NIS America and New Game Plus Expo are organizing a special live stream concert of the Falcom jdk BAND to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary developer, whose name is inspired from Star Wars' Millennium Falcon.

Where to watch the Falcom JDK Band concert

The concert is happening June 25 at 1 AM EST. It's in a bit less than an hour as I'm writing this. You can watch it on the New Game Plus Expo Twitch and YouTube channels.

  • MORE FALCOM - Adol Christin needs to be the final Smash Bros DLC fighter

Let's talk about Nihon Falcom

Falcom is often forgotten in the mainstream discussion focusing on Japanese game developers, and yet the company is one of the few who managed to constantly deliver great video game experiences over the decades.

Founded in 1981, Nihon Falcom was initially a PC focusing developer, and is one of the best examples (along thousands of ADV and Eroge among others) against the Western misconception that Japan didn't have a PC gaming market. Falcom were pioneers of several genres, most notably with its action RPG series like Xanadu and Ys, still ongoing today.

Falcom is made of a very small team, a bit over 60 developers as of 2019, and its current president Toshihiro Kondo often explains in interviews how the company focuses on elements where even a single person can make a difference: Rather than AAA graphics, Falcom focuses on gameplay, music, and stories.

With that said, the next game of the studio looks particularly incredible. Falcom only releases one brand new game a year, usually in the last week of September. This year, it's the latest entry in the Trails series, The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki, coming to PS4 on September 30, 2021 in Japan. And the game looks incredible. Falcom developed its own in-house engine, and also ramped up its use of motion capture most notably.

Kiseki announcements coming at the concert

It's very likely NIS America will announce four Trails games, seeing the games were leaked by Epic Games Store. Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure, Trails into Reverie, and Nayuta. Be sure to check out succinct intro for the series and each of these games.

Speaking of the concert, Falcom music is also particular in how it's copyrights free as long as you're not using it to make a profit. If you're familiar with RTA (Real time Attack are what speedruns are called in Japan) you'll notice RTA events streams always use Falcom music to avoid any copyright strikes.

The RTA in Japan Summer 2021 will be happening in a few weeks too. It has no dates set in stone yet so be sure to check out the event's Twitter if that piques your interest. Japanese speedrun events are particularly interesting as you get to see games that are never featured at America centered events.