There is a drama in eBASEBALL. Professional e-sports player Orix Buffaloes Yu Takagawa 10,000 character interview

My name is Kai Fujisawa and I am in charge of public relations and recruitment.

In 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19, we faced a lot of trial and error in figuring out how to make the most of our time at home and how to communicate with others when we couldn't meet in person

Meanwhile, e-sports is increasing year by year.

In 2019, "professional e-sports player" was the second most popular career aspiration among male junior high school students in the future, and in 2021 e-sports will likely become even more popular as a form of entertainment that allows people to connect online with people all over the world from the comfort of their own home

Source: 2019 Survey on Junior and Senior High School Students' Envisioned Future

There are various types of eSports games, including team competitions and individual competitions on smartphones, but did you know that one of them is "eBASEBALL"

Real professional baseball teams are competing in a professional e-sports league using the Jikkyo Powerful Pro Baseball released by KONAMI

▲"eBASEBALL Pro League" official website

 

Just like in real professional baseball, 12 teams are divided into the Central League and Pacific League and compete for the title of Japan's best team

with the Orix Buffaloes for the 2020 season of the eBASEBALL Pro League, with the desire to contribute to the ever-growing esports industry while also supporting our hometown of Osaka, which continues to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic !

▲ Players Ibusuki and Fujimoto came to our Osaka office to play against each other, and CEO Haraoka, who was completely defeated

 

In addition to signing the sponsorship agreement, we were also in charge of creating the "Orix Buffaloes Support Site," so please take a look

eBASEBALL Pro League 2020 Season Orix Buffaloes Support Site

So, in the midst of the 2020 eBASEBALL Pro League season, we Yu Takakawa, Orix Buffaloes, asking him in-depth questions about everything from eBASEBALL to the esports industry, including questions like, "What made you want to become a master of Power Pro?" and "What does the future hold for the esports industry?"

▲We spoke online with the baseball-loving development engineer who was in charge of creating the support site

 

table of contents

1. First interview with Orix Buffaloes player Takakawa
2. In Power Pro, preparation is more important than skill
3. The controls for Power Pro change every year!
4. Does Takakawa have a poker face?
5. The way of fighting is different from real baseball
6. Making e-sports more entertaining

First interview with Orix Buffaloes player Takakawa

- Now that Beyond has become a sponsor of Orix, we'd like to learn more about e-sports players, so we'd like to hear more about them. Thank you!

thank you!

-First, I'd like to hear a brief introduction about yourself and your career history

My name is Yu Takakawa, I'm 30 years old and live in Saitama Prefecture

I haven't revealed much about my career so far, but after graduating from university I didn't do anything particularly special, and then in 2018 the Power Pro professional league started, and my brother participated in that league

▲ The older brother of Takagawa, a representative player for the Yomiuri Giants. He played against Ibusuki of the Orix Buffaloes in the Central vs. Pacific League interleague games

 

My older brother's hobby was originally Power Pro and he's been playing online battles for a long time, but I play other games as a hobby and have been away from Power Pro

But when I saw the professional league, I thought, "That's cool."

At the time, we were in teams of three, and I thought, "Playing in a team game would be fun. I wonder what it would be like if I played," so I started playing on PlayStation 4

Then, as I continued playing, I gradually started to win, and it was fun to get better. I thought it would be fun to one day stand on that stage, and I began to dream

From there, I started to seriously aim to become a professional around November 2018, and played Power Pro seriously for about nine months, with the test for the professional league being in late August 2019

-Your profile says you have 25 years of experience with Power Pro, which is quite a long time, isn't it?

It might be exaggerated

As soon as I was old enough to understand things, I played Power Pro 3 on the Super Final Fantasy Famicom

It was the first time I played with my brother, so I think we have the same amount of experience, but in my profile, I have written that I've played Power Pro longer than he does, so it's a bit vague (laughs)

-Was your brother already good at playing back then?

He's three years older than me, so there was a big difference

The image I had was about 7 to 3

At that time, I was just playing and didn't really practice, and although I liked games, I wasn't particularly good at them as a child

-After your brother became a professional, you yourself started practicing seriously, didn't you?

I agree

Some people think that Power Pro players have a lot of talent or are geniuses, but I actually think it's a game that you can become reasonably good at if you play steadily

The gameplay is quite simple; all you have to do is move the cursor buttons and press the X button with your right hand, so I think it's a game that's easy to recreate if you practice repeatedly

-By the way, do you play real baseball?

I played hardball baseball until high school

I believe that I have given spirit to the white ball

I'm short and not the type to hit a home run, but I think my strength is what makes me attractive, and even though I'm short, I can hit the ball with a really strong pull and get doubles

I had given up on becoming a professional baseball player because I was short, but I was surprised when Mori Tomoya (currently with the Saitama Seibu Lions) came on the scene

-What was the exam like to become a professional gamer?

When I joined, there was an online qualifying round, and about 90 people in eastern Japan and 90 people in western Japan, for a total of 180 people, were able to pass

Those who pass the online qualifiers will be split into East and West teams, and will compete in offline qualifiers, where groups of six will play five round-robin league matches

For example, 5 wins and 0 losses would get you first place

From there, about 50 to 60 people will be selected to go on to an interview

-What kind of questions will you be asked in the interview?

It's like looking at your qualities as a person

He's a professional gamer, so the better the better, but it's entertainment after all, so I think there will still be people who think, "This guy isn't going to be very interesting to watch."

-I see, so being good alone isn't enough

But if you have the skill, you can become a "lone player." That's cool, too

Well, I don't think they looked that much during the interview, I think they were more interested in your behavior

As for his answers, he expressed his thoughts in response to questions such as "Why did you start playing Power Pro?" and "What do you want to do when you become a professional?"

The 48 people who passed the selection process were then put through to the draft meeting

Since we had 20 players who were continuing, we held a draft meeting to have 12 teams of four players each, for a total of about 48 players, and in the end we ended up with about 24 players

Some of the other players know them, and when I face people ranked 1st to 50th in the in-game rankings, I know, "Oh, that's them."

People in the Power Pro community are quite friendly with each other, and they hold offline meetups, go out to eat with people who are close to each other, and there are groups of close friends

In Power Pro, preparation is more important than skill

-How much practice do you do on days when there are no games?

On days when there are no matches, we practice for an average of about three hours, but on longer days we can practice for more than 10 hours

I just keep playing matches out of habit, and playing online matches is just fun, so I wonder if that's practice or not

I focus on practice mode and modes where you play against the computer, and I set the computer mode to the most difficult level

-From a professional perspective, what level do you think computers are at?

He hits me in a way that makes no sense, so it's not that he's strong, it's that he's unfair (lol)

The goal isn't to beat the computer, but rather to practice hitting the nice pitches that the computer throws

We are working on this while thinking about batting scenarios, imagining actual matches

Before, I had the mindset of "just doing my best with sheer determination," but there were limits to what I could achieve by just working hard

So, when I changed my approach to "work backwards to figure out what I need to do to improve," things started to open up quite a bit

By thinking about each of these things one by one, such as how to find and eliminate problems and how to think about how to develop strengths, I feel like I have acquired techniques that feel good to me

-In your profile, you wrote that your favorite tactic is "defensive maneuvers to snatch balls that could be hit." Are you good at defense?

Actually, I thought I was good at hitting

During his first year in the professional league, he wanted to show off his batting skills and have people think, "Here comes an amazing guy!", but when the game actually started, he was so nervous that his batting and pitching were terrible, and the only thing he was able to do properly in this extreme situation was his defense

From then on, his defense started to take center stage

-Do you get nervous during matches?

I played a lot in last year's matches, but this year it wasn't as bad as last year, so maybe I'm just used to the situation

Last year, I was all about hard work, like "I'm putting my life on the line playing Power Pro! The one with the strongest will will win!", but it ended up being a flop

This year, I just focused on winning and what I needed to do to beat my opponents

-Once your opponent is decided, you start thinking about tactics to beat them

The opponent is announced two days before the match, so I think about their past matches, their pitching tendencies, which pitches they are good at, which pitches they are weak at, and what their weaknesses are, and then I imagine my pitching before the match

I think that this process is probably the most important, and I think that the preparation stage determines success or failure more than the skill

-So it wasn't a trial run

People looking at it might think it's "technology versus technology," but it's more important to read the data

The controls for Power Pro change every year!

-Have the controls for games changed since the old days?

With each year's update, the management incorporates player feedback and improves the gameplay, gradually changing it

So the game has changed quite a bit between last year and this year, and user feedback has been reflected, making it more difficult to hit with a strong swing and making it easier to hit with a strong strike

- Has it become easier for players?

The range of tactics has expanded dramatically

Last year's game was a brute force game, with powerful players swinging hard and hitting home runs

In the past, players who couldn't hit home runs, or teams that just couldn't hit as many home runs as the other teams, would make do by making good contact with the ball, but this year they're prioritizing making good contact with the ball

To become strong in Power Pro, it is important to know how to control those powerful swings that are as small as a bean

Once you have mastered the powerful swing, you will then understand what kind of ball will fly when you make contact with the bat

When he's playing against the bat, he'll pretend to swing hard and then make contact, or he'll give off the impression that he's going to make contact but then induce a high, soft ball and then swing hard to hit it.He's made a lot of plays like that this year in particular

Last year, I basically swung hard, and when a home run hitter made contact with the bat, the judges would make weak-hearted judgments like, "Wow, he got away, he's bad."

The nature of the game made it easy to hit home runs, so the idea was to swing hard at any ball that looked like it might become a home run, and even if it was a little off, it didn't matter

In the professional league, the home run leader had 15 home runs, so it was definitely an environment where home runs were easy to hit

This year, it has become easier to hit the ball, so more players are hitting the ball, believing that taking a gamble with a higher probability of success will lead to victory

Does Takakawa have a poker face?

-Which do you prefer, individual or team competitions?

It's definitely a team game

I think team games are more fun to play

As a spectator, I think that when it's an individual competition, you end up only being interested in the top five or so

I was worried that it would turn into a match between highly skilled professionals

-In team matches, there was also communication within the team during the match, right?

I think about whether I should bunt in this situation

This year, we are communicating via voice chat while maintaining social distancing

In reality, only one person is playing the game, so you might think that the three people at the back are unnecessary, but when it comes to human-to-human combat, it's definitely more interesting if emotions are expressed

When a teammate appears on the screen and scores a point, the player celebrates with the teammate, or the teammate is the only one who is happy and the player keeps a cool face (lol)

I think there are a lot of things you can enjoy like that

- Orix's Maeda was crying during the opening game, wasn't he?

Ah, I was crying my eyes out

▲Orix's Maeda won the opening game. Click here

 

I think of the eBASEBALL Pro League not as a place to watch skilled players play, but as a place to see the story of the players

It's like they put their pride on the line, prepare, and then fight on the spot, and you get to see the relationships and the events that have taken place between people up to that point

There are quite a lot of people who are looking forward to seeing the background

For example, Maeda has experience winning the national tournament in 2017, and the player he faced in the final was Chunichi Dragons captain Sugawara, who will be facing Maeda this week, so I think we'll be able to enjoy the drama that unfolds there

▲ Orix Maeda vs Chunichi Sugawara game video

 

- During the match, Takagawa-san seemed to have a poker face but also a smile on his face. Do you have any particular way of keeping your mind level?

I tend to have a pretty grinning face, and I'm not good at holding back laughter even when I'm looking serious

So during the match I end up with that weird expression on my face (laughs)

Last year, I looked too reckless, and when I looked back at it, I thought it was a bit embarrassing and lame

So this year I wanted to do it with dignity, so I went for a slightly more cool look

But when I was happy, I could not help but grin

-Have you increased the amount of practice you do in preparation for this tournament?

Although the time does increase, what you do is more important than the amount of time, so the idea is to think first and then do what is necessary

I feel like I have more time to reflect on myself in order to improve my skills

To tell you the truth, last year we made it all the way to the e-Climax Series, but we lost there and were really disheartened

I had this faint hope that if I worked hard, the world would turn to me, that if I just put my life into it, maybe I could get results, but that hope was shattered, and I felt like my opponents were in a realm that I would never be able to reach no matter what I did

After that, I didn't touch Power Pro for a while, but when I was thinking about giving it another go, I was made a continuing player, and that's when my interest was ignited again

The game also changed from Power Pro 2019 to 2020, so I started over from the beginning again

So from February 2020 until around July when the 2020 version was released, I didn't play Power Pro at all

-Are there any players you consider to be rivals?

There may not be many individual teams like that, but the team I have the most attachment to is the Giants

My brother's games were what inspired me to become a professional, and I watched them while cheering for the Giants, so if the Giants are in the Central League, I want them to win, and I would love to go to the e-Japan Series and play against the Giants and win

-Have there been any sibling rivalries in the past?

Not yet

There was a good chance that this would happen this year, but given that we were in third place at the end of the previous round of interleague play, we decided that it would be appropriate for our captain, Ibusuki, to go to the game against the Giants

-Are the Giants really a strong team?

I think it's a team full of talented people

I'm the type of person who is very particular about things, so I think there will be some gaps this year

Giants captain Tateno has a 100% strong swing rate.

He hits a ton of home runs, so he's definitely a strong player, and he won MVP last year, so he might just be the strongest player of all

However, with this year's gameplay, a 100% strong swing rate will be countered, so I think it will be easier to come up with countermeasures

*Metaru = "gaining a strategic advantage"

But that's what's good about him and makes me want to support him, and I think he's someone who plays the game with determination

Tateno is more particular than anyone and is a big fan of Kamei, so even though Kamei was in terrible form during the first year's e-Climax Series, he still had him in the regular starting lineup

That's how much he values ​​his own preferences when playing games

At that time, I thought that people who stand out from the rest have something that goes beyond rationality, and that's what will allow them to reach the top

The way of fighting is different from real baseball

- I thought that having Nakata Sho batting first was a tactic unique to Power Pro, but are there any other ways of fighting that don't exist in reality?

Nakata Sho, who bats first, is the strongest player for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, so we want him to have many at-bats, and he has a special ability called a "double play," so by batting first, the aim is to be able to bat in a situation where a double play cannot be triggered, so the theory is that Nakata should bat first

Or you can let runners accumulate and then ignore the double play and aim for a home run

In order to give more at-bats, the theory in Power Pro is to put players like Graciela, who has the ability to turn double plays, or the fast Kamibayashi, in the leadoff position, and Yanagi, who does not have the ability to turn double plays, in the second position

There is also something called a pitcher's luck in winning and losing

If you have winning luck, the power of your teammates' fielders will increase by 5, and if you have losing luck, it will decrease by 5

For example, when they are losing or tied, in the fourth or fifth inning, they can get two outs and then force a pitcher with winning luck to come on to the mound, hold the other team down and allow their team to attack

I think this kind of winning relay is a tactic unique to Power Pro

Making e-sports more entertaining

-The esports industry is booming due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but have you noticed any changes in yourself?

In terms of changes, the biggest change is that since becoming a professional I can now receive supportive comments on Twitter, and my actual matches are now broadcast on YouTube and other streaming sites, so I can get reactions in the chat box

When I play well I feel happy when I'm praised, but when I don't do well and get a negative reaction it makes me want to do better

In reality, we haven't yet reached the stage where it will have an impact on real life, and there is inevitably the issue of scale compared to professional baseball

If the e-sports industry is to develop, it needs to grow into a more popular and widely accepted entertainment genre, and I think it will inevitably remain a niche genre

This is just my opinion, but I think the essence of entertainment is that "when you see people having fun from the bottom of their hearts, it makes you feel happy as a viewer."

I hope that people will see the performers having fun and think, "Wow, that looks like fun," and that even people who weren't particularly interested in the show will become interested

-This is the first time I've heard that players play with that kind of awareness

But as an individual, there's still only so much you can do

It's important to have that kind of awareness, but the eBASEBALL Pro League is still in a state where we need to increase individual numbers

The most popular player is Yoshida , who has 60,000 followers on Twitter and is the player with the most fans.

However, the next time the numbers drop quite drastically to just a few thousand people, so in order for the fan business to continue to grow, it is necessary for individuals to increase those numbers

- To attract more fans, I'd like to see more attention paid to the players' stories and characters

Currently, many of the people enjoying the eBASEBALL Pro League may be eBASEBALL fans who follow the content

You can also think about which of the 48 people you want to watch, or think, ``This person is cool, so I'll check him out.''

This year, as part of Konami's efforts, VTubers are streaming themselves watching the "eBASEBALL Pro League," and the Nijisanji viewing room has been viewed tens of thousands of times, so I hope that this will serve as an entry point for even a few people to become interested

▲ The official Pawapuro and Prospi channels are live streaming the games with VTubers.

 

So it would be interesting if a new professional VTuber player emerged, and since all 48 current players are male, I think it would be interesting if the first female player emerged

- In real baseball, there is a gender divide, but in Power Pro it doesn't matter

But you have to check the rules to see if VTubers are allowed to appear (laughs)

Since the premise is that faces and real names will be made public, we may have to change the rules themselves

If we want to make eSports an industry where children are encouraged to play and watch with the slogan "eSports is fun," then adults need to protect the environment so that people can say, "If you go professional, you can make a living from this."

At the moment, it's not realistic to make a living solely from Power Pro

Speaking of the industry as a whole, I would like us all to create a system where people can say, "If you become a professional in esports, you can make a living."

If we don't come up with such a business model, it won't last, and it might be a bit irresponsible to tell kids to "become a professional."

-There are even vocational schools for those who want to become professionals, so I hope that this will also become established

In that sense, I'm extremely grateful to companies like Beyond who sponsor us

As a player, I would be happy if more people continue to support me in this way

-Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to do this interview. All of us at Beyond will continue to support Takagawa-san and the Orix Buffaloes, so please do your best in the upcoming games! Thank you for today!

Finally

What impressed me most about what I heard from Takakawa this time he is conscious of making the matches entertaining to watch .

Not only does Takagawa perform at a high level, but he also has a strong desire to promote the industry with his professionalism as a performer, and we at Beyond would like to continue to support him

To be honest, I had never played Power Pro before and only vaguely knew the rules of baseball, but when I watched footage of the game and saw the players looking serious and having fun, and the team members celebrating when a point was scored, it really resonated with me and I felt like "Ah, so this is a sport," and I think I understand why e-sports is so popular

Beyond will continue to support the Orix Buffaloes in the 2020 eBASEBALL Pro League season, so that even people who don't play games can enjoy watching the eBASEBALL Pro League and make it even more popular!

 

© ORIX BUFFALOES

©NPB

© Konami Digital Entertainment

 

• eBASEBALL Pro League 2020 Season Orix Buffaloes Support Site
• KONAMI eBASEBALL Official Website
• Yu Takakawa Twitter account (@yuusoom_pawa)