Interview: Terry Li discusses what Crunchyroll Game Vault has in store for us before the year ends

Interview: Terry Li discusses what Crunchyroll Game Vault has in store for us before the year ends

As a seasoned gamer who has been through countless hours of pixelated adventures and epic battles, I can confidently say that Crunchyroll Game Vault has truly revolutionized my gaming experience this year. With their unique blend of anime-inspired titles and quality gameplay, they’ve managed to tap into a vein of nostalgia while also pushing the boundaries of what mobile gaming can be.


2024 has been a bustling year for Crunchyroll, filled with exciting new additions to the Crunchyroll Game Vault. There’s even more in store before the end of the year! Recent examples include the launch of Lord of Nazarick, which we found to be quite engaging and worth checking out.

What else might you anticipate from this subscription service? Insights are shared with us by Terry Li, Executive Vice President of Emerging Business at Crunchyroll and also the General Manager of Crunchyroll Games.

With the most recent launch of Lord of Nazarick, we’re buzzing with excitement about what else Crunchyroll has in store for us. Would you mind talking a little bit about Crunchyroll’s ambitions on the app in general?

For Crunchyroll, it’s important to publish quality titles for our members and all fans alike, so we actively pursue a subscription model with Crunchyroll Game Vault and free-to-play publishing. Lord of Nazarick – a turn-based RPG based on the OVERLORD anime streaming on Crunchyroll – is our latest free-to-play game available on iOS and Android devices. So far, the response has been incredible with the title garnering a 4.8 and 4.7 on the App Store and Google Play respectively.

In the realm of free-to-play games, we’re working hard to seamlessly incorporate Crunchyroll memberships into our titles, aiming to elevate the gaming experience. The first game to fully adopt this feature is “Lord of Nazarick,” where players can now log in using their Crunchyroll account credentials. This integration grants them access to unique perks such as daily in-game currency and a battle pass.

The Sacred Kingdom in U.S., Canadian, and selected international theatres starting from November 8th.

Is there a specific goal to hit a certain number of planned games by the end of the year?

Regarding Crunchyroll Game Vault – our curated library of premium mobile titles for Crunchyroll’s Mega and Ultimate Fan members worldwide – we announced that we would have more than 35 titles by the end of the year.

In October, we released our 26th game in the Game Vault series. The excitement continues in November, as we’re set to unveil Moonstone Island towards the end of the month, along with a few more titles that I regret I can’t disclose at this time.

I noticed that a lot of the games on the service are currently adaptations of anime titles as well – is this a deliberate decision to be players’ go-to service for anime-related games? If not, is there any particular criteria on the kind of games Crunchyroll wants to launch on the service?

From the start, our goal was to ensure Crunchyroll Game Vault’s library felt at home on the platform, simultaneously expanding our audience’s experience with their favourite series or fitting in aesthetically. For that reason, we set out to thoughtfully curate the library to be anime and anime-adjacent – we achieved this goal.

Currently, enthusiasts of Crunchyroll have the opportunity to stream all seasons of the highly popular cyberpunk anime titled PSYCHO-PASS. Following this, they can deepen their engagement with the game version, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness, which debuted on Game Vault in October. As the year progresses, anticipation builds for another visual novel release, STEINS;GATE, coming later this fall.

Instead of anime titles, there are games such as River City Girls and its upcoming sequel, River City Girls 2. These games fall under the Japanese beat-em-up series Kunio-kun and draw heavily from the medium, featuring character designs reminiscent of anime and cutscenes akin to manga.

Modern games, even those not typically labeled as “anime,” often draw inspiration from a distinct Japanese artistic style. For instance, Victory Heat Rally can be seen as a contemporary adaptation of the super scaler racing games popular in Japanese arcades during the 1980s.

What do you think sets Crunchyroll Game Vault apart from other game subscriptions?

There are many reasons why Crunchyroll Game Vault is a compelling offer, but I’d like to focus on two key points.

To start off, Game Vault presents a fantastic deal since it’s linked to a Crunchyroll Premium subscription that boasts the most extensive collection of anime worldwide – spanning over 50,000 episodes and movies, totaling an impressive 25,000 hours of anime content.

Moreover, the selection process is crucial. To clarify, Game Vault functions as a specialized collection tailored for anime enthusiasts. However, it’s carefully selected to ensure a high-quality gaming experience and array of features as well.

Essentially, many games in Game Vault offer controller compatibility to enhance gameplay. To be more precise, popular titles like Crypt of the Necrodancer have been re-released, and for the initial time on mobile devices, it includes previously unreleased content such as multiplayer mode.

Any future plans we should all be excited about in the coming year?

Over the past year, Crunchyroll has seen major success with the subscription and free-to-play models – the latter differentiates our gaming strategy from other streamers.

2025 finds me anticipating that Crunchyroll will keep churning out content across multiple genres, unveiling fresh titles every month.

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2024-11-08 13:18