Fighting game streamer and player Majin Obama lights up Shibuya Crossing in billboard ads
Earnt via a promotional campaign, Mr Obama will temporarily look over the people of Tokyo.
Twitch streamer, content creator, and Guilty Gear Strive celestial-ranked gatekeeper Majin Obama has recently started lighting up the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world: Shibuya Crossing. Earnt as part of a series of Twitch promotional campaigns in Japan, Mr Obama was able to net the prize of having their stream and face plastered around bustling Tokyo.
A long time fighting game player and former English teacher, Majin Obama has gradually been building an audience as one of the communities’ most charismatic creators. Alongside their streaming work, they’ve created videos on a variety of topical topics, including the recent Street Fighter 6 closed beta, the “official FGC certification exam” and a guide on how to get Twitch rich following the earnings leak late last year.
Reaching out to him via Twitter DMs, Majin Obama expressed how he felt “proud but also lucky”, the shining screens in Shibuya affirming the fortune and work that’s gone into their career up until this point. “I suppose I have come a long way in more ways than one since I started streaming, but I feel lucky to have grown a strong community along with it.”
That community has come together to celebrate the occasion, sharing videos and screenshots of Majin Obama in a spectacular Arabic black and white robe and headscarf as he illuminates the skyline. However, Obama made sure to take some time away from the internet to visit the billboards with offline friends, as anyone would.
As for what’s next for the streamer, they have big plans for 2022 and beyond. “For my stream, I want to continue to do what we have been doing, playing fighting games, clearing some games, some IRL- but I also want to diversify a bit more, get outside my comfort zone, and innovate. I plan on doing some crazier and more experimental stuff using resources and space I have here, so look forward to it!” The next few months are big for fighting games as you may know, with Street Fighter 6 and even Project L making ripples in the genre’s ecosystem.
“Aside from that, 2023 is going to be a big year for me. I want to start travelling again and going to locals/fg events and otherwise around the world.”
For more fighting game content that my boss and editor Tom Orry has foolishly let us publish in the past, check out Alex Donaldson’s op ed on SF6’s battle hub: Street Fighter 6's battle hub is a brilliant attempt to digitize the arcade experience.