Anime Television Series Based on Video Games Codexery

The Idolmaster

A franchise about raising pop idols to stardom.

The Idolmaster series centers on training prospective pop idols to achieve stardom.[1] The player typically acts as a producer who arranges lessons, auditions, and performances for one or more idols.[2] The series consistently shows the difficulties idols face on their path to fame, with a tension meter reflecting this.[3]

Quick Facts

Developer
  • Metro
  • Bandai Namco Studios
  • Cygames
  • QualiArts
Publisher
Namco, Bandai Namco Entertainment
Genre
  • Raising simulation
  • music
  • rhythm
  • business simulation
First release date
July 26, 2005
Latest release version
Gakuen Idolmaster
Latest release date
May 16, 2024

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

The first game was released as an arcade title in Japan on July 26, 2005, using Namco Bandai's System 246 board.[4] A port for the Xbox 360 launched on January 25, 2007, adding the idol Miki Hoshii and new songs.[5] The Xbox 360 port was credited with making Japan's Xbox Live sign-up ratio the world's highest.[5] The Idolmaster Starlit Season, a crossover title, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and released on October 14, 2021.[6]

Metro was the developer of the arcade game, which utilized a touchscreen Rewritable Stage cabinet and the ALL.Net network service.[7][8] February 19, 2009 saw the release of The Idolmaster SP for PlayStation Portable across three editions, which brought in Hibiki Ganaha and Takane Shijō.[9][10]

What the cited sources add

A Game Watch interview states that the Xbox 360 version used a new graphics engine and shaders built from scratch.[11] Motion capture for the Xbox 360 port used the same actors as the arcade version, but all character models were redone.[12] Game Watch states that the initial arcade release contained 10 songs, which grew to 16 in the Xbox 360 version.[11][13] A Nikkei Shimbun report indicated that during 2012, The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls brought in more than 1 billion yen each month in Japan.[14][15]

Based on a December 2023 Nikkei Entertainment survey, the franchise's fanbase in Japan has an average age of 31 and a male-to-female split of roughly 50:50.[16]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Idol Data", Namco Bandai Games; Namco Bandai Games (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "THE IDOLM@STER SP ゲーム紹介", Namco Bandai Games; "THE IDOLM@STER 2 スケジュール選択", Namco Bandai Games; "THE IDOLM@STER SP ゲーム紹介", Namco Bandai Games; Namco Bandai Games; Namco Bandai Games (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Xbox 360で発売される『アイドルマスター』について語る開発陣の魂のコメントを公開!", Famitsu, July 28, 2006; "The iDOLM@STER: Massively Multiplayer J-Pop Teen Idol Career Building Sim", Wired, January 28, 2007; "アイドルマスター2 頼られて", Namco Bandai Games; Namco Bandai Games (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Famitsu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Rumor: Japan's XBL Sign-Up Rate? Highest In The World", Kotaku, March 5, 2007; "Rumor: Japan's XBL Sign-Up Rate? Highest In The World", Kotaku, March 5, 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "PS4「アイドルマスター ステラステージ」本日発売です！", December 20, 2017; "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season announced for PS4, PC", Gematsu, January 20, 2020; Nelva, "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season for PS4 & PC Delayed to 2021; First Gameplay Revealed", Twinfinite, October 6, 2020; "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season launches May 27 in Japan", Gematsu, February 6, 2021; "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season for PS4 & PC Delayed by Several Months", 10 March 2021; "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season delayed to October 14 in Japan", 10 March 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Metro Game Products", Metro (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Namco Bandai Games (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "アイドルマスターSP ワンダリングスター", Famitsu; "THE IDOLM@STER SP 製品紹介", Namco Bandai Games (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Idolm@ster Live in Slot! Machine Game's 2nd Promo Streamed", Anime News Network, May 13, 2012; "The Idolmaster Live in Slot!", Sammy Corporation (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Xbox 360「アイドルマスター」", Game Watch, January 30, 2007. facts only, no text reused. game.watch.impress.co.jp
  12. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Xbox 360で発売される『アイドルマスター』について語る開発陣の魂のコメントを公開!", Famitsu, July 28, 2006; Kujioka, Toshihiko, Namco Bandai Games, November 20, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Xbox 360「アイドルマスター」", Game Watch, January 30, 2007 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "バンダイナムコのMobage『アイドルマスターシンデレラガールズ』が全体15位に", Social Game Info, December 29, 2011; Animate, December 19, 2011; Namco Bandai Games; "Mobageで提供される『アイドルマスター シンデレラガールズ』はどんなゲーム?", ASCII Media Works, November 28, 2011; "Idolmaster Mobile Game Earns 1 Billion Yen a Month", Anime News Network, September 27, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  15. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nikkei: Idolm@ster Tie-ins Earn 10 Billion+ Yen", Anime News Network, February 17, 2013; Mobile Index, May 2018; Game-i (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  16. Wikipedia, "The Idolmaster" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "今、本当に推されている「人」「作品」が分かる 最旬"推し"新潮流", Nikkei Cross Trend, February 2, 2024 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Idolmaster (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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