Sengoku BASARA Game Characters to be used in the
Miyagi Prefecture Gubernatorial Election
– The video game that ignited the Sengoku craze trailblazes its way to a
cross-industry alliance with government and commercial enterprises to revitalize local communities –

Capcom is proud to announce that the CG-rendered Date Masamune character from its popular “Sengoku BASARA” video game series will be used as an image character for the Miyagi Prefecture Gubernatorial election awareness campaign to be held on October 25th.

The Sengoku BASARA series, where the character of Date Masamune appears, is a stylish hero action game featuring commanders from the Japanese Warring States period. The series’ ultra-real settings, and the unique characters brought to life by a superb contingent of voice talent has gained strong support from women and players new to gaming. Sengoku BASARA is gathering attention as being the game that sparked a renewed interest in the Warring States period of Japanese history, and is quickly becoming one of Capcom’s flagship titles, having shipped more than 1.5 million units (as of October 7th 2009). The latest title in the series, Sengoku BASARA 3 is due out in 2010.

Warring lord turned video game sensation Date Masamune, is a household name in Miyagi prefecture. This campaign aims to use the broad appeal Date Masamune has among the residents of the prefecture to draw attention to the election and increase the turnout of younger voters. More precisely, there will be a multimedia campaign not limited just to the election posters throughout the prefecture, that will vigorously get the word out via TV ads, radio, newspapers, and transportation agencies. With the Sengoku BASARA franchise, Capcom hasn’t stopped at just video games, but has aggressively sought to expand the brand through merchandising, character goods, anime, radio, books, and special events.

In coming days, there will be a link exchange between the Miyagi Prefecture Shiroishi City website, the Kochi Prefecture website, Kochi City website, and the Sengoku BASARA video game website. Each site will invite visitors to tour areas that were home to commanders who appear as characters in the game. The Shiroishi site will even feature special content such as a mayoral message to Sengoku BASARA fans. We hope to generate a synergetic effect with this broad use of the brand.

At Capcom we will continue to pursue our multi-use strategy in which we leverage our brands in order to bring satisfaction to as many fans in as many different ways as possible. This strategy will enable us to maximize the value of our brands, and further expand our business.

〔Here is a sample of how the media will be used〕

TV Commercial

Election Poster

〔Product Details〕

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