Famitsu recently interviewed 163 game creators on their goals and aspirations for the upcoming year. As part of this, they interviewed MAGES.’ director, Asada Makoto. Asada conveyed that MAGES. would focus on Steins;Gate‘s 15th anniversary for the upcoming year. In conjunction with Steins;Gate‘s 15th anniversary, they are preparing a significant amount of new content. Moreover, Asada also teased a new title as part of their 15th anniversary plans, implying it might be the previously announced and long-awaited Steins;???, the thematic sequel to Steins;Gate. Lastly, to cap off Steins;Gate‘s 15th anniversary year, they are planning a big event in October 2024. Below is an English translation of Famitsu’s interview with him.
Keyword:
“Sequel”
Moving Forward
MAGES.’s best known work, Steins;Gate, is having its 15th anniversary next year, and, with it, we’re hoping to bring everyone a plethora of new developments and titles. Besides a brand new title in the works, we’re readying new and exciting content for the occasion, and we hope we can look forward to all of it together with everyone.
As Of Now
In regards to the above-mentioned “sequel,” we’re currently focusing our efforts in its development. It’s so full of surprises that I myself am very looking forward to release. It’s scheduled to launch in 2024, so please look forward to it!
Of Note
I apologize for not being able to not disclose much further due to it pertaining to company matters, but we have a big event planned for October 2024 to close up Steins;Gate’s 15th Anniversary, and we hope to focus all our efforts into making it a reality.
Translation Credit: Leah/fl4t_is_justice
As part of Steins;Gate‘s 10th anniversary, MAGES. announced a Steins;Gate Hollywood live action series, Steins;Gate 0 Elite, and a thematic sequel tentatively referred to as Steins;???. In the announcement, series creator Shikura Chiyomaru stated that Steins;??? would be to Steins;Gate what Chaos;Child is to Chaos;Head, focusing on time travel but with an almost entirely new cast. Little news has been provided on these titles in the past few years. In an earlier interview following Anonymous;Code‘s release, Matsubara Tatsuya indicated that they were working on Steins;??? but did not know the order in which the various planned Science Adventure projects would release.
I strongly suspect that the upcoming Steins;Gate-related title and “sequel” is Steins;???. However, Asada’s wording may potentially imply that these are two distinct games. For instance, this “sequel” could potentially be an Anonymous;Code fandisk. Or perhaps, it could be for a completely different IP. After all, both Corpse Party and Memories Off will be receiving sequels this upcoming year. But given the context of the rest of his words in the interview, it would seem the sequel is Steins;Gate-related, meaning it may very well be Steins;???. Nevertheless, at the very least, MAGES. plans on releasing a new Steins;Gate-related title in 2024.
2024 is also a year of major milestone anniversaries for other Science Adventure series titles. As of now, MAGES. have not announced any plans for Chaos;Head NoAH‘s 15th anniversary in February or Chaos;Child‘s 10th anniversary in December. To fans’ disappointment, MAGES. did little of note for both entries’ last major milestone anniversaries. For instance, this past April marked the original Chaos;Head‘s 15th anniversary, but MAGES. hardly acknowledged it. The same can be said for Chaos;Child‘s 5th anniversary back in December 2019. Nevertheless, fans are certainly hoping to see something concrete for the anniversaries of other Science Adventure works this upcoming year. While both mainline Chaos; entries sold a small fraction of what Steins;Gate did, they still stand as some of the most popular visual novels of all time.
Steins;Gate is the second entry in MAGES.’ and Chiyomaru Studio’s Science Adventure series (otherwise known as SciADV). SciADV is a long-running, heavily interconnected science fiction visual novel franchise. Each mainline entry in the series features its own unique cast, somewhat self-contained plot, and oftentimes, unique sci-fi theme. But ultimately, they build upon their predecessors to construct an overarching narrative. We recently reviewed the latest SciADV entry, Anonymous;Code, a few months back. You can check out our spoiler-free review here!
The story of Steins;Gate follows a group of young students who accidentally discover the means of sending emails to the past through a modified microwave. But as they continue their time travel experiments, they find themselves involved in a massive conspiracy surrounding an organization known as SERN. The original visual novel and several of its side entries are available in English for purchase on Steam.
In 2011, Steins;Gate received a 24-episode anime adaptation, which resulted in the series exploding in popularity. Since the original visual novel’s release in 2009, the Steins;Gate series has sold over 1 million copies to date. Its success spawned various side entries across different forms of media. In 2015, MAGES. adapted prior Steins;Gate side material into an interquel visual novel entitled Steins;Gate 0. In 2018, Steins;Gate 0 received a 23-episode anime, narratively serving as a complement and final route to the visual novel.
