Crunchyroll Expo: Crunchyroll Games Panel

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By: Zero OmegaBack in March 2018 Crunchyroll officially kicked off their newest initiative, Crunchyroll Games, with the release of Danmachi Memoria Freese (also known as Danmemo) based on the popular series, Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon? Since then, Danmemo has been going strong and has been a great encouragement for Crunchyroll to explore bringing other anime mobile games to the West. Crunchyroll co-founder, Kun Gao, explained during the Crunchyroll Games Panel that one of the goals for the company is to bring in many different ways for anime fans to engage with content and brands that they love. Anime games, especially mobile ones, were at one time almost impossible to get brought over to the Western market. However, as the gaming and fan communities have become more engaged with mobile, we're seeing more and more of these games brought over. If Crunchyroll truly wants to expand their market share with anime fans, then continuing a push into publishing mobile games based on hit anime titles in Japan is definitely a smart way to go. While there is still some reluctance in the consumer market to adopt "freemium" gacha games, they are becoming more widely accepted than ever, and this is where Danmemo comes in.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It's now been a few months since the initial release of Danmemo and the first big collaboration was announced during this panel. Now available, and making her very first video game debut, is Crunchyroll-hime, the company's mascot. Players of Danmemo will be able to obtain her as an ultra rare character. The team explained that Crunchyroll-hime isn't a weak character either, she was developed in such a way that newer players would be able to easily understand how to play her, while not being too overpowered that it makes current content trivial.[embed]https://twitter.com/playCRgames/status/1035939089470709761[/embed]On top of Crunchyroll-Hime's release, Hestia (the main female character in Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?) is also getting a new outfit based off of Crunchyroll-Hime's.Some other fun trivia that was discussed during the panel is:

• A second part of the collaboration is when you log into the game you will get a 4-koma that explains why Crunchyroll-Hime is in the game.
• Series creator, Fujino Omori, is consulted two to three times a month on Danmemo and also actively plays the game.
• Crunchyroll-Hime's voice lines were recorded in a closet because at the time of the recording, the office's air conditioning was way too loud.
• Surprisingly, none of the voiced dialogue in Danmemo is reused from the anime, it is all re-recorded by the voice actors.
• There are no plans to add monsters as adventurers in the game, however there is an active desire to add Xenos into the game.

All in all it seems to be a very good first collaboration to start, and definitely a great way to promote the Crunchyroll brand while also giving the fan community even more reason to engage with anime content. If I were to bet, I would say that this will not be the last time we see Crunchyroll publish an anime mobile game to the West, the fun will be seeing what they decide to bring over next.Crunchyroll Games is interested in your thoughts, feedback, and other community engagement. The best way to reach out to them is on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can also download Danmemo on your iOS or Android through either the App Store or Google Play Store.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]