Game devs charged up to 50x more for fonts by Japanese typeface maker and yes, even this might be AI's fault

Even with the hardware-hungry AI industry causing component shortages and sending memory prices soaring, there's perhaps one thing I wouldn't have thought to blame on the datacentres: massive font licensing fees for game developers.

Let me hit the backspace for a spell. At the end of November, commercial font service Fontworks ended its most affordable license plan, LETS (Leading Edge Type Solution), which originally allowed game devs to use their Japanese fonts for only 60,000 yen (or about $380) a year.