GlitchPitch

Max started working on Idol Manager in 2014. Max was an avid follower of the Japanese idol scene, but he noticed that all of the games and anime focusing on the Japanese idol industry showed only a cute and idealized version of pop idol life. He wanted to make a game that included the rawness and drama that made following real idols so interesting. With that in mind, Max began developing Idol Manager as a business simulator that would provide players with a variety of choices, with a focus on showing realistic consequences and avoiding moralization to create an experience where the player never feels that there is one "right" answer.

In 2015, Aiwa (artist) and Kuiper (script writer) joined the team. Like Max, Kuiper finds the real pop idol industry in Japan more interesting than the cute sanitized version that is often presented in games and anime, and he aims to depict the industry in a way that shows the fun and lively side of pop idol life without painting over the more ugly and unpleasant parts of showbiz.