Konami Creative Center Ginza: announced details on new esports complex

Esports Industry

17/09/2019

Popular game publisher Konami recently announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2019, that they would be establishing an all new esports complex. This new complex will be part of their (also new) business base in Ginza. Recently, a lot of locations in Japan have been hyping up local esports initiatives and new complexes – for example, the town of Kanazawa that aims to make itself the ‘mecca of esports’.

Now, a lot of the esports world in Japan is still focused around Tokyo, of course – that’s also where Konami is setting its new business base. The so-called Konami Creative Center Ginza, or KCC Ginza will mainly consist of a streaming studio for esports competitions, and also a school that will work to educate future esports human resources. The KCC Ginza is set to open in early 2020.

Of course, the Konami group is trying to boost esports in the area. They aren’t the only ones to do so – Japan at large has even started making efforts to accommodate lesser abled gamers (read more about esports and accessibility in Japan)– but this new school and business park could have a huge impact on the future of esports in Japan.

Slightly less impactful but equally interesting is the new esports Ginza store – a showroom that will offer several types of esports-related products, such as specially designed PCs and peripherals. The Konami Creative Center Ginza complex itself will open early next year, at which point Konami will use the center as their new base of operations.

Conceptual images of the place show a pretty impressive setup of both the school, store and studio sections. Konami is really not skimping on the new facility – nor on their latest esports ventures. Their new esports leagues for the eFootball PES 2020 is set to have more than $2 million USD in prize money.

Konami may not be on the same tier as Blizzard when it comes to esports, but the developer is still well part of the esports scene in the country. Japan is in a fantastic position to cement its foundation as an esports nation – there are plenty of publishers and gaming franchises hailing from the country, and an equally large number of fans to back it all up.

Facilities like Konami’s new center are proof of how much the esports industry has expanded and grown. With the Tokyo Olympics not too far away, Japan actually requested to include esports as part of the Games, however the Olympic Committee rejected the idea.