In fall 2007, CRYPTON FUTURE MEDIA, INC., launched HATSUNE MIKU music production software for personal computers (PCs), which incorporates Yamaha Corporation's VOCALOID technology. On a video-sharing web site, users began posting videos with songs produced using HATSUNE MIKU. As users posted more and more songs on the web site, their quality rapidly improved. Since then, HATSUNE MIKU has established a new genre. Against this backdrop, SEGA began producing HATSUNE MIKU-Project DIVA-, a rhythm game that uses HATSUNE MIKU.

Consumer generated media (CGM)-such as review web sites that incorporate reviews and ratings from consumers, SNS, and video-sharing web sites-is constantly evolving due to the huge amount of data that consumers contribute. Furthermore, the rapid spread of CGM stems from its unique ability to provide objective views that are independent of vested corporate interests.

The HATSUNE MIKU-Project DIVA- project team decided a cautious approach that took into account the fact that these unique characteristics of CGM were essential in order to successfully create a HATSUNE MIKU game. The team concluded that they had to reflect the players' viewpoint rigorously. Accordingly, they adopted the approach of having the game's creator, SEGA, participate in the HATSUNE MIKU community as a user. At the time, this approach was completely new to SEGA. So, the team had to begin by fumbling forward in the dark. Hiroshi Utsumi, the project manager responsible for the development of software for PSP(R), recalls, "It took us a year to understand the HATSUNE MIKU culture and become able to talk with users on equal terms." The way we developed the game departed from established practices. We were one of the first companies to use video-sharing web sites as a promotional tool, something that is now commonplace. In addition, we encouraged users to contribute to the game's development by releasing screen shots of the game when it was under development and inviting users to provide music for the game. Rigorously reflecting the customers' viewpoint by focusing on what players wanted and what would delight them was the highest priority of this project. This new approach altered the traditional oneway relationship between the game manufacturer and players-in some cases it even reversed these roles.