There was a good number of mobile game companies present at the so-called Tokaigi “Japan Game Party” 2015 that took place in Japan over this weekend, i. e. CyberAgent (4751), GungHo Online Entertainment (3765), LINE, or Colopl (3668).
Organized by Nico Nico, Japan’s answer to YouTube, the 2-day event was attended by thousands of people (more information in English).
Here is a photo I took today at the event:
While GungHo presented the first playable demo for “Puzzle & Dragons – Super Mario Bros. Edition”, the 3DS game that will be released in Japan in April, the Monster Strike booth was much more popular and attracted huge crowds.
This was especially the case when Mixi (2121) demonstrated Monster Stadium on-stage for the first time, the follow-up to their mega hit action RPG.
In fact, the company revealed the release date (spring 2015 in Japan) of the game and also what it will be actually about.
Just as previously hinted at, Monster Stadium will focus on PvP, namely 4 against 4 battles and time attack as central game elements. (In contrast, the original is also focusing heavy on the multi-player mode but just lets players cooperate, not battle against each other.)
The way it will work is that Monster Stadium players will need to choose a stage, put together a deck of monsters, become part of a team of up to 4 members, and then clear the stage of monsters – before the other team does. (Monster Strike, however, offers no element of time.)
To make it clear, Monster Stadium will be a separate app.
Mixi apparently tries to replicate the strategy of GungHo Online Entertainment (3765) whose mega hit Puzzle & Dragons was followed by spin-off app called Puzzle & Dragons Challenge in 2013.
First official Monster Stadium screenshots:
