Is Japan's development scene doomed?

CVG visits the Japan Foundation, to find out...

[Knight_Cid]

RIDICULOUS

What I got out of it is the US, japan, and UK are all in pretty bad game shape.

But At least the game scene in japan is just as strong as the US, the UK, with retailers going under, games not even beign stocked, thats a worse time

And lets not forget the psp sold more in the US than it did in japan. People tend to overlook that

"But Endo highlighted something that mitigates against that: the biggest console platform in Japan at the moment is the PSP, which never found much of an audience in the rest of the world."

The 3ds begs to differ

[360ICE]

Meanwhile, in the real world...

[Knight_Cid]

This is the real world. Alot of what they said is completely accurate. Casual games are just a big a problem in other regions as they are in japan. And since about june of last year the 3ds has been the number 1 system in japan, thats a fact

And he was right in saying in terms of total revenue the US is the biggest game market ( that doesnt mean best), japan is number 2, and UK is slipping from number 3.

Hell my most hyped games of the year in every region are from japan

Even just early this year in this region 13-2, devil survivor 2, residen evil revelations, tales of graces f, are the only things I am looking forward too

@ below

millions isnt barely

[360ICE]

It's not as much that I disagree with all that you're saying, as it is that a few of the things you're saying are just meaningless. PSP sold more in the North America than in Japan, BARELY. You have any idea of how different these two markets are in terms of overall demand?

edit:

And if we're going to talk about Japanese games VS western, we can't use you as a standard, because you are a fan of Japanese games(shot in the dark). The average game consumer isn't even a gamer.

The article I've got nothing against.

edit 2:
And millions is barely, when most consoles sell twice, three times, five times, or (take 360) twenty+ times as many consoles in USA as in Japan. Because it's a much bigger market with more people with more purchasing power. That is the real world.

[hellvaguy]

The psp shud sell far more in the US than Japan considering Japan is smaller than the state of California.

[ATi_Elite]

I didn't know they had one!

Oh wait they got Mario, Zelda, and Rapelay!

Everything i play is coming outta the U.S.A. or Europe. Korea has some hot titles but Japan is blah these days.......well for me that is.

[ChrisW]

Rapelay is NOT the worst hentai game on the market! It's the name that only has a shock factor for Westerners. Seriously, each year there are about a hundred hentai games that are released... and a vast majority of them are only for the sub-humane species.

[Panaru]

Oh, a computerandvideogames article. Hah.

[GOGOGOHO]

And....

[vader1231231]

No.

[Captain Qwark 9]

2 words......FROM SOFTWARE....

[PetitPiPi]

next.... ?

[GillHarrison]

Dark Souls is a masterpiece of game design. I'd love to see their next game continue to push innovative features.

[Captain Qwark 9]

ds is hands down the best game ive ever played. its one of those few games that you play that remind you of why you love gaming.

and their next game is armored core 5 and it looks amazing. ive been playing ac since the playstation days, one of my fav series.

also if you want another sweet game from them, go play 3d dot heroes

[Alos88]

In this economy we're lucky that the game industry in general is doing as well as it is, let alone Japan.

[Knight_Cid]

exactly

And in reality casual gaming is an even bigger problem in the US.

Hell Looking at the japanese games Ive already imported this year

suikoden psp
shining blade psp
beyond the labrynth

and more coming in march

I am happy

[Moncole]

Do people have a fetish of writing doom article?

[gumgum99]

why yes they do, dear Moncole. Yes they do.

That, and stating that the Japanese market is declining, shrinking, irrevelent, dying,...oh, and doomed (how could I forget that one??).

This article doesn't delve on that too much, but its not such a one sided thing as this headline seems to entail, and social gaming is happening everywhere; not just japan.

[GOGOGOHO]

Vita Japanese development scene has the potential of being doomed if it doesn't inprove its sales.It sold only 11,000 last week according to the latest Media Create numbers.Thoses sales are terrible.Nobody would want to develop for a handheld selling that bad

[Elemental_]

to be fair in japan systems that start off slow can build over time.

And its no secret in the last year 3ds and ps3 dev has picked up

things ebb and flow

[GOGOGOHO]

True but Vita is on another level of slow that its starting to become a worry and Sony cant afford a price cut.If it takes off in the rest of the world it will make up for it

[Elemental_]

not really. The vita is starting really in the same ballpark the psx and ps2 and psp did.

[ritsuka666]

Things will only get worst seeing as Japanese devs generalize the west as hyper masculine brainless creatures that only like online FPS.

HINT:STOP WESTERNIZING YOUR GAMES JAPAN.

[Elemental_]

very few games do. No more than any other gen

[JoeSchmoh]

Stop westernizing your games is right. People just want to say the Japanese make weird games so they can feel like everything that comes out the west is 100% the shit. My @$$!

[geddesmond]

In many ways yes. When Japanese developers stick with the formulas they have always known they usually see great western reception (Demon/Dark Souls, Bayonetta, Vanquish) but when they try and cater to the western market then those titles rarely meet expectations. Example FF13.

The Japanese development scene ain't doomed but Japanese companies are a little behind with there technology. I remember the time when Japanese devs were making the best looking games and making them in a year or 2. Now a lot of games take 5 years to make that by the time they release they look a bit out dated

[Mikhail]

In regards to Japanese sales woes,they were/are experiencing economic woes similar to Europe. Currently, the forecast is not the gloomy as compared to last year so hardware and software sales might skyrocket.

[GOGOGOHO]

They are still nowhere near as bad as some of the economys in Europe

[Blaine]

It's a reflex for me now: title says "doom"? Vote down the article and site.

Edit: unless the name of the game is Doom! In which case I don't vote down.

[JoeSchmoh]

This only became an issue when the PS3/360 came out and this boom of Online FPS games emerged. I'm so sick of people who see a good game out of japan and be like "Oh, it's over the top." Then you look at all we buy here in the states and it's nothing but games in the First Person, shooting up shit. It gets kinda old fast, kinda like the 80's arcade shooter phase. So, people will start to realize this and be like "damn, we really did have quality games back on the Gamecube/PS2 era." Everything on the PS3/360 is copying what came out on the PS2.

You will never in a million years see a game come out the west that plays like GodHand or AnarchyReigns..even Devil's Third making Online Action Multiplayer..hence the NO GUN ASPECT?! The west has some catching up to do beyond showing me how realistically they can create a war/espionage atmosphere FPS game. Ghost Recon Future Solder looks very great of a game, almost like a new school Metal Gear Solid. But i'm so sick of playing shooting games. RPG shooters like Boarderlands/MassEffect how many ways do you have to make an FPS game? It's so boring. It's like taking steps backwards in terms of gameplay/controls of what you can do.

[maniacmayhem]

I think the only reason why some feel Japanese developers are doomed is only because the rise of western development. Back in the days video game software was dominated by the Japanese. There were very few western made games that came close to the craftsmanship of the Japanese.

But now its a different story, we have western developers that are making amazing games that are defining this generation and pulling in some record breaking sale numbers almost unheard of. Because of this it appears that Japanese devs are doomed. But there have been a lot of great games out of Japan and some bad ones and the same can be said for western devs.

But the Japanese clearly see the potential of western development. Which is why so many of them are outsourcing their own beloved IP's to west devs. Something that would be unheard of generation ago.

[Canary]

All I really have to say is... IF Japan's game development scene is "doomed," then so is the rest of the industry.

But, really, I ought to just leave this topic alone: I can only tolerate so much bigotry per week. Doctor's orders.

[Venoxn4g]

I hope not, games from japan is one of the biggest reasons I'm still playing games

[Hicken]

Yeah, I don't think so.

But if you want to think that way, it's perfectly fine. No one can stop someone else from being ignorant.

[YoungKingDoran]

god damn it... can we ban all articles with the words 'doom' and 'doomed' in the title? ... unless 'doom' is followed by a '4'

[EverydayGuy]

Stop westernizing your games and bring me a JRPG on home consoles.

[CaptainN]

The Last Story and Xenoblade say hi !!

[girlwithturn]

Western developers couldn't make good optimization with engine code. In their games a lot of bugs and glitches.