If you don't become a professional here, you will definitely regret it.
Mr. Umehara, you intended to continue playing the game as a hobby, but now you've turned pro, right?
Umehara:I thought it was just a hobby, or maybe it was just me. ...... At the time, there was a card system that allowed you to keep track of the number of games you played and the results of your games. I was playing the game only half of the time, and I was playing 1/3 or less of the time when I was going to the arcade for 363 days, but somehow I was still in the top 10 in the country in the number of games played (laughs).
Wow (laughs).
Umehara:At that time, I was surprised that people did not play fighting games that much, and I thought to myself, "Well, then, I who played fighting games that much must win. Some time later, there was an event in the U.S. where champions from Japan, Korea, and the U.S. fought each other in a national tournament, and the winner was invited to the "Evolution" fighting game world tournament held every summer in Las Vegas. For some reason, there was a seat reserved for me in the competition, separate from the champions from each of the three countries. I had been away from the game for a while, and people overseas were asking me, "What happened to Umehara? Did he die? "Did he get married?" It seemed to be big news with speculations like "What happened to Umehara?
A world champion has suddenly disappeared.
Umehara:Then I heard that the event had been revived for some reason, and they said, "Well, let's invite that legendary man. I won that event, and later won the world championship to which I was invited. It was like a miracle that I won the world championship, and then I was invited to the world championship. If that's the case, we'll take care of you, so why don't you give the game a serious try again? That was in 2009. And it was 2010 when I declared myself a professional.
Did you have any doubts when you decided to go pro?
Umehara:I would be lying if I said it was not. I knew that 90% of the people around me would say, "Well, I think it's a great thing, but it's not going to be a lifetime job," and I didn't think I would be able to continue doing it for that long. However, what was the most painful thing about being in the game for so many years was being told, "The game is not useful for the future, you can't make a job out of it. I was constantly told that "games are not useful for the future and I can't make a career out of it," and I knew that. In that sense, things have changed a bit.
It may not last, but at least it got the job done.
Umehara:Yes. Until then, no matter how hard I tried, it had never been more than a hobby. Also, when I look back on my life, there were very few special things that happened to me, but with gaming, something special happened to me, even though I don't know what it was, and I had the hope that something special might happen in the future as well. Above all, even if I chose not to become a professional gamer and returned to society, I knew that somewhere along the way I would regret it and wonder, "What would have happened if I had tried then? I knew that I would definitely regret it. I felt that would not be a happy life for me, so I decided to take a chance.
