Jiro Ishii announces crowdfunding campaign for new Shibuya Live-Action Adventure Game

Game designer and 428: Shibuya Scramble executive producer Jiro Ishii has announced the launch of a new “Shibuya Live-Action Adventure Game.” Led by general director Ishii and screenwriter Yukinori Kitajima, the project will be a live-action adventure game set in Shibuya. Platforms and a release date were not announced, but a crowdfunding campaign will launch via Ubgoe on May 28.

Cast members of the project include Masakazu Arai, who played Keima Amemiya in Machi: Unmei no Kousaten, and Fumio Kitagami, who played Minoru Minorikawa in 428: Shibuya Scramble.

The game itself will use an “ensemble drama” system—a synchronized story with multiple protagonists, in which players experience a multiple-perspective structure that shifts between each character’s viewpoint.

In a message, Ishii said that 428: Shibuya Scramble was created as a successor to the live-action adventure game Machi: Unmei no Kousaten, with the goal of surpassing it. He expected that a game would eventually come along to surpass 428: Shibuya Scramble as well. But over 20 years later, no such title has emerged. At one point, Ishii approached various game companies about a follow-up project, but those discussions fell apart, as many were more concerned with marketing and business than the core of the project. For a time, he even distanced himself from such projects. Ultimately, Ishii and his team decided to develop the new title independently.