Ahead of Tokyo Game Show 2025, Final Weapon had the opportunity to interview hololive Holo’s Hanafuda game designer Naoya Fujita about the game and its development. In our interview, Fujita also commented on possible new updates for Holo’s Hanafuda and player feedback from the demo before the full game’s launch.
Get the full interview below:
Could you please introduce yourself and your development roles for hololive Holo’s Hanafuda?
I’m Naoya Fujita, and I’m in charge of game design for hololive Holo’s Hanafuda. For this title, I also had some assistance from other experienced game designers at Gemdrops, Inc.
What were some of the initial ideas and concepts behind Holo’s Hanafuda?
The idea of Holo’s Hanafuda began from our CEO Yuichiro Kitao’s desire to make a game based on hanafuda, a type of playing card that has existed in Japan for hundreds of years. Yuichiro said he wanted to preserve the traditional rules as much as possible while also introducing new rules (Holo Awase) and charming characters, which is how we ended up collaborating with hololive.
What were your experiences like working with hololive on Holo’s Hanafuda?
It was truly a fun and exciting project. I am so grateful to all of the talented team members that made this game a reality.
Holo’s Hanafuda features Holo Awase, an all-new mode that combines classic hanafuda rules with the unique abilities of hololive character cards. Do players collect these cards over the course of playing Holo Awase and other modes in the full game?
Players do not collect the cards themselves, but rather can unlock achievements and titles for their multiplayer profiles by playing the game with different rulesets.
In Holo’s Hanafuda, players can create their own bento boxes and share them as gifts. What inspired the bento mode? And can players unlock rewards from spending time making bento boxes?
The idea for the bento-making was a combination of Gemdrops’ original ideas and wanting to add Japanese-style user-generated content to the game. Players can earn titles for their multiplayer profiles by creating and sharing certain numbers of bento boxes.
The Holo’s Hanafuda demo released this past May on Steam, and reception for the demo appears to be very positive. Heading into the game’s launch later this month, was there any feedback from the demo that you thought was valuable and worth noting?
We were so thankful for all the feedback we received from people who played the
demo, and we reviewed it all. We are currently incorporating that feedback, including adding more hanafuda features and making certain parts easier to understand.
Holo’s Hanafuda is expected to receive new DLC after launch. Will Holo’s Hanafuda also receive free post-launch updates with additional features or content?
The DLC is currently available, and we are considering the possibility of a free content update in the future.
Has the Holo’s Hanafuda team considered developing upgrades and/or optimizations for the Switch version now that Switch 2 is available?
Currently we are focused on the DLC and possible future updates, so at the moment we don’t have any plans for a Switch 2 version. However, we do always consider what fans ask for.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
hololive Holo’s Hanafuda will be exhibited at Tokyo Game Show later this month, and we plan to have both the base game and DLC available. Please feel free to stop by!
Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements regarding updates and the DLC!
hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is of course quite popular in Asia, but we were also thrilled that so many English-speaking hololive fans came to see the hololive STAGE World Tour ’25 -Synchronize! show at Anime NYC 2025 in August. We hope many more Western fans come to enjoy the game. Hanafuda is an easy yet profound card game, and also very fun!
Thank you so much for your time, Naoya Fujita!
hololive Holo’s Hanafuda released on July 31 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam worldwide. The new “Hoshimachi Suisei & Tokoyami Towa Set” DLC launches on September 30 (JST) / September 29 (EDT / PDT).
The Holo’s Hanafuda Hoshimachi Suisei & Tokoyami Towa Set includes the following content:
- Playable Talent: Hoshimachi Suisei
- Playable Talent: Tokoyami Towa
- 2 Alternate Outfits for Hoshimachi Suisei
- 2 Alternate Outfits for Tokoyami Towa
- Additional Scenario: “Hoshimachi Suisei & Tokoyami Towa Chapter”
- 2 New BGM Tracks
- 12 New Titles
- Over 30 New Bento Box Items
The new DLC will be playable at the Gemdrops booth (Hall 5) during Tokyo Game Show 2025, which runs from September 25 to 28 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. There will be several exhibits at the booth, including the puppets and set pieces from the stop-motion animated opening. Fans can also expect a display of physical Holo’s Hanafuda cards manufactured by Nintendo.
Final Weapon previously interviewed COVER Corporation CEO Motoaki Tanigo (YAGOO) and hololive Alternative producer Yuuki Oooka to learn more about COVER USA and Holoearth, respectively.
