At PAX West this weekend, Kenzo Saruhashi, the CEO of Nippon Ichi Software and recently appointed president of its American subsidiary NIS America, told reporters that the company intends to retire the era of staggered regional releases in favor of simultaneous worldwide launches. The announcement of this strategic shift comes as Saruhashi consolidates control over both the Japanese parent company and its U.S. arm, a structural change he credits for giving the studio the authority to synchronize release dates that previously eluded it.
The motivation behind the push is rooted in a frustration shared by many Western fans of Japanese role-playing games. Saruhashi pointed to his own experience with Ys X: Nordics, which launched in Japan on September 28, 2023, but did not reach American players until October 25, 2024. By the time the game arrived in the West, the conversation had already cooled, leaving fans like him watching Japanese-language coverage from the sidelines. The same pattern repeated with the game’s enhanced edition, Ys X: Proud Nordics, which arrived in Japan on July 31, 2025, and only reached Western audiences on February 20, 2026.
From Two Companies to One
Historically, Nippon Ichi Software and NIS America functioned more as independent entities than as a parent company and its subsidiary. According to Saruhashi, that separation stripped the U.S. division of the decision-making power needed to commit to synchronized launches, even when localization timelines could have accommodated them. Most publishers have moved away from delayed regional releases, planning their dates so that translation and production work is complete well before a game ships. NIS, however, lagged behind that industry standard.
“In the past, a lot of it has been that in many ways we didn’t really have the deciding power to say, ‘We’re going to move forward with the goal of a simultaneous launch’ because we were almost operating as two separate companies.”
Kenzo Saruhashi, Nippon Ichi Software CEO and NIS America President
Saruhashi, who now leads both operations, says the unified structure has begun to close that gap. He acknowledges that resources and other physical obstacles still make simultaneous releases challenging, but he believes greater cooperation between the two offices is steadily overcoming them.
“Now we can really say, [we’re operating] as a whole. And so, there are other factors such as resources and other physical impediments that make it difficult to do a simulship, of course, but I think we’re slowly, gradually able to close that gap thanks to our ability to work a little bit more cooperatively as companies.”
Kenzo Saruhashi
A Closing Cultural Gap
Beyond internal logistics, Saruhashi sees a shifting cultural landscape driving the need for simultaneous releases. He believes the appetite for Japanese games in the West—and Western games in Japan—has grown substantially in recent years, erasing the barriers that once separated regional markets. In his view, the country where a game is developed matters less than ever, a reality that synchronized release dates are simply better positioned to serve.
The timing of this vision is notable, as the U.S. games industry navigates a difficult period marked by tariffs, rising production costs, chip shortages, widespread layoffs, and a string of commercial disappointments that have forced several studios to close. When pressed on whether these headwinds affect his operations, Saruhashi insisted they do not, attributing the difference to Japan’s employment culture.
“Japanese companies, they don’t really lay off their employees. People tend to be lifelong employees of the company most of the time… Everyone comes to work with a mindset of: I’m going to be with this company for the rest of my life and I want to contribute to that success.”
Kenzo Saruhashi
He added that Nippon Ichi has long prioritized developing talent internally, and that profitability has not historically dictated its decisions. While he personally favors this older mindset, he conceded that it is becoming less common in Japan, a trend he finds somewhat disheartening.
Looking Ahead
While no specific title or date was announced as the first to receive a simultaneous global launch, Saruhashi’s remarks signal a clear directional change for the publisher behind the Ys and Trails franchises, as well as the Disgaea series. The company is also navigating broader industry transitions, having discussed its stance on using generative AI in development and on PlayStation discontinuing physical discs in 2028, the latter of which prompted ongoing talks with Sony about the future of physical media.
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