Exclusive interview with Takuya Tsuji about the appeal and future of the notable blockchain game "Coin Musme" that "anthropomorphizes" crypto assets

"Coin Musume" is an idol character made from crypto assets. We asked Mr. Tsuji, who is in charge of this notable project that also incorporates 2.5-dimensional idol elements, about its appeal and the timing of the game's release.

What prompted you to enter the blockchain gaming field?

Takuya Tsuji (hereafter, Tsuji): The reason I wanted to create a blockchain game was because I thought it would provide a new gaming experience, unlike previous smartphone and online games, in that rewards are obtained as assets. If you use the blockchain to buy and sell in-game assets in the real world, I thought you could create an interesting game.

I myself have been doing business with social games up until now. When social games first came out, the quality was cheap, unlike consumer games, but at the same time, they created a new experience.

Nowadays, social games with quality close to consumer games are being developed, and the market is expanding. It is still unclear whether the blockchain game market will be established, but I personally feel that there is a possibility. At the same time, I am very conscious that it has to be different from previous games.

The significance of issuing tokens is "the existence of a community"

Please tell us about the concept, features, and points of focus of "Coin Musume."

Tsuji: Coin Musume is conscious of "specializing in experiences unique to blockchain games." We believe that it is not enough to simply use blockchain in smartphone games like we have done up until now; we need to make a game that is possible only because of blockchain, and that would not be possible without blockchain.

Specifically, we place importance on two points: Play to Earn (P2E) and community.

First of all, with P2E, we are planning to specialize in an easy-to-understand experience. Rather than focusing on the content of the game and consuming development costs, we are particularly conscious of designing it with user returns in mind.

Also, due to the game's specifications, the amount of tokens increases and decreases as you play, so we designed it so that it does not depend too much on user skill. We were also conscious of designing it so that beginner's luck could occur as much as possible.

Many consumer games are fighting games or RPGs, and with social games, it's a matter of whether you play for a long time or shorten the time by paying, but Coin Musume is neither of those. Also, I think that Coin Musume is unique in that we are not trying to make a profit from game sales.

The thing I'm most concerned about is, "Do blockchain games need tokens?" I haven't found the answer yet, and it's a topic that's being debated in the streets.

The reason why tokens are issued is, in short, because the issuer makes a profit. If we look only at the result of the issuer making a profit, there are already several examples, so I'm sure there will be quite a few projects that issue tokens after seeing that.

However, looking at the current situation, I think there are many games for which there is no point in issuing tokens. This is not limited to games, but I feel very uncomfortable with projects and other things that issue tokens while operating in a centralized manner and do not link their value. Looking at the world as a whole, there are many projects that issue tokens to encourage purchases through marketing and then sell them off, even though the content is not substantial.

This leads to the second point that Coin Musume emphasizes, but I think the significance of issuing tokens lies in the "existence of a community." Going further, it is to create fans of the in-game token, "Musume Coin (MSM)" itself.

Of course, it is important to increase the number of game players, but increasing the number of holders also leads to increasing the number of fans, so I think that this could be one goal. I think we should place more importance on creating a community experience than on the numerical benefits of using tokens.

In a sense, I think the currently popular meme coins get to the heart of the matter. Even though it is known from the beginning that meme coins themselves have no value, they have gained fans and people who find them interesting have gathered together, and their value has increased. This is an example of value being attached to the community experience, rather than the token.

Coin Musume also has something in common in that it has fans attached to the token, and I think it is important to provide a complex experience, such as the joy of having this token that increases in value beyond the game and the fun of being able to connect with the community. In short, I feel that the significance of using tokens in blockchain games is that this heart part is important.