Chief Gundam Officer Koji Fujiwara says that the Gundam IP’s foray into esports isn’t done yet, despite the shutdown of Gundam Evolution.
In a press conference today, Fujiwara says that more Gundam esports titles are still in development as part of the Side-Esports portion of the Gundam Metaverse Project.
“Yes, the Gundam evolution has shut down recently as well, which is an unfortunate thing”, Fujiwara says. But it Gundam Evolution is not the only title that was targeted for the Gundam Metaverse. There are also other titles in that team under development”
That being said, don’t expect any new title announcements any time soon- Fujiwara also stressed that these would be further down the line, with current efforts for the Gundam Metaverse Projects focused on Side-Gunpla.
“As for the future of a of the metaverse, there will be some developments coming up for games and anime as well. But these will be gradual steps”, Fujiwara says. “But for the concept that was mentioned at the beginning, there’s been no variance in the concept that we have mentioned earlier.
Gundam Evolution’s shutdown announcement caused a stir in the community, with the team shooter having previously been touted as leading the charge for Side-Esports- an aspect of the Metaverse built around connecting fans of competitive Gundam games.
The Gundam Metaverse Project was touted as having separate pillars, known as Sides based on all the different ways fans interact with the Gundam IP- such as Anime, Esports and Gunpla.
It was supposed to be a main title alongside Gundam Battle Operation 2, another free-to-play title that recently launched on Steam.
Still, these are far from the only competitive Gundam games, with titles like Gundam Extreme Vs Maxi-Boost ON having a strong presence in arcades and the fighting game community.