In the latest edition of the V Jump / Famitsu “idobata kaigi“, Saito Yosuke, Yoko Taro, and Taura Takahisa all joined others to discuss various topics about the gaming industry. They talked a little bit about Dragon Quest XI, Taura tried to plug his new game Astral Chains, which will be coming out next Friday, August 30th, and two girls from Saito’s idol group GEMSCOMPANY also appeared off camera.
Not too much of any concern was discussed as usual, but during the last couple minutes of the Premium portion of the broadcast (they always have two segments, one that regular free and Premium members can view, and another for Premium members only), Saito suddenly brought up the topic of Yoko’s new game (paraphrased):
Saito:
“So, what’s your new game all about?”
Yoko:
“Uh, it’s not really for me to say…”
Saito:
“Well, I think you can talk a little about it the next time we do this.”
Closer translation here…
This is a closer translation of what was discussed in those final minutes of the livestream where Saito Yosuke suddenly brought up the topic of Yoko’s new game:
Saito:
There were so many things I wanted to talk about, like Yoko’s new game.
ALL:
Oooooh!!
Saito:
I really wanna talk about it…
???:
Is there such a thing?
Saito:
Yes, there is…! I wanna talk!! I wanna talk!! I wanna talk!!
GEMSCOMPANY:
Everybody’s curious!
Chat:
Ohhhhh!!!!
NieR port on Switch? DOD4? FFXIV?
Yoko:
Well, Square Enix can talk about it if they want.
Saito:
You can talk about it at the next opportunity, don’t you think?
ALL:
Ohhhhhh!!
GEMSCOMPANY:
The next opportunity?
Saito V:
So, when Yoko-san is able to talk about it will be on the next Gaming Neighborhood Idle Gossip.
Saito:
Yeah, so on the next Gaming Neighborhood Idle Gossip, Yoko-san can talk about his new game, and instead of Saito V as the MC, GEMSCOMPANY can do that.
Taura:
You’d might as well make a separate broadcast for that then.
???:
Like GEM-COM TV or something.
Just to be clear, we’ve known that Yoko’s been working on a new game besides FFXIV for roughly two years, so this isn’t any shocking news. What’s exciting about this is that it seems like they’re getting ready to announce it soon.
If this was you’re first time hearing of a new Yoko Taro game, be sure to read here:
Whether Saito meant the next V Jump / Famitsu idobata kaigi or perhaps we should expect something to be announced at this year’s TGS, which is just a couple weeks away, is currently unknown. He could have been merely teasing when he suggested it be announced on the next idobata kaigi. I find it highly unlikely that this will be the case, but it’s not unrealistic to think that Yoko won’t discuss the new title on the program; just that it won’t be the where the initial announcement is made.
Whatever he meant, it’s clear that we should be hearing word about Yoko’s new game soon!
And it seems as though Hanana Mio (No21 from the YoRHa Ver.1.2 Musical) was also present during the livestream… which is very curious. There was a segment of the broadcast where they were mentioning her name but for whatever reason couldn’t actually say her name. The whole chat, however, was flooded with people writing her name, so it was pretty obvious who they were talking about.
I’m not exactly sure why she would be present for this event… As far as I’m aware, she has nothing to do with Platinum Games or Taura’s Astral Chain directorial debut for the Nintendo Switch, so it makes me think that there’s something going on behind the scenes that they haven’t let drop yet.