Zwift launched its Makuri Islands worlds in May of 2021, giving Zwifters access to a lush, rural map called “Yumezi”. Zwifters have been enjoying Yumezi’s mix of dirt and paved roads, unique architecture, and lush natural elements. But we’ve also been asking for more!
This week Zwift shared teaser details of the next expansion planned for the platform. Named “Neokyo”, this is a very urban addition to the Makuri Islands map.
The Neokyo map will connect to Yumezi, so riders can ride on both maps in one session, just like we might ride Watopia’s Fuego Flats and Mayan Jungle in one workout. We can safely assume pre-planned routes will include both maps, while some will be based only in Neokyo just as existing routes are based only in Yumezi.
According to Zwift’s Art Directory Tony Yruegas, the amount of new roads in Neokyo roughly matches the roads available in Yumezi (~30km). So this expansion will bring the Makuri Islands up to around 60km of roads.
Neokyo (neo + Tokyo, get it?) exists in what Zwift calls “permanight” – that is, it’s always dark. This is being done to show off the city’s incredible moving lights and reflections. The streets have a “wet look” which reflects some of the lights, making this map a feast for the eyes.
The roads of Neokyo look to be fairly flat and fast, but we’ll be able to find out for ourselves soon enough. Zwift will be hosting upcoming badge hunting tours of the new map once it launches.
Zwift has already said that their plan is for Makuri Islands to become Zwift’s second “hub-world” (the first being Watopia). So we anticipate many more expansions as time goes on, including one that takes us to the big snow-capped “Mt. Fuji” we can see from Yumezi’s roads.
Launch Date
Zwift says Neokyo is arriving in November. With recent major updates landing around the 15-20th of each month, our best guess on an arrival date is November 17th. If Zwift releases more teasers before then, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Questions or Comments?
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Oh these look so cool, like riding through the first bladerunner set 🙂
I agree
Let’s see how buggy this is going to be!
How ’bout a “thank you” to the Zwift dev team instead of complaining? New routes are awesome!
Why, we pay them for the product. We get to complain when it doesn’t work which is often. They roll out events that are broken and don’t bother to fix the. Roll out buggy maps while having services lile running that they haven’t provided any real support for. And whatever happened with clubs and whatever that service was supposed to be?
I’m not going to say thank you to some that I’m paying for a service and they can’t be bother to properly support it.
Having said all this looks pretty cool and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it but I rather they fix roll puts of things like the academys and provide a real update to the running feature.
One can always unsubscribe man, it’s not like they are taking your money by force. And thanking somebody for a service you are paying for is not a crime. It is just good manners.
The Dude is completely right. People seem to forget they are paying almost $200 a year for it. You can expect something in return, ALL THE TIME, because it’s subscription based.
You are getting something all the time. Their service works. A bug here and there does not mean you are not getting the service you pay for. And if are not happy well there are lots of others apps for you to choose.
Very Cyberpunk 2077ish. This will be something interesting as it is brighter than New York.
best environment for the tron bike
oh yesss with it’s glowing wheels 😍 … BUT you could win races there with the following setup : 100miles-kit, Trek Emonda, Enve 3.4 (everything dark) … so you can ride with a permanent “Ghost Powerup” in Neokyos Nightlife 😅
Any idea about the new pack dynamics? Last plant I saw mentioned October, is something that we could expect still this month or would probably be rolled-out with the November neon update?
I think the next update (maybe dropping today?) will have an updated version of PD in it, but not enabled. They’ll do further tests in particular events/worlds with that updated version, and if it goes well, start rolling it out over the next couple months.
Looks great! But i cant wait for a climb up “Mt Fuji”! When it rains in zwift or as in this map, wet roads all the time, does that effect rolling resistance? So if you want to set a PR on a segment, be sure to try on a dry day in zwift?
No, wet/dry doesn’t change resistance.
Looks like there’s going to be some interesting crit racing potential on this. The top left & bottom right have some intriguingly wiggly bits.
I worry about the wet roads for crit racing; there could be lots of crashes.
For sure!
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Id love to see a velodrome much like the 400m track for running. Full gas efforts for lap times and could add bots in for specific events
Wonder what the scale is? Doesn’t look more than 5k of new roads.
Never mind….should read the whole post first…..! Must be my disappointment in getting no Watopia expansion for 2021…
Looking forward to it looking pretty dull on my old brick of a notebook that I run Zwift on. Hope the FPS will stay around 40 like in other worlds at least. But there’s something to look forward to, if there is ZRL or WTRL TTT on this map and I DS, I would be able to be awed by the graphics on my gaming rig.
Wait… you DS on a gaming rig, but Zwift on a crappy laptop? #priorities, man!
Gaming rig is 20 meters from my trainer on the other side of the flat in my room. Trainer is in the living room.
I’ve been laying 15m USB and HDMI cables from one room into the other for two years and it worked without problems (apart from my wife stepping over and disconnecting them from time to time 😆) I had to remove them after every session, though, which has been a bit of a pain…
That also explains my strong preference of being able to control Zwift without mouse and keyboard 😀
I’m hoping for a 50km continuos route with Makuri xonnected to this.
Yes, I’m hoping Zwift makes a long route that covers all (or most) roads with few repeats!
If there isn’t an official ‘everything’ loop, I’m sure someone will come up with a rebel route before too long 🙂 can’t wait either way, looks fab
This is great news as Yumezi was starting to feel a little small having ridden it a lot. Really looking forward to this. All we need with this release is for Makuri to become a permeant map to select rather than part of the rotation maps.
It’s small, but it’s bigger than Watopia was when IT began. These virtual worlds take time to build, if you build them well.
I’m wondering if Makuri Islands will eventually be a 4th option on the calendar. Watopia, Makuri, and 2 guest worlds…
Shall I start the call out for Godzilla’s?
I also want the wave function to instead wave a different coloured glow stick
I wonder why Zwift would choose to partner with the women’s Tour de France and then decide to put yet another city landscape into the game rather than expand France with some of the routes the women will be riding over next summer?
Not a good joined up strategy springs to mind Different areas of the business running there own isolated ones..
Why would they release those roads now, when there is a long time to go until the Tour de France? Purely from a marketing perspective you wants those roads released when the hype towards the tour is building up.
not everyone has the same common sense you do
That may happen, just the talk surrounding this release is that the Japan world is now the main alternative “hub” to Wattopia, which doesn’t make it sound as though much will be added to the other worlds.
Maybe their partnering with the women’s TdF bodes well for a future expansion of the France world. It is crying out for development. It does seem a strange strategy to keep building new worlds and not expanding the existing ones. NYC could also be expanded with a link to the countryside in a similar way to that in London.
I bet that they will eventually rotate the 2 hub worlds instead of having Makuri Island part of the guest world rotation.
This looks great. I am looking forward to riding these new roads soon. Nice to see a big change with the cityscape. Also glad to read it is mostly flat and fast. Looking at the Makuri Islands map I am wondering where this will connect. I am thinking the map image they released may be rotated and could connect up to the North East section. Maybe… I could be completely wrong on where it is going to connect.
Or this?
Yeah, James, that looks like it would fit quite neatly! Scale also seems to be right, comparing the sizes of starting pens. Let’s see!
I’m looking forward to it, even though I’m a bigger fan of the “real” maps where you can relate not only to landmarks but even to certain corners or grafitti on the road. If I had a wish list there would be a nice sunny coastal road (e. g. like in Milano-San Remo) and some more mountain roads on it.
However, Neokyo surely will look great and seems to provide some new crit courses as well!
Will we pass through a parking garage or some other building near the “eastern” pens?
I am thinking yours is more likely.
James has it right. look at the match on the roads….
Ha ha, great. Like rolling through Shinjuku. Beginning of this clip is a taste https://youtu.be/OwjoT9YFDug
My Philips Hue lighting will finally get a workout while I Zwift.
Personally I have not “been enjoying Yumezi’s mix of dirt and paved roads”. I either have to stop and make multiple bike changes, or slog through about half the ride on the “wrong” bike.
LOL. Someone’s upset it’s too hard for him to earn the Tron bike. 😭
The Tron is no better than any other bike on multiple road surfaces.
I finally took the plunge into getting a gravel bike for Yumezi and it’s a good option unless doing the outer road only route. The gravel roads aren’t long enough to benefit a huge amount with a MTB over a gravel (with stop included) so it’s a good option.
never riding anywhere else again when this comes out XD
If people like it… i hope they get to shoot some pokemon there. I’m more than underwhelmed by even more phantasy-bling-bling.
What’s “fantasy” about it? Have you seen pictures of urban areas in Japan? This is much more realistic than Yumezi (too idyllic – needs more concrete and overcrowding, even if it’s supposed to be a rural area).
Looks like it’ll be fun and I guess that’s what’s most important. Did I read somewhere that there’s going to be a train/subway involved too? Most of the maps have a train station, even Harrogate’s is only a street away from the map. I like the idea of riding on to a train in one world and re-appearing in one of the other worlds to continue a ride; opens endless ride options (race from London to Neokyo?). Probably some way off yet though.
There’s a train on Yumezi, too. But we can’t ride the trains… yet!
How would that work when the ride gets uploaded to Strava? I like the idea of being able to move between worlds like this, and it would be fine in Zwift. Just not sure how that would impact the rides being uploaded to other services, like Strava.
Yeah, Strava would have a fit 😄 – a single ride taking in Harrogate, Neokyo and New York in the space of an hour. I’m sure they’d enjoy the challenge but Zwift maps aren’t important in Strava anyway (Surrey hills in Peckham?), only the data.
Fire up the supercomputer: who will be first to design the shortest possible route which covers all of the roads in Makuri?
its only fitting to make this a Tron bike only world so you have to earn the right to ride there.
Tron bike or not, I pay a monthly subscription so have already earned the right.
Anime otaku dream. Lots of classic anime refence using that name for the addition. Even throwing the real life emperors palace grounds which should contrast the modern look of the cityscape. That had to be some amount work to make that possible. Now two of the long lasting monacrhy palace grounds on Zwift. That could be an series of events/races palace to palace shared with the London map. Even a route on makuri map castle to castle to castle. Toyko is not the flattest city but with some rollars/small hills with alot flat with what could seen in the recent the summer games, but not NYC map degree hopefully. Possible crit courses on the map it looks like.
i wonder where this will join up with the existing map/roads???
The best idea is a dirt road that comes off in farmlands/rice paddies on the main loop. It is before forest rd junction a km+ out from the country sprint arch reverse. There grey line start between some paddies heading out away into the green when you zoom out. It is on one of the pictures someone posted above.
Get your TRON bikes ready!
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We now need a tron helmet to go with our tron bike
Wow looks awesome
This looks cool and I love zwift so I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining but, for the love of god, can we please make it so we can ride between worlds – all of them?
Strava would have a fit! 😂
The road that disappears off to the top right, I hope that’s an undisclosed big climb!
I would imagine that it connects Neokyo to Yumezi….
So considering Makuri doesn’t go live again until the 30th,’October’ is pushing credulity even if its launched then. Hopefully it will be, in a bonanza blaze of Halloween themed neon….. But I’ve been around too long to expect anything at this point!
Whilst new roads are always welcome, and this will no doubt be spectacular and stunning graphically, I have to agree with Shane Miller on the Zwiftcast and would rather see a course based on the traditional one day classics like Paris Roubaix etc.
According to the new course calander for Novemebr. If map addition not open on Halloween, then on Wed. Nov 10th. There is a week of makuri islands/NYC with watopia following the 10th.
Can’t wait. Just as winter is approaching in the uk too.
I note that the November schedule has the Makuri Islands on for an entire week Nov 10-17, suggesting to me that the update will drop on Nov 10.
I’m going to guess we get to ride in Neokyo on November 15th.
Nope, not until the 18th at the very least
I would like to see longer routes and a big climb in Makuri Islands, but I suppose Zwift will provide that eventually.
btw, does anyone know why the PRs are 30 day only? I find that to be very annoying. Zwift must have the data to change that, right?
For me are this new roads to crazy. I like more the real cycling roads by the tour the france. Build up france. More cols then one. That would be nice for a real cycling lover.