Updated

Updated · Variety · Aug 21

Sekai Launches Naruto’s First Official Digital Cards App After 500,000 Soft-Launch Downloads

Updated

Updated · Variety · Aug 21

Sekai Launches Naruto’s First Official Digital Cards App After 500,000 Soft-Launch Downloads

Q: What exactly did the indie CEO write to Naruto's creator to unlock the franchise's first digital card game rights?

It has not been publicly disclosed word-for-word. What Sekai and CEO Samy Therain have said is that he wrote Masashi Kishimoto a personal letter explaining what “Naruto” meant to him and why Sekai would not give up on building the project. According to Therain’s account in interviews around the launch of “Naruto Ninja Cards,” the letter came after the team learned Kishimoto had not approved the deal and the licensing effort appeared dead. Therain said he tried to convey his emotional connection to the series and the studio’s determination to treat the property with care and respect. After that letter, the project was approved. So the precise text remains private, but the substance is clear: it was an appeal grounded in fandom, persistence and a promise to honor the spirit of “Naruto.” That fits with TV Tokyo’s later public endorsement, which praised Sekai’s “genuine passion,” “care, patience,” and “deep understanding of the series’ core spirit.”

3 articles · Updated · Variety · Aug 21

Thursday’s global release puts “Naruto Ninja Cards” on the App Store and Google Play as the franchise’s first official digital cards app, offering collectible characters, exclusive art and real-time play.
500,000 downloads since the Feb. 5 soft launch helped validate the project, with Sekai saying 93% came from organic search and fan demand for hand-drawn artwork and series-specific Easter eggs.
Sekai spent five years building the app and 18 months in Japan securing approval from TV Tokyo and creator Masashi Kishimoto, making it the first foreign studio licensed to build a “Naruto” app.
TV Tokyo not only partnered with Sekai but also invested in the Paris- and Tokyo-based studio—its first Western company backing since Crunchyroll—as Sekai now plans quarterly card updates, live events and broader anime gaming.

Sources

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Variety11h ago

Sekai Launches "Naruto Ninja Cards" App Globally with Creator and TV Tokyo Approval

imdb11h ago

How an Indie Studio Convinced 'Naruto' Creator, TV Tokyo to Let Them Make Franchise's First Official Digital Cards App (Exclusive) - IMDb

Yahoo News UK11h ago

How an Indie Studio Convinced 'Naruto' Creator, TV Tokyo to Let Them Make Franchise's First Official Digital Cards App (EXCLUSIVE) - Yahoo News UK

4 Sources

With 500,000 early downloads, how will this free-to-play Naruto app balance fan loyalty against the aggressive monetization typical of digital card games?

What exactly did the indie CEO write to Naruto's creator to unlock the franchise's first digital card game rights?

Can a small Western startup truly deliver a stadium-level anime experience, or will this ambitious project collapse under its own weight?