Interview with Michio Takahashi, Konami Managing Director

We had the chance to speak with Michio Takahashi, the Managing Director of Konami based in Hong Kong. This interview mainly focused on Konami’s views in the Southeast Asia market, as well as explaining the differences between Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Read on!

Mr Takahashi says Konami is very focused on the Southeast Asia game market, bringing in different activities to cater to the regions. He asked us to look forward to the next game release in SEA.

In regards to what Konami game was popular for Southeast Asia, he said PES 2019 Pro Evolution Soccer and YuGiOh! Duel Links performed really well.

Mr Takahashi thinks the success of Duel Links would likely mean that the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution will also see similar good results in Southeast Asia. He is equally optimistic about Contra: Rogue Corps, coming September 24. He does not think Garena’s mobile Contra Returns will conflict with Contra: Rogue Corps, as they will cater to different playstyles. Mr Takahashi considers the mobile version to be more suited for casual players, and Rogue Corps for more core players.

Continuing on about the Southeast Asian market, Mr Takahashi says that there’s high demand for Android games among young people in the region, so Konami wants to add new games for that market to tap into the high potential.

As for regional market differences, Mr Takahashi does think they exist. He gives an example about the Taiwanese market, with influence from Japanese culture, there are more core console players. For Hong Kong, however, they prefer fresh things, where after an initial boom, people started selling their Nintendo Switches to second-hand dealers. Southeast Asia is considered a mobile-favoured region. He would like to personally introduce Konami IPs to these mobile players, to get them to play more console games.

To close off, Mr Takahashi hopes Malaysian players will continue to enjoy the Konami PES games, and to support the upcoming PES 2020. With more licensed teams included in the game, he hopes it will be more fun for players. PES 2020 is currently set for September 10 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.