How did the highly difficult attraction 'THE TOKYO MATRIX' that opened in Kabukicho correct its course after being unpopular? [CEDEC 2024]

At CEDEC 2024, a game developer conference, a session by Mr. Tsuneyuki Matsudaira of Sony Music Solutions ``New play aimed at by ``THE TOKYO MATRIX'' was held. A session in which it was talked about how the hands-on facility "THE TOKYO MATRIX", which opened in Shinjuku's Tokyu Kabukicho Tower in 2023, received unpopular reviews, but was able to get back on track through renewal based on that experience. Let's report.

Mr. Matsuda has previously worked on events such as "DinoScience" and "Sword Art Online -X Chronicle-" as a new project for Sony Music Solutions, and has been in charge of THE TOKYO MATRIX since April 2024. are.

The specific content of the facility is a ``dungeon attraction'' where you can use your body to experience things like fighting monsters, searching for treasure, and breaking through rooms with many tricks.

THE TOKYO MATRIX opened in April 2023. The game was developed during the coronavirus pandemic, and was planned with the concept of ``targeting young Japanese people and allowing them to play repeatedly in Shinjuku, an easily accessible location.''

There are 7 missions available, and it is said that over 200 parties have cleared all the missions by repeatedly trying. Apparently some people have played the game over 1000 times.





The rules are for a party of 2 to 3 people to take on the dungeon. Some say, ``Wouldn't it be better if you could play alone?'' However, according to the results of a survey, only about 10% of people want to play alone, with many saying ``It's more fun to play with others.'' That's what it means.

THE TOKYO MATRIX has been collaborating with "Sword Art Online" (SAO) since its opening, and the world setting and story are in line with SAO (scheduled to end this winter). The ratio of SAO fans and general customers is 50/50.

The appeal of THE TOKYO MATRIX is that there is no other facility like it 'uniqueness' , and that you can enjoy trying again and again 'repeatability' (approximately 20% of the total are repeat visitors). It is being

However, looking back now, Mr. Matsuda says that the biggest value of THE TOKYO MATRIX is that it allows you to "enjoy the fun of the game first hand." The key point is that by combining various sensors, you can experience the fun of video games and smartphone games in real life, without even using VR.

Hearing this alone may bring to mind similar facilities, but the uniqueness of THE TOKYO MATRIX lies in the fact that

players manage their own IDs
. This allows the difficulty to be tailored to the player, and the use of items to give them an advantage. However, it seems that development of this part was difficult.

A variety of things have happened since the opening, and it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Immediately after the opening, there was a flood of coverage on terrestrial and web programs, and the people who watched it understood the concept of ``challenging a highly difficult dungeon'' and came to the venue, so the reaction was very good. Around the end of the summer vacation, the condition suddenly worsened, and reviews began to write about it more and more. To put it simply, it's

"a crappy game that's too difficult"
. In response, Mr. Matsuda and his colleagues began implementing tuning and improvements from the beginning of the year. Specifically, the company said it has made the tutorials more thorough and has increased the number of verbal explanations for ``what to do.'' Additionally, starting in April, the previous rule of "one death and it's over" was changed to a "3 life system". As a result, my level of satisfaction increased rapidly, and it has continued to this day.
As you can see, THE TOKYO MATRIX conducts thorough questionnaire surveys and performs tuning based on the results. It seems that this has greatly improved the reaction of visitors from overseas, in particular.

After that, Mr. Matsuda talked about the future of THE TOKYO MATRIX. They feel that the setting of ``conquering a dungeon'' is very responsive, and they would like to continue with the concept of ``another world in front of the station,'' but they feel that there are other areas that need improvement. .

One of them is the high difficulty level, which claims a success rate of 0.001%. In other words, the premise is that the game is over, and visitors from overseas have said that it feels like ``Dark Souls.''

Mr. Matsuda said, ``It's not weird at all as a game,'' citing a certain TV program with viewer participation, but added, ``I don't think it's possible to get a certain amount of experience and enjoy the fun of a game for a fee. There are a huge number of customers who say they don't like it."

In response to this, in the future, the company aims to create something that allows ``beginners and experts to enjoy the experience for a certain amount of time, but that is fun to repeat.''

The other thing is how to start playing. At THE TOKYO MATRIX, visitors can start playing based on the information they have registered on their smartphones, with little communication with staff.

Although this was planned during the coronavirus pandemic, the procedure was complicated and had a negative effect on people who wanted to have fun casually, such as two people coming on a date or a family. Matsuda said he wanted to make it something that repeat players could play smoothly.

Another point that they would like to improve is that the gameplay feels "hard". Currently, the main focus is ``missions where you will be eliminated if you cannot clear them'', but plans are being made to revamp this to ``a pleasurable action where you work together to defeat monsters''.

For example, changing something like ``trying hard to pull a heavy rope'' to ``everyone pulling the rope connected to the trebuchet and releasing it all at once to attack the enemy''.

It seems that the plan is to continue to enhance the elements for repeat players, and in addition to the currently popular rankings, they are also considering incorporating training elements that make use of player IDs and scoring elements.

Lastly, Mr. Matsuda mentioned that Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, where THE TOKYO MATRIX is located, is a place with high appeal, as it has hosted premieres of blockbuster movies, and talked about creating new entertainment businesses through collaborations. He concluded the session by saying,

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