile Story of Seasons game

Marvelous has announced that they are terminating the capital and business alliance with Tencent's Hong Kong-based subsidiary investment company, Image Frame Investment. This announcement also includes a revelation where Tencent informed Marvelous of the cancellation of the development of a mobile game based on the Story of Seasons (Bokujo Monogatari) series, although the companies still appear to keep intact the license agreement signed in March 2019 to produce such a mobile game.

This announcement would also add another entry to a recently observed pattern where Chinese major companies are withdrawing from their investments in Japanese game studios. NetEase not only closed Ouka Studios after the release of Visions of Mana but also pulled funding from Nagoshi Studio before the latter could finish Gang of Dragon. When GPTrack50 most recently confirmed the full release date for Stupid Never Dies, the studio changed their description from a "NetEase studio" to an "independent studio" as Sega picked up the title and becomes its co-publisher.

Marvelous has also published an English-translated version of the announcement (English PDF) that originally appeared in Japanese (Japanese PDF). We have also picked up the important segments that cover the end of the business alliance and the cancellation of the Story of Seasons mobile game development after the jump right below.

Marvelous Inc. (the "Company") hereby announces that, at the meeting of its Board of Directors held today (July 31, 2026), it resolved to terminate the capital and business alliance (the "Capital and Business Alliance") with Image Frame Investment (HK) Limited ("Image Frame Investment"), following Image Frame Investment's intention to sell the Company's shares.

In addition, the Company hereby announces that, in connection with the above, a project will be discontinued, an Outside Director will resign, changes in the Company's major shareholders and largest major shareholder, as well as a change in its other affiliated company, are expected to occur.

1. Termination of the Capital and Business Alliance
(1) Background and Details of the Termination
The Company entered into a Capital and Business Alliance Agreement with Image Frame Investment on May 25, 2020, and has since promoted collaboration between the two companies.

However, Image Frame Investment recently informed the Company of its intention to sell the Company's shares, based on the review of the investment portfolio and capital allocation policy of the Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent") group, the parent company of Image Frame Investment.

Following discussions between the Company and Image Frame Investment regarding their future collaborative relationship, the parties agreed today to terminate the Capital and Business Alliance.

In addition, as described in the Company's announcements issued today entitled "Notice Regarding Acquisition of Treasury Shares and Purchase of Treasury Shares Through Off-Auction Own Share Repurchase Trading (ToSTNeT-3)" and "Notice Concerning Execution of Cash-Settled Forward Transaction Contract Relating to the Company’s Own Shares" the Company has comprehensively considered the potential impact on the supply-demand balance of its shares and the stability of its shareholder composition over the medium to long term.

Accordingly, the Company will implement a capital policy combining the acquisition of treasury shares by the Company (the "Treasury Share Acquisition") and the acquisition of the Company's shares by SBI SECURITIES Co., Ltd. The Company has also confirmed with Image Frame Investment that domestic operating companies are scheduled to acquire the Company's shares.

As a result, Image Frame Investment is expected to cease to qualify as the Company's major shareholder, largest major shareholder, and other affiliated company.

Although the Capital and Business Alliance Agreement dated May 25, 2020 will terminate as of today, the license agreement executed in March 2019 for the mobile game development of the Story of Seasons IP, as well as other individual agreements, will remain in effect.

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2. Discontinuation of a Project
The Company has been informed by the Tencent group that, after comprehensively considering the business environment and project profitability, it has decided to discontinue development of a specific title that had been under development pursuant to the license agreement for the mobile game adaptation of the Story of Seasons IP described above.

The license agreement itself will remain in full force and effect, and the discontinuation of the development of the aforementioned title by the Tencent group will have no impact on the contractual relationship between the two parties.