Western Devs "Working Harder," Taking More Risks - Mikami

GamesIndustry International: ''The creator of Resident Evil talks to us about his new game The Evil Within, violent games, and the state of Japanese development.''

[zerocrossing]

I disagree, what do we get from western devs but Rehashes and FPS's galore?

Sure we get some gems like The Last Of Us every now and then, but the majority of original IPs I've played have cone from Japan, like Ico, Shadow of the colossus, Metal Gear Solid, Odin Sphere and Devil may cry.

I'm not biased, this is just how it seems to be from my perspective

[andibandit]

"Rehashes and FPS's galore"

I do believe Final Fantasy 15, is in the pipeline...

[zerocrossing]

Final Fantasy was always an exception. With each iteration they would try to take the series in a new direction by changing the plot and battle system, you can't compare Final Fantasy 7 to 12 or 12 to 15 because they are vastly different, unlike with many Western game sequels.

Anyway that's always been the point of Final Fantasy, and really this has nothing to do with sequels this is to do with risks, breaking the mold or what have you, so with that said there has certainly been more originality and risk taking coming from the East, IMO at least.

[-MD-]

FFXV looks absolutely nothing like any other FF game, how is that considered a rehash or an FPS? Explain.

[fsfsxii]

I agree completely. All of my favorite games are japanese, well, most of them, i think japanese devs try to make games that stuck in your brain forever.

[zerocrossing]

I agree, I pretty much grew up playing Japanese games because I always felt they were the most fun, original and interesting, the West has certainly caught up and are pumping out great games now but too many of them are samey rehashes or monotonous shooters, now there's nothing wrong with a shooter but I haven't found one in a looong time.

I wonder how many people have actually played a lot of Japanese games before outright disagreeing with me...

[NYC_Gamer]

That's false,we don't only get fps titles being created from western developers...There's a lot of creativity coming from western indie studios and couple of mainstream huge ones..

[zerocrossing]

I never said we only have FPS games being crated by Western devs, that's obviously wrong. But I think we can both agree that we have way too many of FPS games getting released these days, so much so that most gamers are tired of them.

Now don't get me wrong, I know many western devs are making and have made some pretty original titles, and I do enjoy playing Western games too, but I'll say it again, the most original games (I) have played are Japanese.

The indie scene is about the only place originality is permitted here in the West unfortunately, the insane production cost needed to create AAA titles these days impedes the flow of originality and causes stagnation within the industry, roll back the cost of production and I guarantee we'd see many more Western devs creating many more original titles.

[RememberThe357]

You clearly have a fetish, and thats cool, but western devs are serving games right now. Boarderlands, Uncharted, LBP, Halo, God of War, Alan Wake, The Walking Dead, Heavy Rain, Read Dead Redemption, and so on. And look at the games come out; The Witcher, The Division, Destiny, The Order, Second Son, Quantum Break... This goes on and on as well and I hope proves my point that having preference is cool as long as it doesn't blind you to great experiences.

Edit: @NYC I didn't even mention indies, some of the games I'm most excited about are Kickstarter progects.

[Mr-SellJack]

Cool story bro because some devs u listed are not western but still I agree with mikami especially with iconic games...but rpgs are never the same that includes ff

[RememberThe357]

Which ones would those be? All these titles are from European and American developers.

[DigitalAnalog]

Other than Dark Souls, I don't really see any other Japanese titles taking risks aside from the upcoming Japan Studio games.

[Mr-SellJack]

How about mgs the most riskful japanese franchise,every addition is completely different just look at mgsv which is open world!kojima is a genious

[Inception]

@zerocrossing

Not trying to rude and saying your perspective about western dev is wrong, though i agreed about japan always produced new IP that had high quality and sometimes set the standard in video game industry.

But do you already play Heavy Rain or Mirror Edge? it's not rehashes or FPS galore and i loved those two. Or Journey, Guacamalee, and LBP? It's not rehashes or FPS galore either.

Imho, you should try those games and look beyond CoD, Battlefield, or Halo :)

[Mr-SellJack]

Again heavy rain,lbp and journey are not western

[Eiffel]

@biscuitlover

Uhhh, yeah they are. 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).

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

They're western.

[Lionalliance]

Sorry to say, but ya sound biased.

[Vandamme21]

i disagree too...i like japanese games better..they have more replay values and they more challenging.

[dendenmooshi]

It really depends on the developer or company direction, and not if it's WRPG or JRPG.

Case and point: Shinji Mikami, the one who said the headline, used to work at Capcom, but now works at Bethesda Studios.

So......

[Tommymk2]

Why are people disagreeing so much on comments here Japan has created the best games there has ever be

[Lionalliance]

What about this gen?

[fsfsxii]

Not sure why people keep disagreeing, have you all started gaming this gen?? lol

[Lionalliance]

I think ya missing the point.

[RazMaTaz0121]

Western devs certainly do take more risks - Sure
Do those risks usually pay off - Majority of the time, NO.
why? Because most use shit western developers
Example? Capcom with LP3, RE, DmC
Good Idea? Only to save money

Now, Mikami is a part of Bethesda, which is a great company, so I can understand and appreciate what hes saying. Ultimately its down to which western dev they are working with.

[BABY-JEDI]

Japanese dev's used to be way ahead of the competition. But, I would say that the tide has turned. Western companies do throw more money into the industry (the one exception being 'the last guardian')

[urwifeminder]

I think lost planet one was the last Japanese game I played more of a western style I usually cant stand them love japenese cinema though their horror movies rock but as for the games no thanks I avoid them like the plague.

[Tommymk2]

Mikami works with Bethesda so he's bound to say that

[Eiffel]

He's not the first Japanese dev to make this claim...and those who have still work for Japanese studios. Kojima for example has been very critical on the gap, variety and risk that western developers take compared to eastern. Japanese developers aren't at the forefront of the industry anymore, and even they acknowledge that and want to improve through western influence.

[Tommymk2]

And I'm a huge mikami fan