“Tokyo Game Show: Online” – Sakurai’s Famitsu Column Vol. 614

In this translation of Sakurai’s latest Famitsu column, he shares his thoughts on the Tokyo Game Show 2020 online event. Bits of this column leaked online ahead of publication, so I hope this can give more context to his comments. Enjoy it!

Note: Do not repost the full translation. Please use the first two paragraphs, link to this translation, and credit Source Gaming and translator Brando. This translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai. If you enjoyed this article, I would strongly encourage you to support Sakurai by buying his books.

Source Gaming does not run ads on its website. If you enjoy this translation, please let us know on Twitter! Translation by Brando. Thanks to Crane043 for reviewing.

Tokyo Game Show: Online

Originally published in Famitsu, Vol. 614, 15 October 2020

The bottom of my shoe peeled off while I was out, and I’ve developed some mysterious rash that’s painful and itchy, but my heart is serene. Fine and dandy. Why? Because I was selected for a raffle to preorder a Playstation 5. Fortune and misfortune come and go like that.

As I’m writing this, it’s currently late at night, after the end of Tokyo Game Show. I was supposed to present something myself, but that’s a topic for two weeks from now…

This year’s Tokyo Game Show had an extremely different format from that of previous years. Due to COVID-19, the event was held online for the first time ever. Ordinarily, people would have been able to try out the new PS5 and Xbox Series X, and it would have generated quite the buzz, but this time that kind of activity was completely impossible. As a result, game developers and companies put together a streaming schedule, with both official programs and independent events, and held livestreams over a 3 day span. The event was made possible in part by YouTube’s strong infrastructure. This is nothing new, but again I’m thankful for it.

I tracked and watched a variety of these livestreams, and I’d like to take note of some of the trends I noticed, for future reference.

– Hard to find desirable shows

Relying on YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, it didn’t really show me the programs that I wanted to see. It seems like there should have been some guidance provided, so that viewers could know in advance which shows would come on where, and at what time.

– Need to set expectations for the info shown

This year’s TGS was held in a way that had never been done before, and every company participating did their best to find a solution and make things work. However, it leaves a bad impression when, for example, someone might be watching in anticipation of new game information, but the show just continues with variety TV-like segments**. I know that feeling, it’s tantalizing, right? I think it’s fun to have the talk show parts, but they should probably make each segment’s content clear ahead of time, or make it apparent from the title.

**Translator’s Note: Variety (バラエティー) shows are like talk shows commonly found on Japanese TV. Hosts and guests will have discussion panels, different “corners”, Q&A, etc.

“NieR Staff Talk: The ‘Mostly No New Information’ Special”. That’s a great title!

– Rough comments

I felt the stream comments tended to be unpleasant. This varied widely from program to program, but I got the impression that right away some people just started acting like know-it-alls, making self-assertions, things like that. Although it wasn’t my show, I couldn’t stand it so I just closed the chat window. Unfortunately, right now there’s basically no solution for this. Everyone has the freedom to write comments, but it’s a shame that the benefits of that freedom are wasted…That’s what I think.

– Missed opportunities due to long shows

This also varied depending on the stream, but many of the companies presenting had segments which spanned several hours. The “festival”-like feeling was nice, but on the other hand I also felt this had several downsides, like how it was hard to fix attention on the games I like, it was impossible to archive**, and sometimes streams overlapped such that I was forced to choose which one to watch.

**TN: He says アーカイブできなかったり, and I think he means that since the show is one big multi-hour segment, you can’t only save part of it.

As a final note, I believe that above all, presentations are about tempo, and I think collecting everything into a tight package with good pacing creates a favorable impression. Incidentally, I felt that the Japan Game Awards had a faster pace than in years past, and this made the presentation a little better.

Unless you searched for other streams, it was impossible to see all of the content, so I think many more things happened at this year’s Tokyo Game Show than people realize. To the staff and everyone involved, thanks for all of your hard work.

It’s hard to tell from the outside, but there’s one extremely important point I want to express. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, every part of development has been dealt a great shock. What has been impacted? Everything. Development progress, human resources, environments, costs, plans, organizations, circumstances, everything. New information is the main draw for game shows, and in that respect this event was held with a massive handicap. Despite the setbacks, every company did their best, and I’m grateful for that.

I did a presentation for the Game Designers Award, showing a retrospective of the past 10 years since the award’s inception, as well as talking about the award’s future.**

**TN: You can find the video of this presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNH7pcen5kQ&t=2080s

“NieR Staff Talk: The ‘Mostly No New Information’ Special”: A talk show streamed on September 26th following the official presentation on the 24th. Nier core staff appeared and presented information about new Nier goods. Just like the title says, there wasn’t much new information, but it was fun to hear the development staff speak casually and share stories from behind the scenes.

The Game Designers Award 2020 (awarded to Baba is You): Ten of Japan’s representative game creators (including Mr. Sakurai) served as judges for this annual award, given to a standout work based on creativity and novelty. Baba Is You is a puzzle game by an indie developer from Finland, Arvi “Hempuli” Teikari.