IO, Jakarta – Konami Digital Entertainment, the famous Japanese cellular, console, and card game developer, will attend Indonesia’s biggest pop culture event, Indonesia Comic Con 2019. On this occasion, Konami will present the latest mobile game version of one of their most popular franchises, Yu-Gi-Oh!: the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links at booth #A1-03.
Konami’s Kenichi Kataoka, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Game Producer, came all the way from Japan to hold a media briefing in Indonesia Comic Con 2019 alongside Indonesian Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links player, “Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2018 Japan” finalist, Warizmi Thayib, and Dennis Adhiswara, the hip actor/director/ gamester.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is a mobile game app that builds up on the legendary trading card game/anime “Yu-Gi-Oh”. Currently, the game has a total of more than 90 million downloads, with more than 9.5 billion duels played by users worldwide since its initial release.
Kataoka stated that Yu-Gi-Oh! is the most popular trading card game in the world, and naturally in Indonesia too. “This is why we decided to bring it to the Indonesia Comic Con 2019. Players who are already familiar with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise would naturally feel nostalgia as they relive their childhood memories through the game. We are bringing out Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links to remind our Indonesian fans that they can still find Yu-Gi-Oh! characters even now, and can play with them using mobile devices,” he said. “Indonesia Comic Con 2019 is the perfect forum for specifically showcasing Duel Links in Indonesia. We would also like to greet our very loyal friends in the Indonesian Yu-Gi-Oh! community, whether the physical card version or the Duel Links version.”
Warizmi Thayib explained his experience when participating in “Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2018”: “Participating in the worldwide Yu-Gi-Oh! championship is a very valuable and unique experience. I get to meet fellow Yu-Gi-Oh! duelists from all over the world,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are very few Indonesian participants, whether at the Regional Qualifiers level or the World Championship. With so many Yu-Gi-Oh! fans, players, and communities, especially those of the Duel Links in Indonesia, I see great potential for us to gain world level achievement. I hope that the arrival of “Duel Links!” in Indonesia would be able to encourage the interest in the franchise and the number of players, improve the solidarity of fans and communities, and bring out new potentials in the development of gaming in Indonesia. This will allow us to show ourselves in international forums.”
Dennis Adhiswara, the actor most famously known for his roles in the teen movies Ada Apa Dengan Cinta and Milly and Mamet, is also an observer of pop culture and the creative industry, had the opportunity to play Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links with direct guidance from its producer. “Many of us grew up together with the Yu-Gi-Oh! Series on television, and collect the cards because of it. Duel Links’ brings in a sense of nostalgia for those of us who want to play Yu-Gi-Oh! like we used to, but don’t have the time to collect the physical cards anymore. The gaming system is simpler and easier to understand, with the same characters found in other Yu-Gi-Oh! series,” he said.
In line with his strong passion in the creative industry, Dennis also expresses his appreciation that the Producer of the Duel Links game himself has come to Indonesia. He believes that it would exert a positive impact on Indonesia’s creative industry, both for the industrialists themselves and consumers. “We need to encourage the development of the creative industry in the future, and there are many ways for us to do this: by developing communities or cooperating with major producers worldwide. The attention of Duel Links!’ producer to Indonesia would help our game creative industry to develop, and this in turn will contribute to our economy on a bigger scale,” he said.