In the actual experience -based war novel UKRaine War Stories, Japanese players are the largest in the world. I asked the developer for the reason

Ukraine War Stories was started on October 18 at Steam last month. This work supports multilingual including Japanese. According to volunteer Japanese translators, Japan is the most played population in Japan. How does the number of players in Japan account for the play population? And why many? Our magazine asked the developer Star Games.

First, let's introduce Ukraine War Stories. This is a visual novel about the invasion of Ukraine in Russia. It is a game that can relive the extreme status in the occupied territory as a civilian, not soldiers. In this work, there are three scenarios developed in different Ukraine towns. Hostomel, Bucha and Mariupol are set. And in any scenario, you will aim to escape from the battlefield with your loved ones.

All stories spoken in this work are based on actual events. It seems that the witness's testimony and the records in the land are summarized in one story. The source of the story that became the base of the story is listed in the game as a source of source and in the game. This work supports 12 languages, with the help of volunteers. It also supports Japanese display.

Because it is free distribution and Japanese display, this work has also resonated users in Japan (related articles). According to Die Unabashed, who participated in the translation with volunteers, Japan is the most played population in Japan. Our magazine interviews STAR NI GAMES by email. I asked for details.

──This work is a trend on Japanese Twitter, and I heard that Japan is the largest in the world. How many percentages of Japanese players are in the world?

Oleksandr Saimin (hereinafter Saimin), who is the coo (Chief Operating OFFICER) of STAR NI GAMES,

Yes, the number of Japanese players has increased significantly due to the fact that it became a hot topic on Twitter and the game media featured. I never thought that this work would spread so much in Japan. As of one week after the game distribution, the ratio of Japanese players who download and play this work is 30.7 % of the total.

The following is the statistical data shared by the community (the top 10 players in the first week):

30.7 % in Japan China 14.7 % Ukraine 14.4 % 5.0 % in the United States Poland 4.7 % Taiwan 4.2 % 3.5 % Germany 1.8 % in the UK 1.4 % of Korea 1.2 % Hong Kong

──What do you think is why there are many Japanese players?

Saimin:

First, it is great that the excellent volunteer translation team translated it into Japanese. They did a great job. One of the reasons is that visual novel is very popular in Japan as a genre. That said, it can't be explained why so much favorable feedback has been received. The biggest factor is that Japanese players actively spread and share information about this work. Thanks to them, I think the number of players in Japan has surpassed the United States and China, which would normally be the most player population.

──When did volunteer Japanese translators gather? Is it time for the demo version distribution?

Saimin:

Yes, I think it was just after the demo version was released. On the Discord channel, I asked me to help Japanese localization and agreed. First, we started working from translating the contents of the demo version so that we could add Japanese to the compatible language of the demo version. After that, we had to translate the remaining parts in time for the release of the product version. I am very grateful to the translation team.

What is the situation in Ukraine now? Are the teams safe?

Saimin:

Since the war has begun, Russia has been targeting civilians as an attack, but has recently focused on attacking infrastructure to stagnate Ukrainian power supply. Until the affected facilities were restored, the use of power was restricted, and occasional power outages occurred. Also, Russian attacks have killed and injured civilians every day in the country.

Our team is managed and in a safe state. However, you can see some damaged apartments from the nearest subway station to the office. Although it is not fatal, we are the most troublesome power outage recently. For example, when the game was released, I was able to work at home and the other members at home, so that I could press the release button from either time in case of an office or home. Today, I was planning to have a meeting online from the office, but I had a power outage 10 minutes before the start and returned to my home (not affected by a power outage).

Thank you. I pray for your safety.

The above is the content of the interview. For Ukraine War Stories, domestic Twitter users were disseminated, live commentary, and features in Together. As a game, it was possible to know the sad situation of Ukraine, and that it could be confirmed in Japanese, so it would have spread among Japanese users. Once again, the contribution of volunteers translators can be seen.

Ukraine War Stories is being distributed for free on Steam.