Prope


Prope Ltd. is an independent video game development studio of famed programmer Yuji Naka.

Formation

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.
Prope was founded on May 23, 2006 and it began operations on June 1, 2006.
Prope intends to create games with a graphical style that appeals to both children and adults, and to explore the possibilities of developing both 3D and 2D games.
Naka joined Square Enix in January 2018, leaving the status of Prope uncertain. In March 2019, Yuji Naka confirmed through Twitter that Prope has been reduced to a 1-person company since the end of April, 2017.

Games

Previously, the studio had been consistently linked with a sequel to Nights into Dreams..., though 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.
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 iOS 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. In 2010 an expanded physical release was released for Wii & DS, featuring 50 levels as well as original backgrounds and music for each level.
In 2011, Prope released Real Ski Jump, which, as of 2014, had been downloaded 4 Million times.

iOS/Android

Published under the iPrope and aPrope label respectively