A Q&A with Konami About YU-GI-OH! Remote Duels
Back in February, Konami held the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Remote Duel Invitational of 2021 for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. The competing duelists won their way there by doing well at Remote Duel Extravaganzas and Remote Duel Qualifiers. The weekend saw some fun moments and I was given the opportunity to ask a few questions about Remote Duels to a representative at Konami. The number one thing I learned was something that they do not make clear in the slightest on the official page. You can participate in Remote Duels even if your local game shop is not an Official Tournament Store. You just have to use the official Discord to find a store to go through.
Tommy: Konami started the Remote Duel program back in June 2020. What were the conversations like leading up to that moment? The COVID-19 pandemic started affecting the ability to play at local game stores as early as March 2020. What was happening between that point and the first detail reveals in June? Peel back the curtain just a little for us, please.
Konami Rep: Nobody could have predicted back in March how long and how seriously the pandemic would affect us all. However, we’ve always been focused on giving Duelists an opportunity to play the game they love and to support our local Official Tournament Stores (OTS). Playing Yu-Gi-Oh! is such a large part of the community’s social lives, and we had to find a way to help OTS keep the player base engaged. When we saw how widespread the pandemic was, we started preparations for launching Remote Duels, and started sourcing equipment, such as phone mounts, to provide to our stores and Duelists, and creating a Best Practices Guide to aid when playing in Remote Duels. Our Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Remote Duel Discord Server was launched back in April of 2020, so that Duelists could start finding OTS that were offering Remote Duels. We also tailored our prizing to best support Remote Duels. In addition to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, the OTS can also offer Remote Duel for our digital titles: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution.
Tommy: I know one frustration that some people have had with the Remote Duels program is the use of Official Tournament Stores for an online setup. Do you have any advice for people who don't have an OTS nearby or their OTS isn't participating?
Konami Rep: The great thing about Remote Duels is that you can play anywhere if you have an internet connection. We have created the Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Remote Duel Discord Server that gives our OTS a place to list their Discord servers and gives Duelists the ability to find OTS that are hosting Remote Duel. Duelists can search by OTS name as well as by city, state or country.
Tommy: Did the pandemic and the move to Remote Duel influence the creation of Master Duel?
Konami Rep: Game development is a multiyear process. Master Duel started development prior to the pandemic.
Tommy: What kind of success are you seeing from Remote Duel?
Konami Rep: We are seeing continued and sustained growth as well as increased excitement from players and participation from OTS. We know our players have missed playing in person, but this is the next best thing that we can offer during this pandemic. We’ve created larger events with official Yu-Gi-Oh! prizing to reward Duelists and encourage participation. The Remote Duel Invitational Series was also designed to allow progression toward the Remote Duel Invitationals where the Top 16 players are livestreamed for all the world to see, like during the past two weekends. A Duelist starts at an Extravaganza (hosted by multiple OTS around the country) and by playing in the Main Event on Sunday, they can earn an invite to the Remote Duel Qualifier. And then the top Duelists from the Qualifier get the invite to the livestreamed event!
Tommy: What does the future of Remote Duel look like? Is there an official simulator on the way to help more people get into the scene? Will Remote Duel continue as OTS open up as an option or will they just die straight out when OTS open up again.
Konami Rep: We feel that Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Remote Duels will remain a viable alternative to physical play and allow more flexibility to our Duelists, especially when it may be difficult for our Duelists to attend an in-person event, due to cost, distance or time.
Tommy: What has been your favorite thing that the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG team has done for the community to stay involved and help us get through these hard times.
Konami Rep: It was great to see how dedicated the Duelists and OTS have been to the brand. Because of their enthusiasm and ingenuity, our job to support them has been much easier. But there isn’t any one initiative that we could name. We’ve been trying to get a lot more creative to keep our players engaged, from the Create-A-Card Project, to sweepstakes asking the community how they are enjoying Yu-Gi-Oh! at home, to virtual Live Duels with voice actors, partnering with content creators on YouTube to do product reveals, and allowing players to create a customized digital Token Card!