Kazutaka Kodaka jokes that his studio sometimes submits builds “no one should ever play” in order to meet absurd deadlines, prays players will install patches
Game designer Kazutaka Kodaka recently talked about his company's reliance on physical game releases at a game conference in South Korea.
Danganronpa and The Hundred Line director Kazutaka Kodaka recently attended a panel at the Console Game Developers Conference 2026 held in South Korea alongside Tekken veteran Katsuhiro Harada and other prominent creators. As reported by INVEN, he shared development insights based on his experience working on the Danganronpa series as well as his independent game company, Too Kyo Games.
Of note, Kodaka explained why the games he’s involved in still rely heavily on physical editions, and made what he jokingly calls a “risky confession” about what development can sometimes look like behind the scenes.
According to Kodaka, physical releases remain central to Too Kyo Games’ business model particularly because Japan accounts for roughly one-third of its revenue, and boxed copies perform well in the country. When it comes to character-driven games that have a similar appeal to that of anime or manga (like Too Kyo Game’s debut IP The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy), the company’s approach is to sell physical editions bundled with store-exclusive bonuses. “Although we release Steam and digital download versions, our heaviest focus remains on console physical editions,” Kodaka says.
However, physical editions, particularly collector’s editions sold in North America and Europe, require game master builds to be submitted well in advance to allow time for manufacturing and packaging of figures etc., creating “absurdly early deadlines” for the dev team. Kodaka admits that because of this, “we sometimes submit builds where we think, No one should ever play it in this state.”
He explained that his team approaches patches as a means of finalizing the master build, and sometimes submits builds that barely meet platform requirements while trusting that “no one plays games without an internet connection these days.”
In response, former PlayStation veteran Yoshida Shuhei, who was the panel’s moderator, joked that it comes down to praying that players won’t play the game without installing Day 1 patches. Kodaka agreed with the sentiment, adding that he was not sure whether making such a confession at a public industry event was a good idea. Considering the director’s penchant for self-deprecating humor, however, it’s probably safe to assume things aren’t quite as bad as he’s making them out to be.
Amber V
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