Since childhood, Aoba Suzukaze has loved the Fairies Story game series, particularly the character designs. So when she graduates from high school, it is no surprise that she applies to work at Eagle Jump, the company responsible for making her favorite video game. On her first day, she is excited to learn that she will be working on a new installment to the series: Fairies Story 3—and even more so under Kou Yagami, the lead character designer. In their department are people who share the same passion for games. There is Yun Iijima, whose specialty is designing monsters; the shy Hifumi Takimoto, who prefers to communicate through instant messaging; Hajime Shinoda, an animation team member with an impressive figurine collection; Rin Tooyama, the orderly art director; Shizuku Hazuki, the game director who brings her cat to work; and Umiko Ahagon, the short-tempered head programmer. New Game! follows Aoba and the others on their adventure through the ups and downs of game making, from making the perfect character design to fixing all the errors that will inevitably accumulate in the process.

​It has been a year since Aoba Suzukaze started working at the Eagle Jump game company. In that time, she and her eccentric coworkers in the character design department have worked hard to release the company's newest game: Fairies Story 3. With their latest title now complete, a new project must begin—starting with a contest to decide the character designs for the upcoming game. Through hard work, dedication, and some guidance from the previous character designer, Kou Yagami, Aoba wins the contest and begins her new role as lead character designer. However, her new job is not an easy one. In addition to having extra work and longer hours, Aoba questions whether she is the right fit for the job. As she overcomes her inexperience with the help of her friends and coworkers, Aoba is willing to face any challenge to make Eagle Jump's newest creation, a cutesy game called Peco.

Hotaru Tachibana has a strong sense of justice and just cannot help confronting those who choose to perform malicious acts. Furthermore, Hotaru is actually a girl who likes to disguise herself as a boy. After hearing rumors that her best friend was tricked by the popular host of a local club, Hotaru seeks to punish the evildoer. Upon arriving at the club, however, she is challenged to a so-called survival game by the host Masamune Matsuoka, where the first person hit by the bullet of a toy gun will lose. After a destructive fight which results in Hotaru's loss, Masamune forces the young boy to join his survival game team named Toy Gun Gun, in order to repay the cost of the damages that he has caused inside the club. Although she is initially unhappy with this turn of events, Hotaru quickly begins to enjoy what survival games have to offer and is determined to pay off her debt, much to the dismay of Tooru Yukimura, the other member of Toy Gun Gun. As time goes on, Hotaru begins to develop a close friendship with the rest of the team and hopes to take part in realizing their dream of winning the Top Combat Game (TCG), a tournament to decide the best survival game team in Japan. Although Hotaru tries her best, there are just two little problems: she is absolutely terrible at the game, and Toy Gun Gun doesn't allow female members on their team!

To the shy and reclusive Ryuuto Kashima, associating himself with his popular classmate Runa Shirakawa is nothing but a distant fantasy—or so he thought. After losing a bet with his friends and being coerced into confessing to Runa, Ryuuto's world is flipped upside down: instead of the cruel rejection he was expecting, Runa agrees to go out with him! But dating Runa proves to be overwhelming for Ryuuto, who requests that their relationship remain a secret known only by their closest friends. His decision, however, leads to a series of mishaps that he fears will doom the relationship. As they work through their misunderstandings, Ryuuto reveals his insecurities stemming from his past experiences, and the two grow closer together. Just when things are getting back on track, Ryuuto's middle school crush, Maria Kurose, transfers to his class and begins to stir up a fuss. At the same time, terrible rumors about Runa spread around the school, prompting Ryuuto to take desperate measures to protect her.