(アイドルマスター ライブフォーユー!, Aidorumasutā Raibu Fō Yū!, officially stylized as THE iDOLM@STER Live For You!)

The story is told from the perspective of a special producer in charge of coordinating the live performances of 11 pop idols from The Idolmaster series.

The development team wanted to create a game that would allow players to easily view the live performances.

The protagonist in the game was developed to be a "fan representative" who would coordinate the idols' performances, so any complex scenarios were left out, resulting in a simple story.

An original video animation episode produced by Actas was bundled with the limited edition release of the game.

is a live simulation game that revolves around characters related to the talent agency 765 Production (765 Pro), a rising studio located in a small office.

On the day of a fan appreciation concert, 765 Pro's company president and main producer suddenly go missing.

The player assumes the role of their substitute, an unnamed "special producer" who is put in charge of coordinating the live performances of 765 Pro's 11 idols: Haruka Amami, Chihaya Kisaragi, Yukiho Hagiwara, Yayoi Takatsuki, Ritsuko Akizuki, Azusa Miura, Iori Minase, Makoto Kikuchi, Ami and Mami Futami, and Miki Hoshii.

[9] The Xbox 360 port of The Idolmaster was developed to allow in part for the player to comfortably enjoy the various scenarios, but the game still had limitations that made viewing live performances difficult.

To achieve this goal, the development team included added functionality with camera angles and close-ups during performances.

The team also touched on the idea to add in a "sense of unity with the audience" and wanted the player to get excited with the idols during performances, leading to the development of the rhythm minigame.

[4] The staff wanted to create a game that would not cause any stress, and that would allow the player to easily choose any character and form three-girl idol units.

[9] The protagonist in the game was developed to be a "fan representative" who would coordinate the idols' performances, so any complex scenarios were left out, resulting in a simple story.

marked the first appearance of 765 Pro's office clerk Kotori Otonashi in the main story, who was included to help guide the player.

Sakagami calculated that it would take about 300 billion years without sleep to view every possible combination of idol (from one to groups of three), song, stage, costume and accessory available in Live For You!.

[10][11] The limited edition came bundled with an 84-page booklet, a custom slipcase, and a DVD containing an original video animation episode.

[18] Namco Bandai Games released 17 DLC updates between February 28, 2008 and August 26, 2009 available through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The updates include new songs and remixes, costumes, accessories, icons, themes, and additional side-stories called "Idol Dramas".

However, it was later observed that about 95% of players were using online connectivity, which lead the development team to reconsider adding additional songs.

began, those staff members were still unavailable, and the development team had to wait until close to when the game was released to start work on additional songs.

The songs were released by Nippon Columbia on a six-part CD series titled The Idolmaster Master Live in 2008.

[19] This was followed by five compilation albums: Remaster-A on March 5,[20] Remaster-B on April 16,[21] Do-Dai on May 14,[22] My Song on June 18,[23] and Encore on October 29.

The book contains information for both the Xbox 360 port of The Idolmaster and Live For You!, including walkthroughs and details on downloadable content.

The DVD also features a music video for the song "Danketsu" (団結, "Unity"), sung by 765 Production's 11 idols from Live For You!.

[31] The game has been described as akin to a fan disc that would be hard to play if the player did not already have an emotional attachment to the idols.