Imagineer discusses how Fitness Boxing reinvigorated their entire business

Just last week, Imagineer announced the visual novel Mystery Walk for Switch. This is the first more-traditional game that Imagineer has released in quite some time, and apparently it’s just the start. The company has been itching to get back to creating all sorts of games, and that’s only now possible thanks to the mega success of the Fitness Boxing franchise.

The Fitness Boxing brand launched on the Switch in 2018 and managed to sell over 1 million copies, making it a much bigger hit than Imagineer ever expected. That led to the creation of sequels and spin-offs, and now the Fitness Boxing franchise has pulled in 2.9 million units sold worldwide. This one franchise alone was enough to completely turn around Imagineer’s fortunes.

Imagineer used to release all sorts of titles back in the day, including games for the Game Boy, N64 and more. It was right around that N64 era that Imagineer started to step back from releasing titles, and it seemed like they might be done forever. In a Famitsu interview with Imagineer’s CEO Kazunori Sumioka, we learned that the company’s efforts on Fitness Boxing changed the company’s outlook on not just tech in the game industry, but that they also might still stand a chance in making a name on themselves in gaming.

Without Fitness Boxing making its mark, Imagineer would have likely quietly disappeared into gaming history. Thankfully that’s not the case, and Mystery Walk is sure to be the first of many more traditional releases from the studio in the coming years.