Miitomo’s Potential! A Yoshio Sakamoto and Shigesato Itoi Interview Part 5

Sakamoto: “There were a ton of unexpected things.”

☆ NintendObs Weekly – Monday, July 4, 2016 – Sunday, July 10, 2016.

Part 5: Someone You Only Know a Little

Itoi:

There are a lot of things that were firsts in “Miitomo,” so there must have been a lot of unexpected things that came up after it was released.

Sakamoto:

There were a ton of unexpected things.

Itoi:

For example?

Sakamoto:

One huge point was that after it was released I thought that people would use it to connect with their friends around them and play with them.

But when people actually got the app, a lot of people first wanted to play on their own, which is something that I did not expect.

This also may have been because at the initial release we had not included all the different ways you can connect with friends that the app offers now.

Itoi:

Ohh, I see.

The way people played with it was unexpected.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

When we tried it out within the company, people to a certain degree were connecting with friends while also playing.

Itoi:

How many people were playing?

Sakamoto:

About 20 people, and the group was centered around the development team.

There were young people in the team, and in our real lives there were gaps between our ages and positions, but in “Miitomo” I got to see parts of these people that I hadn’t known about and it was really interesting.

Because of this, after the release we prepared a variety of systems to so that people could connect in a natural way.

Itoi:

If you make too many connections then they become bothersome, and it’s difficult to figure out how to act.

In the Wii U game “Splatoon,” playing with people you don’t know is a central part of the game.

Sakamoto:

In “Miitomo,” it’s best to connect with someone you know a little.

Itoi:

Ohh! I see.

Sakamoto:

If you connect with someone you’re really close with, then you pretty much already know that person.

But if you connect with someone that you kind of only know a little bit, then the unexpected parts that you learn about that person become interesting in just the right way.

So my thought was that it was best to play with people around you.

In the beginning the thinking was that the more people you could connect to the more fun it would be.

We thought it was probably better to have as many friends as possible.

However, and this is a personal story, but my wife is friends with me, my cousin, and my cousin’s spouse, and it looks like she is having a blast just playing with 4 people.

Itoi:

Oh. (laughs)

Sakamoto:

Everyday before she goes to sleep she sends comments back and forth with my cousin’s wife. She says stuff like “I responded to Kiyomi-chan.”

Both:

(laugh)

Sakamoto:

It seems like there’s this feeling that you’re really talking to someone that you don’t experience in from other social networking services.

There are people who feel this sense of joy that they can’t get with any other method, and they’re feeling this at a smaller local level than we had imagined.

Itoi:

That’s something that you can really see when only 2 couples are involved.

Sakamoto:

Yes. The circle is small, but it seems like she’s having a lot of fun.

Itoi:

Maybe they’ll start kicking out their husbands from the group. (laughs)

Sakamoto:

That’s a scary thought. (laughs)

In the case of the director, his mom is one of his friends, so when he responds to a question his mom comments about it right away.

It seems like his mom is getting a sense of purpose from commenting sooner than any one else.

Itoi:

(laughs)

Sakamoto:

And it’s kind of strange, because once his mom comments it’s hard for us to post a comment.

It’s like we’re intruding into a private family conversation.

Both:

(laugh)

Sakamoto:

Now his mom’s older sister has put in a friend request, so the family conversations are expanding. (laughs)

This may not be the play style that the director was expecting, but I’m sure his mom and his aunt are having a lot of fun.

Itoi:

Yeah. (laughs)

You could have family meetings or gatherings of relatives there.

That is a local thing.

This is “new localism.”

Sakamoto:

So I think there is actually potential in these areas that are completely different from what I was imagining.

Itoi:

I feel like “Miitomo” is well-suited to the Internet today, and when it was released I was impressed with how you came at it.

Sakamoto:

Thank you very much.

Itoi:

Then, the next thing I thought was that this must have been tough for the creators.

I thought that the creators had to live on forever as creators, and that that was tough. (laughs)

Sakamoto:

Yeah, I was thinking when I would say that.

It is tough. (laughs)

Going forward we do have to continue to provide things to get people interested.

Itoi:

So right now are you adding more of those things to get people interested?

Sakamoto:

Yes. Right now we are testing out adding things to make the experience more fun.

Itoi:

Thinking about maintaining your current relationships and back-and-forth conversations while gradually adding more and more stuff is a scary prospect.

When I think about the feelings of the creators, I feel scared. How many people are on the team?

Sakamoto:

There are about 30 people in development.

Also if you include the people who work on the backend and on promotions, there are a total of 50 people.

Itoi:

You must be constantly busy.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

Things have yet to calm down for everyone.

Itoi:

In short, if you work at it, you can continue to make games within the platform “Miitomo.”

Sakamoto:

Yes. (laughs)

Source: Miitomo.