Producer Naoto Oyama and Director Cho Yonghee participated in the "Pragmata" Smash Hit Celebration and Father's Day Special Event held on Thursday, June 18, 2026. We asked them about the behind-the-scenes development of this successful new IP and their current thoughts. In this article, we bring you the English translation of the interview conducted in Japanese.
An Interview with Pragmata Producer Oyama and Director Cho!
― As a completely new IP, achieving an unprecedented hit of 2 million copies is extraordinary. From the development side, what do you think were the key factors behind this success and what resonated most with users?
Director Cho: While there are innovative game systems, I think the biggest factor is the charm of the characters. You cannot fully grasp game systems until you actually play, but the familiar banter between Hyu and Diana became an easy-to-understand point of appeal.
Producer Oyama: I believe a major factor in the hit was that we seamlessly built a funnel: first getting people interested in the characters, then having them experience the gameplay through the demo, and finally having word-of-mouth spread to encourage many people to purchase the full game.
― Did the development team anticipate this level of success?
Director Cho: It far exceeded our expectations (laughs).
Producer Oyama: To be honest, it was beyond our expectations. We are incredibly grateful.
― It was mentioned that during the development phase, the game received harsh criticism internally. What were the factors that allowed you to overcome that in just four months?
Director Cho: Even though it was four months, that answer was the result of overcoming all our past assets and failures. It feels like our failures guided us to success.
― Has there been a change in your feelings between the difficult development period and now, having achieved a massive hit?
Producer Oyama: I do not think anyone's mindset has changed much since development. Both during and after production, our desire to entertain the people who play it remained the same. Because it was so tough, seeing 2 million people enjoy it now makes me feel like we responded to everyone's feelings and that it was worth the hard work.
Director Cho: At first, there was pressure to create a completely new IP. As a director, it was also my debut title, so that pressure felt even heavier. In the early stages, I overthought things and went through a period where I could not come up with ideas. But when I fundamentally asked myself, "What do I want to do?", it turned into this kind of game. From there, I figured out what to do, and in the end, I truly realized that believing in what you love and moving forward is the most important thing.
― How did the idea of fusing a TPS with hacking puzzles come about?
Director Cho: The broad framework of a sci-fi shooter had been decided, but we did not want to make an ordinary sci-fi shooter. The idea of shooting while thinking about something was born, and from there, the partner character emerged.
Producer Oyama: The concepts of action and hacking came first; they were not originally puzzles. After a process of trial and error on how to express that concept in the game, it resulted in puzzles. You saw a glimpse of that trial and error in the video earlier. We just repeated revisions over and over again.
― I believe Diana's character is also a factor in the hit.
Director Cho: Since my background is as an artist, I was directing while drawing. Initially, in the empty space of the moon's surface, we needed something that would instantly catch the eye. The astronaut was there from the beginning, but that alone was not interesting. As a result of drawing various things to figure out what kind of partner to place there, a single girl was born, and she became the Diana we have now.
Producer Oyama: To make her reach a level that is easily accepted by users, we made adjustments by cutting and adding things. If you look at the early 2020 trailer, you might get a slightly quieter, more taciturn impression. However, if she is too quiet in the actual gameplay, the character will not stand out and her presence would fade, so we carefully adjusted that aspect.
Director Cho: The calculated cuteness of a female character is actually easier for other women to perceive. Even for things where men might ask, "What's the difference?", women have the ability to see right through it. The Diana Police (It was revealed during the stream that there was a team to adjust Diana's calculated cuteness) were all women (laughs).
Producer Oyama: Defining the character personality was very difficult. After release, I think a common understanding is established among everyone. But during development, it is assumed things will change, so even if we decided on a core pillar for the character, the fine details were prone to wavering. While the whole team corrected those fluctuations, we polished Diana into the character image she is today.
― The ending left a lasting impression on many people.
Director Cho: Precisely because it is a new IP, we wanted to create a game that leaves a lingering affection and stays in the memory long after clearing the title. For that reason, we placed great importance on the ending. Actually, the ending was decided from the early stages of development, and by making it a vocal track, we wanted to create a form where just listening to the music would bring back memories of this title. We made that request to the sound team as well. In my mind, I was constantly thinking from the very beginning about how to make this ending work. Even when deciding on the voice actors, I thought about how they would deliver these lines in the ending, and whether this character's tone would fit if they said these lines. The voices of Miou Tanaka and Nao Toyama were a perfect match for the ending I had imagined, so we cast them.
― Are there any expressions or features in this game that were only possible because of the RE Engine?
Producer Oyama: The RE Engine is an engine that accumulates the know-how of past titles. Since it is developed internally, we can expand features within the company to suit the needs of a specific title. To give one example, the strand hair technology for Diana's hair was originally researched in another title within the scope of short hair. In Pragmata, an expansion emerged to challenge making it long hair, which will then connect to the next title. I think that is the greatest strength of the RE Engine.
― It has been two months since the release. Is there any feedback from users that has been particularly memorable?
Producer Oyama: For me, I am just happiest that people are enjoying playing it. Also, comments saying "I cried" stood out a lot, did they not? Everyone on the development team is also searching online to see user reactions.
Director Cho: Like, "Wow, this famous person is talking about it!" (laughs). While looking at those, we share them with the team to gain confidence, or conversely, we feel sad looking at harshly critical comments...
Producer Oyama: Every day, while there are things where I think, "I wish we had done this a bit more like that," at the same time, I believe it is an evaluation resulting from the team giving their absolute all back then. So overall, we are searching reactions with a smile.
― Was there an unexpected player demographic?
Producer Oyama: I had the impression that younger people are playing it more than expected. Also, though it is hard to see on social media, I often hear stories from the development team's children, or people I meet at events like this, saying, "Actually, my child is playing it." I found it very surprising that younger people are playing it too. In terms of an action shooter, young children have gotten quite good at it, and it was unexpected to hear that they can solve puzzles quickly and are playing smoothly.
Director Cho: I think sci-fi is generally a genre that men prefer, but looking at YouTubers and influencers, I got the impression that the female fan base is also strong, which was surprising.
Producer Oyama: We call this a Father's Day event, but we hope mothers will also enjoy it through their maternal instincts (laughs).
