The Cygames Vision and Mission Statements ー Principles Behind Over a Decade of Creating the Best in Entertainment

For over a decade, we at Cygames have striven to achieve our vision of being “The Best in Entertainment,” and established three mission statements in pursuit of this goal. In this article, we’ll be taking a deep look at our principles, how they were formed, and what we do to encourage these ideals within the company.

※A mission statement is a business ethos or philosophy that defines the purpose, values, and standards of a company and is shared throughout the organization.

A Vision-less Beginning?
How Cygames’ Vision and Mission Statements Came to Be

While “The Best in Entertainment” may be our driving maxim in the present, that was not the case at our founding. In the days before the Cygames vision was established, President Watanabe and development staff were mainly concerned with creating a hit game with high entertainment value, pouring their simple but pure aspirations into the development of Rage of Bahamut.

Thanks to the passion of everyone involved, the game was a rousing success, and opened up new avenues to showcase a variety of content produced by Cygames. To facilitate these opportunities, we decided to establish a vision to give staff a goal to work toward, and based it on the Rage of Bahamut team’s desire to create an entertaining game and the company’s sincere dedication to game development. Thus the Cygames vision of being “The Best in Entertainment” was born. The language of the vision was so appealing, it took only 30 minutes to gain final approval.

After establishing a vision, we set forth to formulate a set of three mission statements that would bring the values and direction of Cygames into line.

Cygames Mission Statements
・Game Together
Cygames is a company that games together.

We believe entertaining games can only be made by those who have played them. Everyone at Cygames is encouraged to play and discuss the games they engage with on and off the clock.

・Think Together
Cygames is a company that thinks together.

Achieving the best in entertainment is not a solo endeavor, but a team effort. Staff at Cygames work and think together to create the most interesting and enjoyable content in the world.

・Make Together
Cygames is a company that makes together.

Everything produced by Cygames staff, both in connection with the company and in private, has the potential to strengthen or weaken the brand. From technical documents, art, and source code, to phone etiquette, client relations, and staff ethics, everything staff members do is directly connected to the integrity of the company, and is treated with the utmost care.

Establish, then Instill
How Cygames’ Principles are Communicated

Instituting standards alone is not enough to move a company toward its intended goal. It’s crucial for staff to comprehend the intent of the principles and devise methods to incorporate it into their work. To achieve this, we implement a variety of initiatives to ensure that the Cygames vision and mission statements are properly integrated into our staff’s efforts.

The Version Up Committee and their Activities

People often picture those in charge of communicating the company culture and approach as manager-level employees. However, this is not the case at Cygames. The Version Up Committee (VUC) is a group led by junior staff that encourages its members to actively consider ways to make Cygames the best company it can be. One of the VUC’s past initiatives involved showcasing interviews with the president and staff on how they interpret the vision and mission statements in the company newsletter. By sharing everyone’s personal thoughts on Cygames as a company, the VUC gives each staff member the opportunity to reflect on the organization’s core principles.

Showcasing Stories from Cygames Staff in the Digital Newsletter

Articles by the VUC feature stories from the staff at Cygames about their triumphs and slip-ups, and are published in an in-house digital newsletter. Staff interviewed by the VUC for these articles often talk about specific situations in which they’ve incorporated the Cygames vision and mission statements into their daily work as well.

Instill, then Apply
Working from Principles at Cygames

Once staff members are knowledgeable about the principles, the next step is applying them to workplace tasks. Detailed below are some of the ways the Cygames mission statements are implemented.

Game Together

New graduate hires at Cygames are asked to play and rank various games produced by the company during their orientation. The results of the ranking are then presented to them at the end of their training period. The purpose of this exercise is to not only give new staff the opportunity to familiarize themselves with our game library, but to remind them to always keep the end user’s perspective in mind, and to be conscious of how enjoyable a game is on a personal level.

As the staff at Cygames are comprised of people who are game enthusiasts, it’s also common for different departments to talk about the entertaining games they’ve played in their weekly or monthly meetings. In these discussions, they share information about the game and analyze reasons for its playability and appeal.
Staff often post their opinions on the latest games, anime, manga, and other entertaining content in the communication platforms used in-house as well.

To support our game-loving staff, we’ve set up a spacious playroom equipped with a multitude of consoles and titles where employees can engage in a variety of gaming experiences and expand their horizons.

Think Together

At Cygames, we foster a multifaceted team structure that enables the smooth execution of duties and quality development across departments and roles. In any given project, active communication between teams is encouraged. To facilitate conversations both work-related and informal, we’ve opened a wide array of casual chat channels in our company Slack where staff can engage about their hobbies and interests, and build connections with their coworkers whether they’re working from home or at the office.

We also hold regular job-specific meetings for our planners, engineers, and other roles, where staff can share their experiences working on a project with others, and access a wide range of knowledge and advice that they might not have attained within the scope of their normal duties.
When we’re releasing a new title, the entire staff at Cygames comes together to enhance the game’s quality by cooperating on debugging assignments to make quick revisions, gathering expertise from inside and outside the project to brainstorm possible improvements that can be made post-release, and engaging in other collaborative tasks.

Make Together

As the many articles on the Cygames Magazine website suggest, our staff are dedicated and committed to their work at Cygames. No matter the scale of the task, we always aim to produce high-quality content that can be enjoyed by just about anyone. And while this pursuit comes with its challenges, we believe it is one of the defining elements of Cygames. On a more personal level, another unique characteristic of Cygames is the custom we’ve ingrained into our staff of greeting each other when crossing paths at the office. Though it may sound commonplace or even trivial, we believe even the smallest actions show that each staff member at Cygames is devoted to creating a positive environment wherever they go.

Infinite Possibilities for “The Best in Entertainment”
Aspirations for the Future

We hope the content of this article has given you an understanding of our vision and mission statements at Cygames, and how we apply them within our company.
Though Cygames has grown over the years, our commitment to being “The Best in Entertainment” will always be our primary driving force. We will play together, think together, and make together for many more years to come!