Konami is training an AI to beat you at Yu-Gi-Oh

Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel developer Konami has revealed it’s developing new AI technology that will be able to compete in the trading card game. 

On February 5, Konami shared several updates on its Yu-Gi-Oh franchise, revealing that it had recently debuted its new Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel x AI project – which teaches AI how to play the card game and eventually beat the player. However as the post explains, it has “not yet been determined” if the tech will be “added to the game itself.”

Attendees of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: The Legend of Duelist Quarter Century event in Tokyo got to see the new technology in action, which “learns the more that it Duels.” The idea is that Master Duel players will be able to go up against AI opponents to make battles even more challenging and engaging.

“Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel x AI Project is a project to deliver new ways to enjoy Duels […]  by building a system that allows AI to be installed in the game, enabling Duels in Yu-Gi-Oh! MASTER DUEL to be played with the AI created by external programs,” the announcement reads. “The AI program grows and learns through continuous Dueling.” 

Attendees at the event got to “see the thinking processes of the AI visualized,” including the selection patterns of the AI’s actions, quantifying win rates depending on how Duels developed, and predicting which cards would be played. 

Elsewhere in Konami’s announcement, it revealed it is currently developing a brand new digital game collection to commemorate the series’ 25th anniversary. Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Collection is set to be released on Nintendo Switch and PC and will feature games that were previously only available in Japan. 

So far, we only know about one of the games included and it’s Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists – which was originally released only for the Game Boy Color in 2000. We don’t have a release date for this collection yet, but Konami has said we can expect more news on the project soon. 

Find out what else we’ve got to look forward to with our new games 2024 list.