‘Knives Out’ moves for ‘Battle Royale’ writer

Image: NetEase via AFP Relaxnews

The publishing giant behind mobile hit “Knives Out” has hired Kenta Fukasaku, the writer of Japanese cult thriller movie “Battle Royale”, from which the in-vogue game genre took its name.

Released in the year 2000, Koshun Takami’s “Battle Royale” had an immediate impact on the world cinema.

It followed a class of disruptive students let loose upon an isolated island and told by their old high school teacher (film icon Takeshi Kitano) that only one of them could leave alive.

Fast forward 13 years and “Battle Royale” had become the inspiration behind an action game genre that took its name and format.

Irish designer Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene adapted its last-person-standing motif for use in an unofficial modification of military simulation “ARMA 2,” and the sturdy proof-of-concept re-emerged victorious when he became the creative director behind 2017’s enormous South Korean studio success “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”.

But it’s Chinese-made “Knives Out” rather than “PUBG” that has acquired the professional services of “Battle Royale” scriptwriter Kenta Fukasaku, according to a report from MMO Culture.

Kenta wrote the “Battle Royale” script, adapting it from a 1999 novel, then assisted his father, the movie’s director, by helming the production’s second unit.

When his father died one scene into “Battle Royale II”, Kenta assumed responsibility for the sequel’s completion.

Now Kenta is being brought in “to help build the world view of ‘Knives Out’,” MMO Culture explains.

Chinese publisher Netease released “Knives Out” for iOS and Android in November 2017, at a time when “PUBG” was on a PC gaming rampage, but not yet available on mobile, having outsourced development to Chinese colossus Tencent.

“PUBG”‘s South Korean publisher took exception to similarities between the two, most recently by pursuing legal remedies against its prominent mobile competitor, while “Knives Out” set about bolstering its own appeal with international support and rapid iterations on the battle royale genre’s concepts.

Kenta’s remit includes not only the development of general background and lore, but also work on an upcoming content expansion called “Final Battle of Tokyo”. JB

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