Streamer "YamatoN" Manager of "REJECT" Team Management Department Inaugural Interview "Aiming to industrialize the e-sports scene beyond the boundaries of the team" Reason for joining REJECT Reason for graduating from DETONATOR Working on joining REJECT Future distribution Activity Reasons for committing to "PUBG MOBILE" YamatoN's e-sports goal End Related articles

We asked the popular streamer "YamatoN" why he was appointed as the manager of the team management department of the professional e-sports team "REJECT".

*Interview will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2022

Related article Streamer "YamatoN" joins the professional e-sports team "REJECT" and becomes the manager of the team management department

Topic

-First of all, I would like to ask about the reason why you decided to join REJECT. I was surprised to learn that I was joining the company not as a streamer, but as a manager of the team management department. It was a big opportunity for you to empathize while talking with Mr. Koyama, the representative, but what was it that empathized?

YamatoN: Personally, I want the environment for athletes to get better, so I really sympathize with Mr. bottom.

It is no exaggeration to say that REJECT is the most player-friendly esports team. When Mr. Kouyama thought about entering the PUBG MOBILE scene a few years ago, he started by buying a tablet terminal with his own money and supplying it to the players.

Even now, when a player is worried, he talks directly to the player and solves the problem, and is committed to that level of activity. Despite being busy with his role as the representative director of the company and around sponsors, he really faces the players and works for them. I really sympathized with the fact that they are sincerely facing the e-sports scene.

-Could you tell us why you decided to graduate from DeToNator? Looking at the distribution of former DeToNator streamers, it seems that the result was that the team proposed the form of graduation.

YamatoN: As for myself, I want to commit to e-sports more by being involved in "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE" developed by NTT Docomo, I want to make the Japanese e-sports scene even better, and as an industry The feeling of wanting to establish it became stronger.

I talked with many teams, including "DeToNator" and "REJECT", but I was most sympathetic to the idea and attitude of "REJECT", so I decided to work together. Did.

-You have been appointed as REJECT's team management manager, but what will happen to YamatoN-san from now on?

YamatoN: We will act as a presence that will make the e-sports scene more integrated into society.

I think there are still many aspects of professional e-sports players that are not understood by those around them. I would like to fill in the gaps when working with outsiders by supervising the management related to athletes, such as how to express and manage the athletes.

And, not just for REJECT, we would like to go beyond the boundaries of teams and work with the idea of ​​industrializing the esports scene itself to make it better.

In order to sell the existence of REJECT, the scene must be proper and "the best REJECT in it" must have value. So I think it's a stage where the whole scene has to grow. It's worth being the best because there are various good teams. I would like to do a job that brings out that value.

-YamatoN-san has a lot of viewers as a broadcaster, but will you continue your streaming activities in parallel with the work of "REJECT"?

YamatoN: We will continue to stream. The delivery time may change slightly, but I don't think the frequency will change much. And I'm confident that I'll show you something even more interesting.

- Does that mean you'll be working with REJECT on streaming?

YamatoN: There is already a flow that synergy is born and interesting things can be done with streaming because I and REJECT's activity policy are similar. It works like that.

-When you say REJECT, popular streamers such as shomaru7 and MOTHER3 belong to it.

YamatoN: I want to do various things. shomaru7-san went out to eat with us the other day. I haven't met MOTHER3 yet, but I would like to ask them to teach me various things.

In my distribution, I am committed to "PUBG MOBILE", and I have not been able to keep up with the latest information about the popular scenes such as "VALORANT" and "Apex Legends". I would like to study

On top of that, I think it would be nice if we could create content with such titles together and support the scene.

-In YamatoN-san's distribution, I think there are relatively many titles that are played that are different from the trend. How do you choose the titles to be distributed?

YamatoN: Until now, I think that what I've been doing on and off-stream has been disjointed. However, by joining REJECT this time, I think that it has become a good opportunity to develop both of them centered on e-sports.

There is a part of the distribution that must be done for everyone who is watching. There were many things that I couldn't reach out to the viewers, such as not being able to convey all the goodness of esports to the viewers on my own. With the help of REJECT, we would like to work together to create content that will help people learn about and enjoy esports.

In addition to REJECT, people like collaborators are starting to gather at this timing. I think that there will be many new developments along with distribution, such as someone who will edit the video exclusively for me, and I am talking to StylishNoob about doing something together.

-I have the impression that you put a lot of effort into "PUBG MOBILE" when you look at the distribution and SNS. Why is YamatoN pushing "PUBG MOBILE" as the title?

YamatoN: Isn't this the first time that a big company like NTT DoCoMo has entered the world of esports? I am involved in NTT Docomo's "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE" in the form of a commentary. In order to make "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE" a success, I decided to promote "PUBG MOBILE" in various ways, such as playing on the distribution.

-It was impressive that YamatoN is distributing "PUBG MOBILE". To be honest, I think other titles were bigger in terms of the number of views, but didn't you care about that?

YamatoN: I decided to commit to "PUBG MOBILE" because I was involved in "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE". In addition to distribution, I have spent hours exchanging opinions with NTT Docomo, the organizer of "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE", based on my experience and the situation in the esports scene. Also, the other day, I spent two days talking to all the players who will be participating in the league.

-There is a site called "X-MOMENT TIMES" that has a lot of projects such as caster round-table discussions.

YamatoN: I personally wanted to hear what the players had to say and think. There was a player photo shoot for "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE", and I knew that all the players would be there, so I asked if I would be able to participate and have time to talk with the players.

-Will it be published somewhere as an interview article?

YamatoN: No, it's not a project, so it won't be an article like an interview. I think that there are times when I will use the story I heard to convey the attractiveness of the players when I comment on the tournament broadcast.

What I wanted to do more than anything this time was to directly hear the stories and thoughts of the players, which I think is very important. It was quite interesting, and when I asked if there was a rival player, the answer was "I don't have a rival because I'm the best." I tried to give them some advice, even if it was just a little mischief.

I thought that if I was a commentator for the tournament, I might be able to do something like this, so I asked the players to talk to me.

-If you look at YamatoN's Twitter, you often see articles on the site "PUBG Mobile NEWS". Is that a site run by YamatoN?

YamatoN: That's right. I used to write articles myself, but sometimes I don't have time, so I pay writers to write articles for me.

That site is positioned like a test version of what I envision in the future, and I'm doing various tests. I would like to reflect on the knowledge and other things that I have gained in the activities of REJECT.

I think this is an absolute must, and I feel like we need more of something like Negitaku.org, which Yossy is doing.

- So that's what it was. I felt that the introductory article about the tournament was organized in a way that covered all the elements I wanted to know, and I was wondering what kind of people were doing it.

YamatoN: I think it's better not to push myself too much. For those who write, I explain that they should use Yossy's article as a model.

Currently, this is the main site for "PUBG MOBILE", but in the future I would like to do it on the whole e-sports scene. In the existing media, there are not many places that go as far as the drama of the players, so I would like to come up with various projects including such places.

-Does it feel like you are thinking about various activities through websites, videos, distribution, etc.?

YamatoN: There are a lot of documentaries on NETFLIX these days, so it would be great if we could deliver a drama like that to fans about what kind of standing position they are heading towards for "PUBG MOBILE JAPAN LEAGUE". I think.

Nowadays e-sports focuses on games rather than people and dramas, so I think there is a difference in the number of viewers for each title.

I think it would be nice if fans could watch the tournament as an "esports scene" instead of "for each title", so even if a new title comes out, the number of fans will increase. I think it will be in the form of continuing to the next title while remaining.

Until now, there was a title that was popular, and when it ended, everyone was gone.

-As for YamatoN, do you think there are issues in the current situation surrounding "esports" that you would like to solve in your future activities?

YamatoN: This time, I thought I'd look back on my past history by joining REJECT, but Negitaku.org came up the most. The history and records of esports must be preserved, and if it is to be made into a culture, I think it is important to have someone who plays such a role.

One of the things I personally want to do is search results for "esports." When explaining the e-sports scene to people who don't know about it, even if you ask them to search for "e-sports", they will only come up with something that introduces the meaning of the word. Instead, it would be nice if there were media and sites out there where people could understand the appeal of esports by watching this.

Therefore, I think that it is very important to know e-sports and create a path for that person to play. If such a flow can be made, athletes will also have jobs to teach e-sports on such sites and media, so employment can also be created.

-Is it important for YamatoN-san's future activities to focus on strengthening the media and the ability to communicate?

YamatoN: If we can use the power of the media to express the value of the skills that players possess, I think we can change the image of players who are underestimated.

In terms of REJECT, there is a player named SaRa in the "PUBG MOBILE" category. He's an aggressive player who gets a lot of kills, but that's why he often gets defeated. Only the negative side is focused on, and there are times when it is evaluated as "a player who is worthless because he can be defeated immediately".

I've been doing very valuable work all the time, getting kills and giving my team an advantage, and I don't think people understand that. It would be a bit too long to list these things, but I think it's important to make sure that people understand this.

If a player who should be respected is not respected, there is no point in playing an active part in the tournament. If you are not evaluated even if you are active, wouldn't it be better to become popular through distribution? There is a possibility that it will be like that, but I don't want it to be.

It would be great if we could make more people aware of the value of tournaments, the importance of skills, positions, and roles, and the fact that this player's numbers are low when looking only at his stats, but he actually plays a very important role. I think.

Regarding these, I would like to work on them both as REJECT and in my own personal activities.

Please look forward to and support REJECT in the future.

For a streamer as successful as Mr. YamatoN, I personally thought that it would be safer to focus on distribution.

After meeting him for the first time in a long time and hearing various stories, I felt that Mr. YamatoN thinks about esports from a very broad perspective and has a tremendous passion for esports.

I have high hopes that YamatoN's future development will be able to see further development by doing activities that are not limited to distribution.

You can check the activities of YamatoN and REJECT through the following SNS.

YamatoN

REJECT