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US acquisition results in font license hikes for Japanese game studios

8 days ago
https://automaton-media.com/en/news/japanese-game-developers-face-ridiculously-high-font-license-fees-following-us-acquisition-of-major-domestic-provider-live-service-games-to-take-the-biggest-blow/
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  • #Game Development
  • #Monotype
  • #Fontworks
  • Fontworks LETS, a popular Japanese font service, ended its affordable game license plan on November 28.
  • The new plan under Monotype costs $20,500/year, over 50 times more expensive, with a 25,000-user cap.
  • High-quality Japanese fonts are hard to replace due to the complexity and cost of creating them.
  • The change stems from Fontworks' acquisition by US-based Monotype, which consolidated LETS into a global subscription.
  • Live-service games face the biggest challenges, requiring font re-integration, QA, and branding updates.
  • Some developers, like Indie-Us Games, are switching to competitors like DynaFont due to high costs.
  • The issue is expected to worsen in 2026, with hopes for a more reasonable solution from Monotype.
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