Back when Korean company Snowpipe announced their new “Sakura Wars M” mobile game, I was surprised to find that the copyright section no longer referenced the company that developed the past Sakura Wars games, Red Entertainment. Back in 2005, Red Entertainment had separated from their parent company SEGA by buying back a major portion of their SEGA-owned stock, a move that allowed them to regain their independent status. Nonetheless, they still retained part of the Sakura Wars IP, as any copyright mention related to Sakura Wars games noted “©SEGA ©RED”. Puzzled by seeing Red Entertainment not mentioned on the new Sakura Wars M game, I went and verified Red Entertainment’s website, but it was still listing their company as a Sakura Wars copyright owner. So I couldn’t be sure if Red Entertainment had indeed lost control over the Sakura Wars IP.

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