Yu-Gi-Oh! Is Faltering, But Fans Feel Konami’s Ignoring Them

During a recent Konami shareholder meeting, the game company’s president addressed concerns that its latest free-to-play Yu-Gi-Oh! game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, has negatively affected the franchise’s growth. A shareholder noted that Master Duel’s play style poorly translates to the popular trading card game’s tabletop and official card game tournament rules, echoing what fans have been saying. But Konami President Hideki Hayakawa only doubled down.

Read More: The New Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game Is Taking Over The Steam Charts

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a cross-platform trading card game where players can purchase booster packs, build personalized decks, and compete against one another in online matches that was released in January for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.

The issue is that its gacha game rules and streamlined play are vastly different from Yu-Gi-Oh! table card and online card games. Yu-Gi-Oh! is notorious for having a revolving door of rule and regulation changes related to banned cards and moves, which would make hopping from Master Duel’s streamlined approach to an online or tabletop version difficult to adjust to.

“New users who started with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel may give up when trying to start Yu-Gi-Oh!. This was the case with a player I actually met at a Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG [official card game] Duel Monsters tournament. Isn’t it necessary to consider how to eliminate such cases?” the shareholder said during the June 28 meeting.

“I found it extremely regrettable that players who had started playing [the] Yu-Gi-Oh! card game were not able to do so for long,” Hayakawa responded during the meeting, according to a browser translation posted to Twitter by pro duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! champion Jeff Jones.

Master Duel literally does not allow anyone to get used to the actual TCG,” Jones wrote in agreement on Twitter. “Besides being automatic and not explaining why things work the way they do, the completely different forbidden list and card pool makes it even harder for new players to transition.”

The same shareholder noted the poor reception to Master Duel’s official live-streamed tournament matches, which he blamed on the lack of ability to surrender a game where defeat was a foregone conclusion.

“As someone who tried to get into Yu-Gi-Oh! recently, the card game basically being just ‘You win in a few turns’ kinda put me off from wanting to play,” ResetEra user Jawmuncher wrote, echoing the shareholder’s critique. “Like I bought a deck that had all these cool ideas but good luck seeing any of that shit actually play out.”

The unnamed shareholder suggested Konami change the Master Duel rule preventing players from pre-emptively quitting, saying it could allow players to “be able to make a strategic choice to start over with the next game, which would also improve the appeal of live streaming.”

Not only [do] we want Yu-Gi-Oh! to be more enjoyable to play, but there is also that valuable perspective that ‘enjoyable to watch’ is a very important subject that has been relevant for several years,” Hayakawa answered. “I think your opinion is absolutely correct and I will convey it to our company to make the proper considerations for the next livestream.”

Hayakawa concluded his response by plugging the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship which will be held in Japan and livestreamed across the world.

   

Dashcam Shows Cops Ignoring Robbery To Play Pokémon Go

Newly released dashboard camera footage shows two Los Angeles Police Department officers ignoring an active robbery in order to catch some rare creatures in Pokémon Go. The footage shows how the driver ignored stop signs, sped through quiet residential areas, and drove the wrong way down a one-way road. All this was done to catch a Snorlax and Togetic.

In 2022, we reported on then-newly-released court docs that revealed a 2017 incident involving two LAPD officers who drove dangerously and ignored direct orders while playing the hit mobile game, Pokémon Go. Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell skipped out on their job to catch some rare digital critters and then lied about their actions. The two law enforcement officers had a combined 28 years on the force. After a 2017 investigation revealed what they had done, the two officers were fired. Last year, we didn’t have footage of what happened. Now, six years later, video has finally emerged.

ABC 7

Thanks to 404 Media’s Jason Koebler, the dashcam footage from that day in 2017 is now publicly available following years of requests. As Koebler notes, the footage proves that the previously mentioned report was accurate. But this new video also reveals more details about what happened and shows just how recklessly the officers acted.

New footage shows LAPD officers trying to catch ‘em all

As seen in an edited version of the three-hour dashcam video put together by 404 Media, the officers can be seen driving quickly in their patrol car. The two tailgate dangerously behind numerous cars, forcing the other drivers to move out of the way. At another point in the video, the police can be seen speeding in a residential area, running a stop sign, and flying over speed bumps.

The police were apparently driving so quickly because they were concerned the Snorlax would despawn after a short timer ran out, saying in the video: “It’s gonna go pink and change into something else.”

After losing the Snorlax, the two officers track down a Togetic and while catching it, talk about Pokémon lore. According to 404 Media, the two cops mentioned that Togetic is Togepi’s evolution and discussed that the creature knows “Hidden Power,” a rare move in the series. Later, Officer Mitchell suggests that Master Ball items are buried in the game’s code and that one day they will be added to the game. He was right, but it would take another six years before the Master Ball would be added to the game.

After finally catching the Togetic, Mitchell can be heard shouting, “Holy crap! Finally!” He adds that the guys back at the station are “going to be so jealous.” Mitchell further celebrated, telling his partner—while the pair reportedly drove the wrong way down a street—that he “got a new high-level Pokémon today.”

A few minutes later Mitchell and Lozano were questioned by a higher-ranking officer, who was confused why the two of them—who were near the area where the robbery occurred—had failed to report in for 40 minutes. Their superior added that it’s “concerning” that they didn’t hear the radio or respond in a “swift manner.”

At this point the two officers decided to lie, and explain that they didn’t hear the radio, claiming they “were not always” in the car when the backup requests were transmitted. However, the video shows that at least one of the two officers was always in the patrol car during the incident. As mentioned, the two were fired in 2017 after an investigation by the LAPD.

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