Yes, indeed. I've been exposed to gaming since I was in elementary school, watching my older brother play games next to me. Naturally, I started playing games myself. The first game I became engrossed in was "Final Fantasy V." I remember spending entire days playing it, and that's when I was truly captivated by the excitement of gaming. Also, there was a game called "RPG Maker" for the Super Famicom, and I created a game using it and had my brother play it. He gave it high praise, saying it was fun. Since then, I've been passionate not only about playing games but also about creating them.
Gaming has always been an integral part of my life, so when it came time to look for a job, I had no hesitation in pursuing a career in the gaming industry. However, due to the timing of the economic downturn, I couldn't enter the gaming industry as I had hoped and ended up joining a web-focused SIer company.

Shortly after joining, I was assigned to a PC game development project. Initially, it was a contracted project for creating websites for game development companies, but I was fortunate to be assigned to a game development project when the opportunity arose. I was in charge of developing a "MMORPG" game, which had been around for a long time. However, a few years later, due to various reasons, the project was closed. Since I had a strong desire to be involved in game development, I decided to change jobs when the project closed.
In retrospect, although I changed jobs, I am grateful for encountering a development engine called "Unity" that was created with the purpose of making game development easy even for those without advanced knowledge or skills. Since encountering "Unity," I have been deeply involved with it and believe that this experience has contributed to my current career.

Fortunately, I was able to enter the gaming industry. I started my career here as a client engineer, working on multiple game development projects. However, while I was able to fulfill my desire to "create games," I didn't have many opportunities to interact with business-side members such as sales and promotion. Therefore, I wanted to work with members from various roles and collaborate with a sense of unity, so I decided to change jobs again.

Fortunately, I was able to enter the gaming industry. I started my career here as a client engineer, working on multiple game development projects. However, while I was able to fulfill my desire to "create games," I didn't have many opportunities to interact with business-side members such as sales and promotion. Therefore, I wanted to work with members from various roles and collaborate with a sense of unity, so I decided to change jobs again.

Yes, it was. At this company, I was not only involved in game development but also in planning and designing as a director or producer. This expanded the scope of my work significantly and provided valuable experience for advancing my skills.

Up until my second job, my main role was mostly development-related as an engineer. Transitioning to a director role, I felt the difficulty of making decisions first-hand. Games don't have clear-cut answers, and what matters is whether you can create something that you can confidently say is "good" with a basis. I learned the difficulty of creating new products during this time.

Then, at one point, the company announced a policy to drastically reduce the percentage of in-house development, and as I thought about my career, I gradually began to feel unsettled. While I worked as a publisher for 1-2 years, releasing games developed externally, I couldn't shake off the desire to be deeply involved in development again, so I decided to join Reazon.

During the selection process, they told me, "There are many people here who manage while coding." It was a clear memory for me. At that time, I was contemplating whether to pursue a management path or to dive into coding on the frontline as a specialist, so Reazon, which offered an environment where both could be achieved, was very attractive. Thanks to Reazon, I came to think, "I can do everything I want."

Yes. I'm constantly busy because I'm given the opportunity to do everything I want (laughs).

After joining, I was involved in the improvement project for "Dragon Smash" for about three months. Then, Mr. Niwa, the current CTO at Reazon, asked me to manage the client engineers for "Dragon Smash." So, alongside coding tasks, I also began to manage projects.

NoWagatays, I'm involved in various tasks, such as being the development leader for native titles, the client lead for "Blue Lock Project: World Champion," as well as organizational design, development, talent acquisition, and development.

Because we spent a lot of time deliberating during the initial stages of the project, we ended up running multiple steps almost simultaneously afterwards. Looking back, it was quite challenging to move forward while organizing everything.

Ideally, development should begin after specifications and designs are somewhat finalized. However, with a fixed release date and no room to delay the schedule, we couldn't afford to wait. As a result, we had to handle development while responding to daily inquiries like, "What should we do with this specification?" or "What should we do with this design?" It was a hectic period, to say the least.

I'm currently managing a team of 15 members, and I strive to design tasks tailored to each individual's strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and aversions. I aim to set missions that link what they can do, what they want to do, and what the company wants them to do as much as possible. Conversely, I want to ensure that tasks they are not good at or don't want to do are generally not required of them. Providing such an environment is my responsibility.

I believe individuals who can act proactively and show respect and gratitude to team members and other stakeholders would be a good fit for Reazon. I'd like to work with people who can fulfill these two criteria. Fundamentally, as long as someone can do these two things well, I don't see any issues, and during job interviews, I prioritize cultural fit over skill level. Therefore, if someone says, "I don't have anything specific I want to do," it becomes difficult for me to determine what tasks to assign them.

From the perspective of the social game business division, being able to directly hear feedback about the games I've worked on at events like offline meetings is something not easily experienced elsewhere. When users say things like, "This feature is easy to use," or "I've been waiting for this feature!" it reaffirms my belief that making games is worthwhile.

Moreover, throughout Reazon, there's no one who has a negative attitude towards failure. Instead, there's a culture that welcomes taking on challenges to what you want to do, even if it means making mistakes. Even if you fail, many members earnestly think about how to turn that failure into a step forward, making it easier to move things forward.

First and foremost, I believe we need to increase Reazon's brand awareness. Despite having services and products that can have a significant impact on society, I still feel that Reazon isn't well-known to the public. I'd like to increase our visibility by participating in various events and being open about our endeavors through our media channels.

Additionally, I want to not only foster the growth of our employees but also bring in individuals with advanced skills from outside to further elevate our current engineering organization. By adding even just one person to the organization, our technical capabilities can grow exponentially, and I believe we can grow as a tech company.