Cygames’ new development brand CygamesEdge is set to release its debut title Where The Seeds Fall on November 5. Dubbed a “dramatic collapse action adventure,” the game is coming to PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation5. In the game, players assume the role of a soldier as he navigates crumbling platforms while carrying the “Fell Child”- who looks like his late daughter – in order to reach the world’s surface. A demo is currently available.
AUTOMATON had the opportunity to visit Osaka Indie Game Summit on October 3, where we interviewed CygamesEdge’s brand producer Shuichiro Hamada about his background and how the new development label came about.
—First, could you tell us a bit about yourself? What did your career path look like before you became the brand producer of CygamesEdge?
Hamada:
In terms of my career background, I worked as a project manager and director at a certain game company. Then, I also gained experience as a video director at a video production company. In 2018, I joined Cygames. As for the reason, Kenichiro Takagi, who’ve I’ve met at the said game company, offered: “I’ll be switching jobs and moving to Cygames, why don’t you come with me?” So, I joined the company.
After joining, I was first in charge of launching console game businesses together with Takagi. Specifically, I worked as a kind of production assistant for the Granblue Fantasy and Shadowverse series. After that, I worked on Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash as the producer, and finally, I became the brand producer of CygamesEdge. I’m also the producer of Where The Seeds Fall.
—What kind of brand is CygamesEdge? What do you want to achieve with it?
Hamada:
To put it straight, it’s Cygames’ new brand specializing in small- to mid-scale games. As for how its launch came about: While Umamusume: Pretty Derby and Granblue Fantasy are positive examples, there have been many cases at Cygames where we’ve built large-scale development teams and developed games over a course of several years or even more.
This is what we did in our pursuit for the best possible content. But on the flipside, the video game market has shown a significant change in recent years. The market is becoming noticeably divided between massive-scale AAA games and individually developed indie works. So, even within the company, as the market has been seeing player values and playstyles diversify, we needed to respond to the challenge with even greater flexibility and speed. We wanted to experiment and create gaming experiences that are on the edgier side of things, with the agility of small- to mid-scaled titles, which is what led to the launch of CygamesEdge.
—How did you end up getting chosen to be the brand producer of CygamesEdge?
Hamada:
I’d like to insist that it was simply because I look like a “hot uncle” (laughs).
—(Laughs.)
Hamada:
Seriously speaking, I’ve been a part of Cygames’ console division from very early on, and I’ve built my career on coordinating between different fields of work and understanding how things are managed internally, which I think is one of the reasons I was chosen.
Cygames itself is a large organization, so there is an inevitable need for processes like “get this opinion approved, then get that approved.” Of course, if we don’t handle things properly in the creative aspect, we won’t be able to get the final green light from Watanabe (Koichi Watanabe, CEO of Cygames). Since I’ve experienced the entire process of handling games from planning to release, I think the upper management likely recognized that part of my work.
—We’ve heard the CEO is somewhat famous for being quite strict with his feedback and quality requirements. On the other hand, are CygamesEdge’s quality criteria any different compared to Cygames?
Hamada:
We do recognize that separate evaluation criteria have been established between the two. However, in terms of “aiming to create the best content possible,” CygamesEdge isn’t much different from Cygames. While Cygames has established a development team focused on a broad pursuit of high quality and overwhelming volume of content, the policy of CygamesEdge is to make a title’s concept and qualities “edgier” and deliver it to the target audience in an easy-to-understand way. You could say Cygames focuses on wider “surfaces,” while CygamesEdge pursues focused “points.”
—Playing Where The Seeds Fall, I was surprised to find how well the gameplay reflects Cygames’ identity and the brand’s values.
Hamada:
We were quite conscious of capturing the Cygames-like feel. Our target audience is primarily the PC game market, with a focus on small- to medium-scale titles, including indies. So, personally, I have been trying out many indie-like titles on a regular basis, hoping to learn from them. Among them were some titles that have amazing concepts, but, for instance, their UI is not that user-friendly, so the aspects that make them fun don’t come across. As CygamesEdge, we focus on creating games that are easy to understand in this sense. We don’t think too much about whether it will suit every player’s taste; we focus on ensuring players can actually experience the core elements we want them to enjoy.
—You’ve said that your target are small- to medium-scale titles, including indies. But that doesn’t mean you’re calling yourself an indie studio?
Hamada:
It would be super arrogant of us to call ourselves indie. The reason is that both our budget and development period are significantly greater compared to other independent developers exhibiting here (at the Osaka Indie Game Summit). We approach development without defining ourselves as an indie studio.
—There are also terms like “in-house indie,” but you didn’t go with that label either?
Hamada:
That’s right. The term “indie” tends to be used rather ambiguously in the game industry.
Cygames itself has so far developed large-scale games in genres like classic fantasy RPGs and character-driven titles. I think this is partly because these are Watanabe’s personal preferences, but our goal is to take on a variety of different genres without those constraints and deliver them to our customers.
—Were you given any specific missions or goals when CygamesEdge was launched?
Hamada:
We weren’t given any specific missions. However, as producer, I want to focus on sales. Actually, when CygamesEdge was just about to launch, there was discussion about whether we should limit the genres of games we develop going forward. However, I concluded that making each of our games with a distinct edge without restraining ourselves from the start would, as a result, help us earn the trust of our players.
It is through that kind of approach that you develop brand trust. Personally speaking, it might take us around 3 to 5 years at the longest, but I want at least one of our titles to sell in the range of over 1 million copies. If this succeeds, the game will become CygamesEdge’s flagship title, which will instantly boost brand awareness.
—You’ve mentioned the word “edge” quite a few times throughout the interview. What does the term mean to you personally?
Hamada:
Personally, I use the word “edge” to describe a work that goes super deep into the matter of its focus, which we present to our customers in the way that’s the easiest to understand. It doesn’t necessarily refer to something outrageous. Cygames itself does take on similar challenges, however, there is inevitably a mindset of raising the overall standard and competing by going all in.
On the other hand, with CygamesEdge, we want to pour our greatest efforts into the gameplay feel and the technological prowess we’ve cultivated so far. As a business, we’re also focusing on profitability, so I think we’ll be going through a process of trial and error to maximize that with a limited timeframe and budget.
—What part of CygamesEdge do you think encapsulates the Cygames spirit?
Hamada:
In one of his past interviews, Watanabe said that the Cygames spirit lies in “never giving up,” and I think this is the same for CygamesEdge. To begin with, compared to Cygames, CygamesEdge works with a more limited budget and development cycles. So, we think that in those kinds of circumstances, it’s important to carefully choose crucial elements and keep pursuing them without giving up on development.
—Can you tell us anything about the kind of titles you plan to develop in the future?
Hamada:
Actually, right now we’re simultaneously working on several projects. While following the current trends, we ideally want to release at least 2 or 3 titles on the same scale as Where The Seeds Fall in the span of a year.
—That means one game per quarter? Sounds like a pretty fast release pace.
Hamada:
It may be once a quarter, or at a different kind of pace. But releasing one title per quarter is the ideal approach.Of course, game development doesn’t always go as planned, but that’s the goal we’re aiming for.
—In terms of trends, sorting games and so-called “friendslop” games are what’s popular right now. Will CygamesEdge possibly tackle these genres as well?
Hamada:
That’s for sure a possibility. However, we don’t want to just blindly follow trends, we want to add our own interpretation of them. The changes in trends and popular genres in the indie game market are quite intense. Many of Cygames’ developers are also gamers, so we often have discussions about what kinds of elements we want to add into our games. However, even if we do try and implement them, they might already be out of fashion by the time they’re released to the public. As CygamesEdge, we want to be able to keep up with such trends.
—Thank you for your time.
Where the Seeds Fall is set to release on November 5 for PC (Steam), PlayStation5, and Nintendo Switch 2.
