New Game Development Program at Tokyo University of the Arts!

It’s no secret that the video game industry is one of the world’s largest and most lucrative entertainment mediums. To capitalize on the massive surge in global popularity of video games, Tokyo University of the Arts will launch a new graduate program dedicated entirely to video games in April 2026. More than just a simple game design course, the new game development program seeks to explore video games as a legitimate art form.

What is the new graduate program?

University President Katsuhiko Hibino has announced the establishment of the Department of Games and Interactive Art during a news conference on July 24^th. Unlike many other video game design courses offered by colleges and universities that focus on the core skills necessary to design, code, and create video games, this new graduate program will instead focus on video games as an art form. As the title of the program suggests, video games are a form of interactive art.

As such, students will be led through a program that deconstructs video games, allowing them to critique and understand them on a fundamental level, and learn how to design them with that knowledge in mind. The program will also be incredibly exclusive, admitting only twenty students per year.

Why is the new game development program significant?

The Department of Games and Interactive Art is exciting because it recognizes video games as a proper art form. Even after more than fifty years, games still face the stigma of being just children’s entertainment. At the same time, they’ve also faced criticism for violence, with titles like Mortal Kombat, Doom, and Thrill Kill heavily debated in the 1990s.

In recent years, however, numerous games have sought to become as close to interactive art as possible. Games like Journey, Abzu, and Gris demonstrate how sound, visuals, and control can blend into artistic experiences that evoke synesthesia. It’s great that the Department of Games and Interactive Art aims to recognize this creative side of game development. Doing so proves that games can be art and encourages more thoughtful design and marketing.

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What does the Department of Games and Interactive Art offer?

It’s hard to say precisely what the game development program will offer since it hasn’t started yet, but there’s much to imagine. With top industry leaders, creators, and designers involved, the Department of Games and Interactive Art already carries strong credibility.

The program aims to teach students how to apply video game concepts to areas such as education and healthcare. While ambitious, its small seminar-style classes and collaborations with the University of Southern California give students great opportunities to learn and collaborate.

By deconstructing, critiquing, and analyzing games as art, the very building blocks of the medium will be the heart of the program. Creating a product where consumers can push buttons and watch things happen is relatively straightforward. Creating a product that not only provides entertainment value to a consumer but also enriches and educates them, and strives to break the boundaries of its medium, is entirely different. 

What are the core tenets of game design?

The core tenets of game design and game philosophy are what make good games good. Easy to learn, but challenging to master, mechanics ensure that players will continue to engage with a game. Fair and ample rewards give players a reason to play a game, regardless of the genre or style. Ensuring that a game stays true to its core mechanic and excels at that mechanic is what keeps a game fun, balanced, and worth a player’s time.

With these core tenets in mind, it’s vital to understand what makes games fun, engaging, and successful. While games are indeed art, the primary goal of every developer and company is to sell a product. If the game doesn’t sell, then there’s no point in continuing to develop more. This is true of any medium. While creating art is essential, creating a financially successful product is also important.

Why should you care about the new program?

As a graduate program, the Department of Games and Interactive Art will not be for casual students or gamers. It will not be a laid-back course where students can sit around and discuss how much they like playing Pac-Man and Zelda. It will be a program that tests students as creators, developers, and artists. Moreover, it will encourage them to better understand their medium and how to create products that expand the limits of the video game industry. 

It can be easy to make a quick buck by pumping out anime girl-themed gacha games that reward players for having poor impulse control. Tokyo University of the Arts will help diminish the negative stereotypes that have plagued and continue to plague the industry by proving that video games can be a respectable art form. Are you excited for the new graduate program? If you could attend it, what would you hope to learn? Please let us know in the comments below!