{"id":38025,"date":"2024-10-08T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=38025"},"modified":"2024-10-08T16:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T07:00:03","slug":"the-raging-success-of-fitness-boxing-has-pushed-imagineer-to-make-a-comeback-in-console-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-raging-success-of-fitness-boxing-has-pushed-imagineer-to-make-a-comeback-in-console-games\/","title":{"rendered":"The raging success of Fitness Boxing has pushed Imagineer to make a comeback in console games\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Imagineer and Toybox recently announced the new title <strong>Mystery Walk<\/strong>. Due for release in December for the Nintendo Switch, it is a murder mystery adventure game. This will be Imagineer\u2019s first \u201cgame game\u201d in a while, as opposed to their recent health and sports software such as the Fitness Boxing series.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nintendo Switch\u300c\u30df\u30b9\u30c6\u30ea\u30fc\u306e\u6b69\u304d\u65b9\u300d\u521d\u5831\u52d5\u753b\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_XtUXecLLL8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202410\/18138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu<\/a>, Imagineer\u2019s CEO Kazunori Sumioka says that Imagineer\u2019s return to full-scale console games was propped up by the success of Fitness Boxing. \u201cTo give you the wider context, Imagineer used to release many console games, such as the Medabot series on the Game Boy, and the Pro Baseball King series on the Nintendo 64. However, for a certain period, we took a break from console game development.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This break ended in 2018, with the release of the first Fitness Boxing for the Nintendo Switch \u2013 which would prove to be a very rewarding move for Imagineer. The first title sold over 1 million copies, and through a subsequent sequel and several spin-off titles, the series grew even more popular, selling over 2.9 million copies worldwide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1586\" height=\"895\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1586px) 100vw, 1586px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241008-38025-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241008-38025-1.jpg 1586w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241008-38025-1-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241008-38025-1-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241008-38025-1-1536x867.jpg 1536w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This experience inspired Sumioka to push Imagineer to compete in the console game scene yet again \u2013 which was the company\u2019s initial purpose when it was founded. As he had grown distant from the game industry himself, he concentrated efforts on staff from Imagineer\u2019s game-focused subsidiaries, as well as recruiting new employees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThrough developing and selling Fitness Boxing, I realized how much technology in the game industry has evolved. However, I also realized that the basic principle of creating games that people find entertaining has not changed,\u201d Sumioka comments.\u00a0From there, the CEO took to changing the notion that &#8220;video games were something handled by subsidiaries&#8221; that had become dominant among Imagineer&#8217;s employees, and started soliciting ideas for a brand-new video game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mysterywalk.jp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mystery Walk <\/a>is scheduled to be released\u00a0on December 12 for the Nintendo Switch in Japan. An overseas release is still TBD.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagineer CEO Kazunori Sumioka talks about the positive impetus the company received from the success of the Fitness Boxing series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":38030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-38025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The raging success of Fitness Boxing has pushed Imagineer to make a comeback in console games\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imagineer CEO Kazunori Sumioka talks about the positive impetus the company received from the success of the Fitness Boxing series.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-raging-success-of-fitness-boxing-has-pushed-imagineer-to-make-a-comeback-in-console-games\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The raging success of Fitness Boxing has pushed Imagineer to make a comeback in console games\u00a0 - 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