The Idolm@ster SideM is getting its first console game
Bandai Namco and D3 Publisher are building the first home console game for The Idolm@ster SideM, bringing 49 idols and 16 units to Switch 2 and Switch.
The Idolm@ster SideM is getting its first home console game. Bandai Namco Entertainment and its subsidiary D3 Publisher announced the project at the end of the SideM 11th STAGE concert on Sunday 13 September, and say development is under way for Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch.
What Bandai Namco has confirmed
The game is an idol-producing and scheduling adventure, played solo, and it tells a completely new story rather than retelling the mobile game's. Bandai Namco is promising console-scale volume for the cast, with the daily rhythm of managing a roster front and centre.
The numbers are the headline: 49 idols across 16 units, among them the poster unit DRAMATIC STARS, the series regulars Jupiter, F-LAGS with Ryo Akizuki, and C.First. Every one of the 49 gets a new costume designed for this game, and the announcement led with newly drawn visuals for the three members of DRAMATIC STARS.
No title and no release window yet
Bandai Namco says the formal title, the release window and the rest of the detail will follow later, and the age rating is still to be assigned. The publisher also notes that the screens released alongside the announcement are from a build still in development.
Our opinion
SideM has spent most of its life on mobile, so moving to a Nintendo console is less a port decision than a change of audience. The series is built on a schedule-and-relationship loop that a handheld or docked console suits better than a phone does: it wants longer sessions, a bigger screen and no stamina timers. Committing to 49 new costumes and drawn visuals up front is Bandai Namco saying this is a real product, not a franchise anniversary gesture.
The pairing with D3 Publisher is the part worth watching. It is the same route Bandai Namco has used for several lower-risk console spin-offs, which suggests a sensible budget and a release that will be dated only once it is close. That is a healthier signal than a splashy CG trailer with a year on it.