Keiji Inafune gives his thoughts about Japanese game development today

[cmdrdredd]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mega-man-creator-on-japan-s-culture-of-fear/1100-6428379/

The basis of it is that the Japanese publishers are too afraid of failure or change to greenlight some ideas for the western audiences. Turning to kickstarter proves that people are willing to put their faith and their money in the hands of developers and their vision. Like it or hate it kickstarter has recently allowed some games that would never be possible, a chance. It has also proven that gamers want these games from Japan despite the fact that publishers don't want to make it. Instead many publishers and development studios work on games that are only targeted to the Japanese market. They need to spread out and become more multicultural. In turn some games are released for the world and don't sell so a publisher or developer thinks nobody wants their games when the problem is that the people making the game never thought to make their game with a wider appeal and focused on what appeals to Japan too much.

He goes on to describe the Japanese culture as being shy by nature and that people are afraid to do anything without someone else doing it first. So there is this cycle of developers at times simply being afraid to deviate from the norm.

He also says the following but I think it applies to certain games in other parts of the world as well. Games with yearly releases getting pumped out. I often wonder if the guys sometimes grumble "really? I need to come up with an idea for another Call of Duty? I have a hundred good ideas for other games that would be much cooler to work on." then get the answer "We don't care, CoD sells".

It's very unlikely that anything could happen outside of Kickstarter. You might not understand this, but a lot of Japanese game creators are salaryman, they're just there to do their work. They're not actually creating the game they want to make because that's the order they're given by their superiors. I have been fighting against my superiors my whole [career] because I want to make something that I really want to make, and not too many people really do that in Japan, because worst case, they can get fired. Without the company's support, you won't even have the money to make the game to begin with. So, everyone just becomes 'yes men' in the company, so that's a really bad cycle, and I don't think it's a cycle that can change just because of a couple Kickstarters. At this point, I can't really say something other than kickstart will change things.

At least he recognizes that the North American market is where the money is and understands that you need to have a more international focus for mainstream success in the gaming industry today.

 

[Lil Frier]

I think that's the position we've all somewhat held for a while. There's too much risk, to them, in pushing aside a known quantity like Final Fantasy or Mario to work on a new IP or concept, and I think this is even worse for Nintendo, who likes to take 4+ years for many game releases. A screw-up could mean close to a decade where a development team doesn't turn a profit. It gives us polished games, but it doesn't give us original experiences, and it's why I believe Nintendo simply needs to hire more developers to get content moving faster. Having a weak title delay you 1-2 years isn't as bad as if it hurts a development group for 4-6.

It sucks, but it's also been reality for a long time. It's why Nintendo can't keep up with Sony or Microsoft, but it's also why they won't totally die off. It's probably why we both got a good game in Bayonetta 2, but didn't see it really pushed by Nintendo that much. It'd be nice if we saw a major developer or two either come to America to work for a bit, and see how much potential gaming really offers when they're willing to try, or if a team got a shot of American (or other non-Eastern Asian) talent thrown into the group.

I don't know it'd help, though. It's not like those teams can't see Tomb Raider get a successful reboot or Call of Duty manage to be a year's top game with its lowest sales in 3 years, because it's so popular. I don't know if it's ignorance of the outside world or complete and utter delusion that keeps them from seeing what else is going on in the industry.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Speaking of tomb raider, square enix published it and they have had more success as a publisher lately than a developer. Although they still called tomb raider a failure even though it sold quite well for them.

 

[purbeast0]

this doesn't seem like it's just a japanese dev problem, the same thing is happening here in the states and europe as well.

while i love console gaming in general, there has been pretty much no innovation in recent years. it's just the same old rehashed crap with sequel after sequel after sequel, with the tried and true formulas.

i'm glad my love for fighters came back because without those i don't think i would do much gaming in general now a days. but i can see how people who aren't into fighters think they are all the same thing too.

glad that there seems to be some great story driven games though, even though the gameplay is rehashed for the most part in a lot of these sequels (like uncharted, god of war, etc).

 

[cmdrdredd]

this doesn't seem like it's just a japanese dev problem, the same thing is happening here in the states and europe as well.

while i love console gaming in general, there has been pretty much no innovation in recent years. it's just the same old rehashed crap with sequel after sequel after sequel, with the tried and true formulas.

i'm glad my love for fighters came back because without those i don't think i would do much gaming in general now a days. but i can see how people who aren't into fighters think they are all the same thing too.

glad that there seems to be some great story driven games though, even though the gameplay is rehashed for the most part in a lot of these sequels (like uncharted, god of war, etc).

Right but I think his line of thinking was more about japanese publishers not branching out to embrace the rest of the world(where the money is) and see what they are actually willing to buy. Their games cater mostly to the japanese audience and they wonder why, if they do release them in North America for example, they don't sell well. They are being too internal.

 

[jpiniero]

The thing is that Console gaming is seriously dead in Japan. It's all mobile gaming. So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Japanese developers are having a hard time of it. The FF7 remake was surely in large part to try to reverse the fortunes, at least for the PS4.

 

[mmntech]

this doesn't seem like it's just a japanese dev problem, the same thing is happening here in the states and europe as well.

while i love console gaming in general, there has been pretty much no innovation in recent years. it's just the same old rehashed crap with sequel after sequel after sequel, with the tried and true formulas.

Unfortunately, that's what the game buying public wants. That's what focus groups tell them they want. That's what sells, so that's what gets made. Very little creativity actually goes into making traditional games anymore, which is why talented developers are getting so frustrated.

What Kickstarter has proved is that there is demand for the kinds of games the big studios keep telling us we don't want. I think you'll see more creative and ambitious devs looking to fund projects this way rather than going through traditional channels.

As for Japan, yes, console gaming is effectively dead there. The PS4 has sold at a rate of 6:1 in the US versus Japan. The most popular current gen console there is the Wii U, which I think says a lot. Even then it's managed just over 2 million units sold.

Japanese gamers are also buying fewer games. The tie-ratio for the PS4 is 3 games bought per console, where it's closer to 5 in all other territories. Same applies for the Wii U.

The 3DS tops both sales and tie-ratio charts in Japan versus other territories. They'd rather play their games on the go. Either through traditional handhelds or mobile phones. There's a reason why the Vita still gets so many JRPGs.

Japan is a bit different than the rest of East-Asia in that they never really got big into MMORPGs and competitive gaming. They still like their arcades and fighting games, and don't really like to play at home. Gaming seems to be more of a social experience for the mainstream there than it is elsewhere. The Otaku just stick to traditional JRPGs.