| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 23, 2006 (Foundation) June 1, 2006 (Operations Began) |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Key people | Yuji Naka |
| Employees | 42 (50 planned) |
| Website | http://www.prope.jp/ |
Prope Ltd. ("proe-pae", Latin for "beside" or "near") is an independent video game development studio of famed programmer Yuji Naka.
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As part of Sega's "support program for Independent Game Creators" Yuji Naka left Sonic Team to start his own studio. Ten members of Sega's Sonic Team joined him at Prope, with a starting capital of 10 million yen, 10% of which came from Sega in exchange for the right of first refusal option for publishing games made at Prope, though if Sega rejects a title produced by the new studio, Naka would then be free to approach other publishers.[1]
Prope was found on May 23, 2006 and it began operations on June 1, 2006.[2]
Prope intends to create games with a graphical style that appeals to kids and adults at the same time, and to explore the possibilities of developing both 3D and 2D games.[3]
Previously, the studio had been consistently linked with a sequel to Nights into Dreams...,[4] though Nights: Journey of Dreams was ultimately developed by Sega Studio USA. Naka has claimed in an interview that he presently has no intention to revisit any of his former Sega properties.[5]
Prope's first two titles, the Wii rhythm game Let's Tap, and the WiiWare game Let's Catch, were both released in December 2008. Both games were published by Sega. After a series of simplistic iPhone games such as 10 Count Boxer and Fluffy Bear, under the iPrope label, PROPE's next major game Ivy The Kiwi? November 2009 was released exclusively for Windows Phone published by Microsoft. On April 2009, it was ported to WiiWare & DSiWare and published by Namco Bandai in Japan, Xseed Games in America and Rising Star Games in Europe as Prope's parent company Sega refused to publish the game and Namco Bandai decided not to publish the game outside Asia. This fall an expanded physical release (in contrast to a digital one) is being released for Wii & DS, the expanded game features 50 levels (where as the downloadable version featured 25) as well as original backgrounds and music for each level.
Published under the iPrope label