10 Video Game Studios Probably Founded Out Of Spite

10. ArtPlay

Koji Igarashi is a name synonymous with Castlevania.

Having worked at Konami since he left College, Igarashi’s first time contributing to the IP was hugely important for his career and for the franchise. Midway through development of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Igarashi was promoted to assistant director. The finished product is often called the best title in the series, and it is unanimously praised for refreshing its playstyle.

In fact, so much so that the term “Igarashivania” refers to any Castlevania game made in this grand, explorative, RPG-adjacent style.

After over 30 years at Konami, Igarashi left as the company took a turn into developing mobile games and had little use for a man of his talents. Later that year, he became a co-founder of ArtPlay.

A collaboration between Chinese and Japanese developers, ArtPlay’s first major game was exactly what it needed to be. Sure it didn’t have the same title or the same universe, but Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was a through-and-through spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night and all of its sequels.

To further prove that Igarashi’s presence was still desired in the industry, Bloodstained was crowdfunded as one of the most successful video games ever on the Kickstarter platform.