even more Virtua Fighter eSports info, this time from Sega's eSports dude & Japan-Asia deputy general manager Hiroyuki Miyazaki news.mynavi.jp/article/202107…🇯🇵
on how Virtua Fighter joined Sega's eSports initiative: when Sega started this initiative in 2018, VF was naturally floated as a candidate alongside Puyo Puyo, but because Sega was new to this space & wasn't sure they could run with two games at once, they decided on just Puyo
they went with Puyo Puyo over VF because it still had an active tournament scene & player base across a lot of demographics, as well as a lot of active name players, whereas VF had been dormant for a while, so it was seen as a safer game to start with
they've been able to take the lessons learned from Puyo Puyo eSports & apply them to VF eSports: the game was missing crucial online & stream-friendly features like spectator mode, which are even more important nowadays, so they knew to make them a priority for VF eSports
on remaking VF5FS when a lot of ppl were clamouring for a new game: the eSports business started in 2018 & this project was first proposed in September of 2020; any new game would be several years away, so this was the best choice of project to release within this timeframe
on the prospects of balance changes, new characters, moves, etc: if there's anything egregiously unbalanced from a competitive standpoint it'll be corrected, but adding new characters, moves, etc would require a lot of work and isn't something he can really comment on atm
on VF eSports' path to profitability: when VFe was pitched to top mgmt, they weren't able to make a case for monetization, but mgmt's passion & the importance of the IP got them to go ahead anyway; they hope to monetize via DLC but they don't really know what to expect re: profit
"in the first place, Sega's never been a company that only pursued businesses that were expected to turn a profit, as you can see by everything Sega's done until now (lol)"
on the announced tournaments & whether Japan's the focus: VF's traditionally been less popular in US/EU so JP/Asia were the initial focus, but not only has VF eSports massively exceeded their download targets but US/EU counts for the vast majority of DLs, so they're recalibrating
on the international front, they're still in the midst of deciding precisely which countries & organisations they want to get involved with
they haven't even held JP tournaments yet; their intention is to modernise them for today's eSports scene & attract younger players
they haven't even held JP tournaments yet; their intention is to modernise them for today's eSports scene & attract younger players
on overseas tournament expansion: they want to push both VF & Puyo Puyo eSports overseas, but the perception of what is/isn't eSports is different—"eSports" is seen as FPS, MOBA, etc & not FG/PZL, hence the title changes outside of Japan, but they do want to hold tournaments
on supporting the community: they started the community site VF-CAMP, which is near-identical to Puyo Camp, & it's steadily gaining members; they intend to support community rankings, tournaments a la Puyo Puyo Cup in time for VF Challenge Cup Season 1, based on how Season 0 goes
...and that's that (a shorter one this time, phew)
btw, there's no proof but I'd like to think statements like this one written by @zanverse on the essential features required to grow the online tournament scene for Puyo Puyo had a direct effect on how they're approaching things
puyo-camp.jp/posts/101791
puyo-camp.jp/posts/111461🇯🇵
puyo-camp.jp/posts/101791
puyo-camp.jp/posts/111461🇯🇵
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
