Why Don't Japanese People Buy Western Games?

Crunchyroll: "Many people on both sides of the ocean have the impression that Japanese gamers are not into Western games. Recently on 2Channel, some commenters were discussing why that might be, but as you can imagine, not everyone agrees that Western games themselves are even the issue."

[NYC_Gamer]

i believe it's a culture thing.many of them can't relate to western characters or settings.plus the art styles/ gameplay.

[CrimsonEngage]

Western Art is more realistic unlike Eastern art where every character has massive eyes really huge knockers and fucked up hair.

[RememberThe357]

Why did you get disagrees, you 100& right?

[-Alpha]

What does realism have to do with it?

I think our culture is stereotyped to love shooters, as it is a cultural thing in America. Big, bulky, male characters are the norm

In Japan, they have a culture that is fond of anime and the like. Males are much more animated as a result.

[Megaman_nerd]

@Alpha this comes straight from the mouth of japanese gamers:

"It's probably because there are no moe characters or famous voice actresses."

"Well yeah. But, if there are no Western games I want to play, then naturally I would play fewer Western games. Well, there is, for example, Ratchet and Clank and Crash Bandicoot, which Japan will take, so you can't say it as a rule."

"Why? Because the stuff you do in them is all the same and BORING. Oblivion, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim―they're all errand running games. They're all the same except for whether you use a gun or a sword. It's boring as hell. And there aren't any bosses! If you can be a robber, steal everyone's stuff, kill civilians—pretty much anything goes, you can beat a Western game."

"[…] Isn't the image that Western game are all war games bad? I hate FPS war games and without exception will not play them, but there are other ones that I like quite a bit. Also, the modeling, from a Japanese perspective, is kind of primitive, or how should I put it… I don't hate them, but when you see the girls in Skyrim, no one thinks they are cute. […]"
------------------

I think realism plays a pretty big role here if you ask me.

[Bundi]

Alpha you misspelt effeminate
Not everything western is CoD or ME2 @RBLAZE. The original Dragon Age was neither of those things and western gamers lapped it up. Skyrim is also neither of those games and it is selling like hot cakes even though it is a broken hot mess on PS3.
Batman AC, Batman doesn't even have a gun.
Forza Motorsport, Fifa, Assassin's Creed. . .all so very popular, none of them shooters.
So now we have shortened attention spans because not all of us are mystified by large breasts, pink hair, extra long swords, dating sims, androgynous men ect?

[-Alpha]

I think the idea of realism is the consequent of a cultural value-- again, realism is favoured because realism is what our culture is fond of, while Japanese have a culture that is more into anime.

You draw the line on realism, I put it one step back and say realism is a consequent of culture, but we can at least both agree there is a distinction between the two

@Bundi

Effeminate, animated, theatrical, dramatical, gay, unmanly, that's how the Western mindset may see it, but to them, it's norm and respected

[RememberThe357]

I don't know, there were a lot of people in the western world that could relate to all those Japanese games that came out the couple of generations. Why can't they relate to anything we make when we can relate to the games they make?

@below: Don't act like every single western game is like COD, most are not. Bioshock, Infamous, Mass Effect, Uncharted, God of War, Halo, none are mindless. It sounds like you have no idea what your talking about when you speak with such blatant ignorance.

I do agree that western audiences have turned to a more homegrown feel in their games. There is something VERY western in our game that we seem to love, and it is that which the Japanese don't seem to like. But it is not this mindlessness that you are trying to make it out to be. It is a different perspective, a more violent darker perspective that the Japanese don't seem to take a shining to.

Japan is not ancient Athens, they are not a society of philosophers and thinkers anymore than the US is. They fall in love with mindless crap just as much as we do. All I see is that our cultures have divided where they once matched up.

[RBLAZE1988]

Maybe because most of western shit is mindless COD bullshit and has to do with shooting faces no matter what game it is. I think it also has to do with the same reason why most western gamers don't buy most japanese games besides the really well known franchises. Most of the games japan made in the ps1 and ps2 era sold pretty well in both East and West markets but it seems like this gen the direction that western games have went has turned off the eastern market and likewise has turned the western market off of japanese games...Yea I think that western gamers attention spans have been extremely shortened and they need everything to be streamlined and shit or else they bitch and moan that it's not COD or Mass Effect 2

[geddesmond]

America nuked Japan. Theres still Irish people over here in Ireland that won't buy any English products because of the history between our 2 countries. Maybe the Japanese are like that with America!

Mixed with them having completely different cultures and the Japanese Economic crash back in the 1990s I'd say its just because they stick with there own

[DigitalAnalog]

If you look at Western and Japanese games, the latter tends to be more introverted in it's gameplay design. Take a look at games like MH where there is constant reward system the mechanics allow for skill to be exploited. Or Biohazard featuring time-limits without saving and such.

Western games tend to have a "railroad" design where the game has to run a according to it leads and every other "extra" features are the equivalent of sightseeing. Why do we collect all those flags in Assassin's Creed, or treasures in Uncharted, or packages in GTA? Probably to expand the gameplay in someway that is more gimmicky. I vaguely remember playing FFX where I have to dodge 100 lighting bolts in succession, I guess the mini-games feel more rewarding at the long run and they try to make every part of the game to feel relevant.

But this just me, but when I play Western games, I see them trying to emulate blockbuster movies (sound, graphics, set-pieces). When I play Japanese video games, they feel LIKE VIDEO GAMES. From the fonts, HUD - it's like there a sense of arcadism no matter what genre I play (be it Fatal Frame to Silent Hill) where elements make no sense to pacing (such as abstract puzzles).

I can also see why MANY WESTERN people don't buy Japanese games for the exact same reasons. So I guess the answer really lies to gameplay design and the elements.

[Angels3785]

Because they're racists!!!! Just kidding, I agree with it being a cultural thing.

[Flavor]

Ever been to Korea? Everyone uses a samsung phone.

It's cultural egoism, Japan doesn't want to admit that they have utterly lost the global games market to the West.

[Angels3785]

I would agree if Sony wasn't a Japanese gaming company, and if the ps3 wasn't selling as well as it is. Maybe japanese developers have lost to the west, but they control the wests games market in a way. Nintendo and Sony are Japanese giants, their exclusive content alone, although done, by american companies, is funded by them.

[bunfighterii]

Im sure they'd call it 'pride'. Like in Australia we're encouraged from the government down to buy Australian made and Australian brands to support jobs. I bet it's the same there.

[gigreen]

You mean like US gamers and their 360s?

[FanboyPunisher]

nerd.

[L6RD7BLU3]

Apparently to them our games are not over... 9000!!!!!!!!!

[jc48573]

lack of marketing and support. heard retailers do not encourage their customers to buy Western games and then there's the culture thing. The other thing is that Japanese people are quite picky or are used to looking at pretty things. So...if you have a character that looks like Marcus Fenix or anything like Elder's Scrolls, then they will be turned off by that. They simply don't look that realistic to the Japanese. If it's somewhere along the lines of Uncharted or Mass Effect, then they will surely buy that. What appears to look realistic to Western isn't really true for the Japanese.

[Lord_Sloth]

Not much stylization to Western games as they're usually photo-realistic. Also the cinematics are more often than not down to Earth and realistic. They're almost always bound by the laws of our world.

It's why I tend to buy more Japanese games.

[Bimkoblerutso]

That's ridiculous. We have our tropes ("realistic" shooters) just like Japan has there's (generic anime-ization). A broad generalization cannot even come close to summing up what either region has brought to the gaming table over the years.

[Lord_Sloth]

You missed my point entirely. I said most western games are realistic in both style and physics to which the characters live by where as Japanese typically didn't follow either.

No need to get snippy and start insulting Japanese games.

And before you say I insulted western games, you're wrong. I merely stated 2 facts. They were usually realistic, and I don't care for realism.

[Bimkoblerutso]

I didn't mean to sound that hostile, really. And I don't see how I was insulting Japanese games.

You made a broad generalization about Western games (and Japanese games, for that matter), and generalizations are reductive and ridiculous. That's all I was saying.

[Bimkoblerutso]

It's literally just a cultural bias. The West is sometimes guilty of the same thing, but Japan is notorious for it's ethnocentrism. And I say this with the utmost respect for the culture, honestly. There's really nothing that can be done to change it because they've created such a tight cultural bubble over there.

[bunfighterii]

Aside from a few major titles, we (western markets) don't buy Japanese games in large quantities either.

[Angels3785]

Very true, its very regional, with exceptions like MGS who have more of a WESTERN style.

[D3mons0ul]

Look at all of the comments (in the link, duh) from people getting absolutely butthurt about many minor, differing and not even insulting opinions. Very few of the 2channel posts were even remotely venomous.

[level 360]

The Japanese are a very nationalistic type of people first and foremost and just like their culture and traditions whether it be old or the new same goes with their gaming too.

[Hufandpuf]

Can we get someone that's Japanese to tell us why and stop with our outrageous and uninformed conclusions.

[BitbyDeath]

Cause shooting games are overrated.

[gigreen]

I think Japanese gamers are getting more and more into them since 2006.

Not necessarily into shallow FPS games like COD, but deep, quality experiences like Skyrim, definitely.

[Voxelman]

actually COD outsold Skyrim
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
Skyrim first week PS3 75.865
http://neogaf.net/forum/sho...
MW3 first week PS3 180.372

[gigreen]

Interesting. COD and Saints Row, both VERY western games being in top 5 shows even more that the theory that Japan dismisses western games doesn't apply anymore.

[Inception]

UC 3 and BF 3 got sold 100.000+ in their first week in japan right?
also CoD, Halo, Skyrim, Heavy Rain, and some western games got a positve sells and review too from the japanese crowd, including the japanes devs. Maybe the author forgot about this...

[OhReginald]

who cares Japanese games SUCK. they can play all final fantasy XVXIIIIIXIVIVIXVIIIII they want.

[Brownghost]

Hell yeah man. screw style, it's all about shooters./s

[Silly gameAr]

The Japanese probably have that same attitude toward western games.

[D3mons0ul]

Actually most are pretty respectful. Read the link.

[Hozi]

It's because Western Games make too much sense. But bring out a game like Patapon, or Loco Roco or Katamari and Japanese will be on that like flies in the dumpster.

[FlashXIII]

I think it's because Western games focus more on style over substance at times and usually sacrifice story as a result. I'm not Japanese so can't fully comment however I love Japanese games and don't care for most western single players and the best way I can describe the difference is that Japanese games have this quirky imaginativeness to them that is sorely lacking in most western games and they usually build a good deep story behind this imagination.

Tbh though I think this generation there isn't much differences seeing as how all the big Japanese titles seem to be trying to go too far in appealing to western audiences.

[PCE]

I am Japanese (live in US) and I think western games are some of the best this generation. Sure there are Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and Zelda Skyward Sword, but the much of the first party PS3 games come from western-based Sony studios like Media Molecule, Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, etc. In Nintendo's case Texas-based Retro Studios is the best that has ever happened with Nintendo since their Super Famicom/SNES console. Metroid made a very successful leap to 3D and Donkey Kong Country Returns is an excellent throwback to the original Super Famicom games, with happen to come from a Western studio as well. Retro made some of the best games we'll ever see in Nintendo's history and hopefully we'll see Retro developing a Zelda game, a Mario title, or a new IP.

Look at some of Japan's shortcomings. Square-Enix is a company I hammer on all the time. Square was once my favorite company in terms of RPGs but they took a wrecking ball to their original fanbase that have actually appreciated their games, all for some larger audience of brain dead idiots. Sad.

-Namco with Ridge Racer on the Vita. I don't know what went through their idiotic numb skulls with that game. Having a game of that size is fine and all but the pricing is literally killing it as one of the biggest ripoffs in recent history of video games. I hope at most 20 people outside of Japan buy that piece of shit because there is a special place right in hell for these kind of games. Sad.

-And don't get me started with Capcom. Never loved that company, and never will. RE5 drove a nail in the coffin for me, and I have no hope for their $50 3DS game. Sad.

I personally think the Japanese are missing out on some of the best games from this age, then again I am not too concerned about that. Skyrim for one is doing very well in Japan, and the first ever Western title to receive a perfect score from Famitsu, a Japanese magazine. It's also their 17th game to receive a perfect score. The sales were fantasic as well. Even the 360 sales weren't bad at all despite how unpopular the platform is over there.

Just my thoughts.

[Brownghost]

Japan developers rely on art style while western developers rely on graphics

[RandomDude655]

why don't western gamers buy more Japenese games?
The video game market has become highly segmented this gen, at the pains of third parties. Each region now tailors the games to their specific market (mostly).

[Voxelman]

Have you seen the sales of games like FF XIII and anything Nintendo? The west buys tonnes of Japanese games...

[urwifeminder]

Seen lots in testdrive and homefront and online in other games for that matter.

[LANC3R]

Seems to me the Japanese just hate the West. Excuses like "Oh TPS FPS games makes me dizzy" But they play DBZ & DMC or "I'll play a western game when it's not about killing" (WAIT WHAT THE @#$!? they play Resident Evil & Monster Hunter) makes me irritated.

Me not calling out a Pro Japan(ese) gamer, but if your vibe is "If It's not Japanese It's Shit", you need to take your head out of your armpit.

[tigertron]

The Japanese seem to be into more anime-esque games, RPGs and handheld games. Whilst in the west we are more into shooters, sports games and generally cinematic games that are multiplayer orientated.

Its like in France, I see that most cars there are French. There are countries that tend to prefer and support their own products.

[Captain Qwark 9]

"Would anyone say it's because the O and X are backwards?" [Note: The standard button functions are different in American vs. Japanese PlayStation games.]

never knew this but it finally explains why metal gear is one of the only games that uses "O" to select things.....

[3DSVita]

The Japanese only want to play on there 3DS and Vita! If you want to sell COD to a japanese male then stick a school girl uniform on to Cpt Price then-BANG-instant Japanese fanbase!

[cs798]

You closed your account, eh?.
You can reactivate it if you still have your activation email, you know. ;-)