Inafune says Japanese industry has "gotten worse"

Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune says it's a "shame" that game industry in island nation has fallen further, believes Kickstarter is one "fantastic" option to revive the market.

[RmanX1000]

Western hasnt exactly been golden either..

[yellowgerbil]

fallout, skyrim, infamous, everything naughty dog, halo, every indie worth mentioning that doesn't involve tentacle rape, bioshock, dishonored, batman arkam, tomb raider...

[Enemy]

^ Funny thing about Skyrim is that it's the worst, most broken game on that list.

[abzdine]

let me remind you dear Inafune that you are one of them.
The japanese gaming industry problem is that they are neglecting their culture and what they are, and he is a perfect example of that.
Japanese industry isn't doing well, alright then do something about it. Make a memorable game to motivate other companies to do the same.
Instead, he made Lost Planet.. smh..

Capcom and SquareEnix started since 360 came out by being whores of the occident, forgetting that japanese industry needs to deliver japanese quality titles the way they always did.

[pompombrum]

Almost every single one of those games are action games. Now I love action games as much as the next person but really, a bit of "golden" variety would be nice. For every Little Big Planet, there is about 100 action games.

[Irishguy95]

Don#t understand how Infamous fits into that list. They are good games...but nothing to brag about.

I don't get Fallout or Skyrim either but i'm very alone on that I think. HATE level scaling.

Anyhow, demons/Dark souls, Valkyria chronicles(hey thank PS3 owners for not buying games, now it's degraded to a handheld series). Ni no Kuni, Konami games, platinim games. Nintendo(which is just unfortunate for third party devs in Jp) monster hunter, Monolith Soft...well yeah. JP hasn't totally fallen, just capcom and SE. And SE are making a come back at least, even FF LR looks hundreds of times better than FFXIII and XIII-2. XIV reborn or whatever is supposed to be great. FFXV looks amazing, KH3 is on the way, KH HD, FFX HD. Type 0 was very good even though it never released in the west.

Jp hasn't fallen lets just hope it can get back up to standard. At least Metal gear looks as great as ever.

[Ritsujun]

Enoughune the Clown of J-VGI.

[Blastoise]

Abzine obviously never played Soul Sacrifice or saw Inafunes latest kickstarter

[Eyeco]

@Irishguy95

"Valkyria chronicles(hey thank PS3 owners for not buying games, now it's degraded to a handheld series)"

What are you talking about ? Valkyria Chronicles eventually sold 1 million thats extremely good for a new IP released in the holiday season that's also a TACTICAL JRPG, do you have any how niche and audience specific TJRPG's are ? clearly not, they only ever sell in Japan and even still they rarely if ever break million. The best selling TJRPG to my Knowledge was Final Fantasy Tactics with over 2 million copies, and that's with the brand name and being released in the late 90's, the peak of the franchises popularity.

TJRPG's are far more popular on handhelds anyway so it would have made sense to move, the Myth that PS3 owners don't buy their games is an old tired argument that's been debunked several times, please do your research next time.

[Irishguy95]

Yeah after a full retail re release eyeco.

[Mr-SellJack]

Dishonored is made by Arkane Studios which is French
Batman Arkham games are made by RockSteady Studios which is British btw

[Eiffel]

@Mr-SellJack

And? Those are western studios. The western world is the world that developed out of the Greek and Roman empires. That is both Eastern and Western Europe, plus the New World(US, Canada).The original definition of the "western world" originally meant western Europe. But once Europeans colonized most of the world, any area that had a lot of European immigration eventually came to be included in the definition. It basically means any country and/or geographical region who's culture is "western" (heavily influenced by western europe).

For example,
Thatgamecompany is an American company
Media Molecule is a British company
Quantic Dream is a French company

They're all western studios.

[MariaHelFutura]

Japanese made games this gen were some of my favorites. MGS4, Demon/Dark Souls, GT5, Lost Oddessy, Tales Series, Dead Rising 1/2, Bayonetta and a bunch more including handheld games and a few Wii games. Some JP studios did great, others didn't. Just like Western studios.

[Angerfist]

Dead Rising Games are made in The USA, its just published by Capcom. Best Japanese Games for me where MGS4, MGS HD Collection and Binary Domain.

[Deadpoolio]

@Angerfist

Actually Dead Rising 1 and 2 were also developed by Capcom, by everyone's precious Inafune...3 however was outsourced

[Mr-SellJack]

They don't give u anywhere of the experience Japanese Devs do
Short,focus on GFX,linear sh!t,repetitive,no hidden items,bonuses,DLC,EA,same stuff,shooting
I would prefer GT,Yakuza,MGS....than forza,GTA5,any action game
The replay value of the majority of Western games is pretty pathetic
I played RE4 7x more than TLOU,Dead space,I played GT 11x than Forza,I played MGS 3x more than COD,Halo,Gears,Splinter Cell,Hitman combined,Street Fighter 16x than any Western fighting game
I played PAC MAN more than anything....,
@Anger
DeadRising is Japanese so what it's made in the US? that's like saying Nike is Vietnamese!

[Kanzes]

I think he's describing how Capcom have turned out. Not specifically all japanese games

[SilentNegotiator]

If you say so, anime fan. No bias there, I'm sure.

[ritsuka666]

Platinum games is putting out some one better games from this gen ( Wonderfull 101 Bayonetta) I'm enjoying this games right now.

[Homicide]

The two big problems I see with Japanese games is: (1) trying to appeal to the west (very poorly in some cases) thus losing their identity and (2) never evolving and staying stuck in the past.

Japanese developers should start being more creative and take some risks.

[EXVirtual]

First off, I've played a lot of great western games this gen. I know what you're talking about. But in regards to staying stuck in the past and their identity, why then are so many people complaining about FFXV being real time and having Japanese looking guys fighting in the game? It's quite hypocritical to be honest.
I don't really understand why people are bagging on Japanese devs because of FF13 primarily. One game in one series that the majority of people didn't like. Fair enough, it's the one of the key Japanese franchises, but what about the Tales series? What about Ni No Kuni? And most of all, what about Xenoblade? A game on the weakest of this gens systems, but which is $120 on amazon and cost $90 when you get it used from Gamestop. That is IF you can find it used. Why? Because it's so good. I've never seen or played a Western game so good, that it cost 90 bucks used. That's the thing. I personally think that people are just using FF13 to look at the Japanese industry. I don't see what's so innovative that Western devs do. Especially big corporations like EA. They've gotten so big, that taking risks is almost out of the question. I was born and live in the NA mind you.

Plus, even when they do go Japanese style, people often think of it as weird and unrealistic, same goes for Anime. I'm not saying they shouldn't go Japanese style, because I prefer that anyways, but if people want them to go full Japanese, they should stop criticizing it.

I think it's mainly the impact that the 360 had, for obvious reasons.

[Homicide]

Most of the complaints for FFXV seems to be that it's breaking tradition. It is a huge departure from the previous entries in terms of the battle system.

You could be traditional but also keep your games fresh. Just look at Persona 3/4. The battle system is very traditional, but they made the game unique with its dating sim portion and stories that broke out of cliche. XII/XIII also had traditional battle systems.

I'm one of the people who actually wanted SE to renamed Versus XIII to XV because I believe it would give some spark to the JRPG genre. It looks fantastic.

[EXVirtual]

Western industry isn't exactly great either. SE and Namco seem to be getting into gear, but dudes like Crapcom are screwing up continuously. They shouldn't try to appeal to the west, because it's that different feeling that attracts me and a lot of others to the genre. It's like anime. That's why going mainstream isn't that good. Sure more money comes in but gaming sticks out like a sore thumb. Now, to look for anything apart from the same war shooter every year, you have to look to the smaller guys aka indies and if you're lucky you'll find some big studios who actually come up with good concepts and innovative ideas.

[GarrusVakarian]

99% of the games i play are "western" videogames and i would say this year has been great. Bioshock, The Last Of Us, the upcoming Beyond 2 Souls and GTA5, if that's not great then i don't know what is.

Sure there are alot of dudebro shooters that saturate the industry but you shouldn't overlook quality games because there are so many bad ones.

[Mr-SellJack]

again some people are clueless about game developers
GTA 5 is made by Rockstar North which is British
Beyond Two Souls is made by Quantic Dreams which is French

[GarrusVakarian]

@ Mr selljack

Which are both WESTERN countries, Its not just the US that's classed as western, look it up.

Lol, clueless. Ironic.

[EXVirtual]

Let me rephrase: The biggest western games like COD are the same war shooter very year. Last of Us, GTA5, Beyond Two Souls and a lot of other western games are very cool in my opinion.
The Japanese industry needs to stop focusing on mobile and handheld as well.

[dcj0524]

Maybe if I could BUY THEIR GAMES then maybe they'd have more appeal. I mean it can't have worldwide appeal if it never leaves Japan. And the ones that do are poorly marketed with a few exceptions.

[gantarat]

Japanese people Should Stop Play IOS/Android

[josephayal]

The gaming industry was killed by hugely successful games like COD and Borderlands

[Ogygian]

The Bioware and Bethesda RPG styles also trumped those of Japan. The RPG genre which was once dominated by Japan found its home in the West. CDProjekt joined in with the Witcher 2 (Witcher 1 wasn't as mainsteam).

If Japan finds a way to embrace freeform while maintaining the solid story content which made its earlier games so successful then it could once again become a major player on the world gaming scene.

[Mr-SellJack]

another clueless gamer!CD projekt is Polish so no Witcher is not western

[Ogygian]

Europe is "Western", with the Bosphorus Strait and Kazakhstan marking the East. I even consider Russia to be "Western" given that it has historically been a European power.

[Ogygian]

I'm glad people over there are accepting it. The Japanese style of game I feel could have a revolution in the next few years (as Western games did a while back), which will hopefully bring it back into the fray.

A good place to start would be to stop making endless portable games.

[GodGinrai]

"A good place to start would be to stop making endless portable games."

The thing is most japanese gamers prefer handhelds these days, going by their charts...

[mwjw696]

Its sad I went from FF, Zelda, Mario, and every great RPG on the PS2 era to all western games this gen. I tried FF, Tales, Lost Planet, Star Ocean, and tons of others. Most of them could not keep me interested, and I never finished most.

Western games have really evolved this past gen, most for the best. The Eastern games don't hold a candle for me anymore. It makes me sad...

[AceBlazer13]

Final Fantasy sucked,Tales of graces was awesome,combat was fluid and story was ...alright.

[zep]

Ni no Kuni BEST Japanese game this gen

[No_Pantaloons]

Nice discussion guys, but the real point of that article was to bring up his new megaman-like game that needs kickstarter money. Mighty #9!

[darx]

Most Japanese games are he worst.

[Djinn]

Japanese games suck because development costs have gone up and Japanese people don't buy games unless its some cellphone or handheld shit. Thus the console devs have to cater to Americans because that's the only place where the money. It's an unfortunate situation. Don't blame the devs blame the maggots playing on their phones and 3ds.

[ritsuka666]

I agree totally, japan market in this days are a joke.

[Inception]

I think it's like a cycle of life. Sometimes you had unsuccessfull life, but in another time you stand up again and had a big success in your life. One of simple example is my favorite football club: AC Milan. In the past, they dominated the competition and always came on the top of the food chain as a Champion. Every football club tremble if they heard AC Milan's name. But now that's history, even though they on the right track to dominate again.

That's why i admit that western devs got their golden age this past years with super hit titles like Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Fallout, Skyrim, Mass Effect, CoD, etc. Meanwhile japanese devs got decline, even though they still produced some amazing titles like MGS 4, Ni no Kuni, Demon's / Dark Souls, Yakuza, etc.

Not to mention japan is a small country with limited fund / human resource compare to the big continent of USA or EU. So it's natural that japanese dev got some decline. But that doesn't mean they can't dominate again. Future titles like MGS V, FF XV, or The Evil Within are some cue that japanese devs will fight their way to dominate again.

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Level 5's Ni No Kuni is amazing though..

[AceBlazer13]

I think it's more to do with the consumers than anything.When everyone rushes to buy the next shooter,adventure dumbed down game and leaves the Japanese games behind,the Japanese devs are gonna have to try to emulate this formula so they try and get they games to appeal to the western consumer.The games that don't go this route are usually the ones that sell the best (ironic isn't it?).It's the same problem with western games not many devs can afford to give us the next big thing so they take the safe route and give is some generic shooter that would guarantee that least bring back their initial investment.I say this gen with the rise of kickstarter being used in the industry we'll see some change as devs will be able to take more risks.

[Inception]

I agreed with you. Japanese devs still making unique tittles but the majority of western gamers rushes to their local store to buy the next CoD or Battlefield. Just compare CoD / Battlefield sales to Yakuza, Dragon's Crown, or Demon's / Dark Souls and we can said those three japanese games can't hold a candle for one CoD game. It's crazy but sad on the same time.

So it's natural why japanese devs try to appeal to western gamers, especially the FPS crowd. That's why we can't fully blame japanese devs to did that.

[V0LT]

Most are trying to hard by going big. It doesn't take zillions of dollars to make a good game. Dev costs will put even more studios under in the coming years.

[ShaunCameron]

True, but so far most of the studios that went under have been Western ones while the Eastern ones have somehow found a way to stay afloat.