Yozo Sakagami (a.k.a. GamiP) has developed some of Japan’s most popular content, from Air Combat, the predecessor to Ace Combat, to THE iDOLM@STER (iM@S) series.
With a career spanning over 30 years as a game creator, Sakagami is currently involved in development as a supervisor at Bandai Namco Studios.
What realities face a game developer? What skills and mindsets are necessary for the future?
Only someone with insider knowledge of the industry can answer these questions, and we look back on Sakagami’s career so far to unravel the past, present, and future of the ever-changing game industry.
The Beginning of Yozo Sakagami’s (GamiP) Career: Starting from Zero
⸺ As someone affectionately known as “GamiP” to many of your fans, could you please start by telling us about your career so far?
Sakagami: I joined Namco (now Bandai Namco Studios) as a visual designer in 1991.
My first job was developing arcade games, which were in their prime back then, and I worked on Air Combat, the predecessor to Ace Combat.
Frankly, I had never created anything in 3D or even touched a computer before. I used a word processer for documents and hand-wrote my timesheet. I had to start from zero.
Back in those days, I mainly created racing games such Final Lap, Ridge Racer for consoles, and MotoGP.
Eventually, I was asked to develop a game called Death by Degrees as a producer.
Taking on Everything: Busy Days as a First-Time Producer
⸺ You went from zero to producer! How was your first producer experience?
Sakagami: It was a frenzy. (laughs)
Unlike today, the producer handled everything back then, including things like employee attendance and salaries. If someone was absent, I went to their house…
⸺ You had to do that too?
Sakagami: The responsibilities of the position were very broad.
I also had to manage how we promoted our game both domestically and internationally, so I was involved in everything from international marketing plans to supervising the production of our novelty cups.
I was around 35 years old then.
No one had defined what a producer did, so I did everything from administrative work to whatever else needed to be done. It was frantic but looking back on it now, it was a great experience.
Birth of THE iDOLM@STER (iM@S) Series: Challenges and Struggles of a New Project
⸺ After experiencing life as a busy producer, you became the general producer of THE iDOLM@STER (iM@S) series. What led to this opportunity?
Sakagami: Shigeru Yokoyama*, who was my superior at the time, said to me one day, “Shukuo Ishikawa* is starting a production committee (for a new title), go check it out.”
When I got there, I was introduced as “console game producer Sakagami” out of the blue. I thought I was just there to listen, but it turned out I was joining the committee. (laughs)
I think the committee had about 30 members at the time. But our first project didn’t go as planned and everyone went their own way, like baby spiders.
Furthermore, the console game I was entrusted to produce at the time was how iDOLM@STER (iM@S) began.
*Shukuo Ishikawa: Former President of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. and Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
*Shigeru Yokoyama: Former President of Bandai Namco Studios Inc.
Creating New Value by Interacting with Fans
⸺ What an unexpected origin story! The series is now loved around the world, but what were your main responsibilities as general producer?
Sakagami: I had a wide variety of responsibilities, but one of the most memorable was being able to engage with fans through a feature of the game: characters that sing and dance. We started by posting videos online as it was becoming popular at the time, and also participated in various events such as CD release events.
It made me very happy to see so many people enjoying these events.
Sakagami’s Role as Supervisor at Bandai Namco Studios
⸺ That sounds like a valuable and important experience. When did you transition from being THE iDOLM@STER’s general producer to a supervisor at Bandai Namco Studios?
Sakagami: It was in 2023. I resigned as general producer of THE iDOLM@STER (iM@S) series and have been a supervisor ever since.
⸺ What does your current role as supervisor entail?
Sakagami: I’m part of a team that supports the business unit at Bandai Namco Studios.
Bandai Namco Entertainment is a business-driven production company. They often interact with external partners on game development projects, and there are times when our perceptions and opinions diverge from each other.
In times like these, members of the project who can see both perspectives intervene, mediate, and provide solutions.
I act as consultant to a whole team of such members.
On top of that, I’m also a supervisor and judge for the GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest.
Talking to indie game creators takes me back to when I started working at Namco, since I also went through the experience of making games in a small team.
Seeing these creators under the difficult, but exciting circumstance of building their knowledge by figuring things out on their own, is a great source of motivation for me.
An Everchanging Game Industry: A Shift to Large-Scale Content and Live Operations
⸺ I’d like to ask about the current state of the game industry from your perspective as supervisor. What do you think are the major changes that have taken place in recent years?
Sakagami: There’s been an increase in the scale of game content. I think game development being expanded for global release has contributed to this change.
This is a trend which has remained unchanged, but advances in digitization have resulted in gaming becoming more widespread in densely populated countries such as China, India, and South America, whereas it was previously more prevalent in countries like Japan, Europe, and the United States.
Due to this, console games have openly become multi-platform as well.
Another change is that players can enjoy a single game for a longer period of time with the advent of season passes and expansion passes.
In the past, once a title was released, it would get a sequel two years later.
These factors are increasing development times so live services are becoming the norm.
⸺ Why did these changes take place?
Sakagami: Games have become more complex, and they’re now being made at a greater cost and effort. This is what we call large-scale development.
I believe that these games continue to get updated so players can spend more time playing and become more immersed in the game.
What Game Creators Will Need: Game Design Ability
⸺ I can see that the game development environment has changed dramatically due to these trends.
Sakagami: Game development has become more segmented. It’s become a more specialized profession.
The question for the future will be whether there is a system in place to monitor all aspects of game development in an organized manner. I think project management will become increasingly important in terms of organizational structure, but that’s just in terms of managing progress through schedules and budgets.
In that sense, I believe that game design skills will be even more critical for game creators.
⸺ What do you mean by game design skill?
Sakagami: You may be thinking, “Game design? Does that mean the game designer has to work harder?” However, that’s not what I mean.
Before we get to that though, let’s talk about “game story”.
When you hear “game story,” you may imagine the plot, characters, and worldbuilding of a game, but that’s not what I’m referring to either.
Playing a game involves launching it, starting from the title menu, and playing the core content. From there, you engage with the meta-systems or auxiliary content, then repeat the process.
Each of these parts offer different experiences and rewards. Lining up these experiences and forming a single cohesive flow, we can deliver a profound and emotional experience for the user. This is what I mean by “game story”.
When I say that game design skills are important, what I mean is that we need people who can see the game story from a bird’s-eye perspective.
It is not possible to make accurate judgements and give instructions unless the key members involved in each part of the project, such as the game designers, programmers and artists understand the game story.
What work is done before and after their part of the development process? How does each part influence the game overall? I think questions like this are becoming crucial as projects become larger and more complex.
In the end, no matter how beautiful the visuals are or how interesting the narrative is, users won’t appreciate the game if they aren’t satisfied with the experience they gain from the game story.
After all, game development is a collective effort by the entire project team.
⸺ It’s important to have an elevated view of the game as a cohesive line, not as separate points. How should creators cultivate their game design skills?
Sakagami: This goes without saying, but you have to check your work by actually playing the game.
Instead of pursuing efficiency, we need to imagine users playing the game and ask ourselves whether it’s easy to understand, whether the pace the game progresses at is truly good enough.
In other words, it’s important to optimize.
When we talk about efficiency, we tend to prioritize speed and try to get things done as quickly as possible, but that simply ends up increasing the workload of people downstream and tends to result in inefficiency overall.
To speed up the process, I think that gaining more experience will train a creator’s ability to make decisions and the critical thinking skills required to reach the right answers.
A Message to Game Creators: Challenging Yourself in an Industry Connected to the World
⸺ As someone who is at the forefront of this industry, I believe there are many game creators and aspiring creators who admire you. Could you impart them with a message to close this interview?
Sakagami: Japan produces a variety of entertainment content such as movies and animations, but I believe that games are the most internationally recognized of them all.
Furthermore, it’s highly likely that the games we create will be played all over the world. Being able to work in an industry like that is a dream come true.
An aspect I find great about this industry is that you can also challenge yourself at any age.
I hope to keep doing my best alongside those who continue to persevere with their strong ambitions.
⸺ Thank you very much for your valuable time!
