Real estate developer with ties to famous game developer spearheading project south of Tokyo.

No matter which side of the “Are video games art?” debate a person maybe on, there’s no denying that there’s a lot of artwork that goes into video games. Whether it’s hand-drawn character portraits and concept illustrations, bitmap graphics, polygonal models, or rendered CG cinematics, video games are a very visual medium.

So it’s only fitting that Japan is finally getting a dedicated permanent video game art museum, with the project being spearheaded by real estate developer Koyu. Koyu might not be a name that means much to most people, but their parent company, Koyu Holdings, is also the largest stakeholder in Koei Tecmo, the video game developer/publisher born from the merger of previously separate companies Koei and Tecmo, who collectively created such landmark series as Dynasty Warriors, Nioh, Nobunaga’s Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Dead or Alive.

The three-floor museum, depicted in the artist’s rendering at the top of this article, will be located in the Nishi Ward of Yokohama, about 30 minutes south of downtown Tokyo, near Shin Takashima Station on the Minato Mirai subway line. That puts it within walking distance of Koei Tecmo’s main office, but the facility’s official name, the Game Art Museum, implies a focus broader than just Koei Tecmo’s works. In addition to exhibits inside the building, the museum’s exterior will host seasonal projection mapping events that recreate game environments and atmospheres in its Art Garden area.

Construction on the Game Art Museum began in February, and Koyu is now saying that it’s planning to finish the building in may of 2027, with an opening two months later in midsummer.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin, Daiwa House
Top image: Daiwa House
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he still has lingering trauma from the Tonberries in Stranger of Paradise.