PlatinumGames' Inaba to Japanese game devs: be more creative, go beyond what is given |
There are some changes needed in Japanese games, according to Atsushi Inaba, head of Platinum Games. This conclusion was made after he observed that in balancing the needs of a Western audience, Japanese development are showing some weaknesses.To be precise, they need to be more creative. It's not just the Japanese market that they're catering to now, after all. It's the whole world market, and they cannot just keep on churning out material that - while sure to be hits in the local arena - will remain less accessible to the mainstream international market.
Says Inaba:
... what I want Japanese creators to realize now is that they are now following the lead of the U.S. creators, and that we need to get to and then surpass those creators, with innovative games that sell in the West as well.
The thing with Japanese creators, he observes further, is that they have always been very detail-oriented and customer-service-oriented. It's probably because it's ingrained in their culture. However, he believes that Japan "may not have ever been the most creative group."
His call to action, therefore, is for Japanese game developers to be more creative:
In the West, prior to when Japan was leading, they made very aggressively innovative and great games, which they may not have been ready for, so, as a result, their games may not have been very good in quality, but they are very creative, and very fun.
Japan had always been good at taking advantage of what was available within the technology of the consoles that were available then, and worked best within the restrictions, while the West had always been great at going beyond what was available to them. So, going forward, I believe that Japan needs to be more creative, and go beyond what is given.
Japanese devs, are you listening?
Related Atsushi Inaba Articles:
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Comments [refresh]
Japanese developers had always been more creative than the western ones.
Katamari, Patapon, Wario Games, Okami, Metal Gear Solid.
Those games are very creative (I didnt want to list RPGs because jap devs are mostly into that).
customer-service-oriented... I don't know what that means.
Understand, the majority of Japanese games are nothing like those. Most of them are games that are specifically geared towards gamers which the mass market of westerners do not like. It's like America releasing football games in Japan, it just won't make big numbers.