Event report from "IVS Crypto 2024 KYOTO," the festival of next-generation technology and startups that excited Kyoto

Prime Minister Kishida's message at the "Startup Festival"

Opening remarks were given by Whiplus, head of operations, and Tanaka Akio, founding partner of Headline and IVC. They mentioned that the Japanese market is currently attracting attention and is becoming an attractive environment.

Afterwards, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio appeared again this year in a video message. He emphasized that startups are at the core of the "new capitalism" concept currently being promoted, and that results are steadily being produced. He also stated that "the world is paying attention to Japan," and declared that he will continue to support startups in the future, and that he will "enable Japanese startups to take flight around the world."

▶︎Video message from Prime Minister Kishida

Views of major companies on the spread of Web 3.0 games in Japan

In the session "Web 3 Strategies for Japanese Game Companies," moderated by YGG Japan's Shiino Masamitsu and attended by Konami's Kane Tomotake, DeNA's Tanaka Shota, and Square Enix's Hata Keisuke, the participants discussed what is needed to popularize Web 3.0 games from the perspective of major domestic game companies.

▶︎From left: Mr. Shiino, Mr. Hata, Mr. Kanetomo, and Mr. Tanaka

During the session, Hata said, "It's not bad to be ahead of the game and make money, but if we want to attract real gamers, we need to change the situation." He also emphasized the importance of the community and the need to think about what is needed on an experience basis, and then Web 3.0 technology should be used.

Kanetomo also said, "If there is a strong fan base, it's a different story, but by releasing tokens, attention will be drawn to that rather than the game. We should focus on NFTs first, and if the game is fun, fans will follow.

Regarding the timing of the spread of Web 3.0 games, Hata first said, "There is always a chance for them to spread," and then said he would like to make the act of engraving information on the blockchain a movement. Kanetomo also expressed his view that "IP = fans. Spread depends on IP." Finally, Tanaka said, "It is spreading locally and globally. The community is important."

In any case, the comments from the three people showed that it is necessary to continue to explore the right approach to blockchain games, and then to carefully consider the nature of in-game tokens.

“Rethinking Blockchain Games”

The current state of blockchain games was also discussed in a talk entitled "Rethink Blockchain Games! What is Oasys' Strategy?" by Ryo Matsubara, who works on Oasys, a blockchain that specializes in games, and Hironobu Ueno of double jump.tokyo, who is involved in the development of various blockchain games.

Both parties recognized that various content, including major ones, is being created on Oasys, and Matsubara expressed his confidence, saying, "Oasys is the best in the world in terms of the richness of its content." Furthermore, in light of the fact that the blockchain game field will accelerate from now on, he stated, "The real launch is yet to come," and predicted that a large amount of content using Oasys will be released from this summer.

Matsubara also stated that "there is still no content that has been mass-adopted" regarding the current state of blockchain games, and stressed that Japan is a particularly promising market. As for the reason for this, he cited the fact that Japan loves trading and is the world's number one in terms of payment rates and FX trading volume, explaining that "Japan has the potential to become the world's number one in blockchain games as well."

▶Ueno on stage

As a specific example, Ueno cited the blockchain game "Hamster Kombat," which can be played through Telegram, and said that the simplicity of the game means that there is a possibility of mass adoption.

On the other hand, he also pointed out that there are tax issues, and while the initial response to NFT sales and other things may be good, secondary liquidity cannot be said to be good.

As for the possibility of mass adoption of blockchain games, Matsubara said that given the current situation, the number of users and concerns about the domestic currency such as the weak yen, it would not be surprising if they became popular in Japan. Ueno said that mass adoption is necessary for both users and businesses, and showed the company's intention to lead the blockchain gaming field.

▶Matsubara on stage

In addition, Ueno reiterated his intention to release "Battle of Three Kingdoms - Sangokushi Taisen -," which uses the IP of the popular game "Sangokushi Taisen," currently being developed by double jump.tokyo, within this year.

The business potential of NFTs and the current state of Web 3.0 business

In a session titled "New trends in NFT business in Japan: exploring new possibilities," TV Asahi's Akira Masuzawa, SBINFT's Naganori Taka, Digirise's Masahiro Chaen, Shueisha's Hisashi Kanamaru, and JR Kyushu's Takuji Ushijima took to the stage.

In this session, Taka stated that "use cases for companies with content are increasing," while Kanamaru pointed out that "there is an issue of a lack of producers who have a user perspective."

He also expressed the view that we are currently at a stage where we can begin to consider whether tokenomics is behind projects that consider how fans and users can enjoy them. Based on this, the theme of the session was the importance of a design and transparency that allows money to flow to IP holders and original authors.

▶︎From the left: Chaen, Gao, Kanamaru, Masuzawa, and Ushijima

Web 3.0 business was also discussed in "Winning Strategies of Japanese Chains Competing with the World," with Kazune Harashima of SHAKE entertainment, Yuki Kamimoto of N.Avenue/CoinDesk JAPAN, Masaaki Taira, Member of the House of Representatives, Mikito Ebishima of Startale Labs Japan, and Ryo Manzoku of double jump.tokyo on stage.

In this session, Taira said, "AI and Web 3.0 will interact with each other while checking each other's current location," and was particularly impressive in his recognition that it will be necessary to provide benefits that surpass the times. He also expressed his hope for progress in collaboration with large companies.

▶︎From the left: Kamimoto, Harashima, Taira, Manzoku, Ebishima

In each session, it was shown that Web3.0 technology is currently being used, and how to address the issues that need to be resolved in order to implement it in society was discussed.

Current situation toward the approaching "2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo"

The "2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo" is finally approaching next year. Hiroo Isowa and Junichi Kanda of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Kenichi Kawamoto of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, and Yoshihiro Yoshida of HashPort spoke on the topic of "How will Japan's Web3 and Fintech change at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, which will be visited by 28.2 million people?"

▶︎From the left: Yoshida, Kawamoto, Isowa, and Kanda

During this session, Kawamoto mentioned that NFTs are important in collaboration with local regions. Isowa also said that introducing a system that allows items to be purchased using only facial recognition through the EXPO2025 digital wallet will give people a sense of immersion in payments. He then said that the wallet is already being used more than initially expected.

Kanda also recognized that the use of NFTs will enable collaboration with various regions, commenting that "Web 3.0 is a good match for regional revitalization." Kawamoto expressed his hope that "Web 3.0 will advance with the Expo as an opportunity" through collaboration with local regions and businesses, and Isowa also expressed his hope that wallets will become familiar to people.

Yoshida, who served as the moderator of the session, concluded by saying, "We are working with passion. We would like to continue to push forward with passion."

Passion beyond boundaries

That concludes our report on the day of IVS Crypto 2024 KYOTO, focusing on the featured sessions.

Following last year's event, IVS 2024 KYOTO and IVS Crypto 2024 KYOTO were held in Kyoto for three days, and it was officially announced that 12,000 people had attended as of the middle of the third day. This is the highest number of visitors in the history of IVS.

At IVS Crypto 2024 KYOTO, there were more sessions on blockchain games than last year, and the attention was also higher. In the future, domestic and international players will be paying more attention to the birth of new games that utilize Japanese IP.

In addition, the re-event, which was a great success last year, was held in various locations in Kyoto, and the number of officially registered events alone exceeded 300.

The event, which was held under the theme of "Cross the Boundaries," ended with the heat and excitement still high. Through IVS, which can be called a "startup festival," many participants must have felt the wave of the next generation and gained something.

We hope that this event will be an opportunity to give birth to new startups that will amaze the world.

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