Japanese game makers five years behind - Inafune

@erazor521 See that's where you're wrong. You forgot about the FPS with the focus on multiplayer.

I agree with Kenrocc, however most Japanese games are supposed to be mass-marketed. Look at all the RPGs that come from North America which have a story as deep as FF7 even. Final Fantasy SEVEN (the standalone game, not all the cash cows Square Enix has released since). Also, "Japs". Racism perceived.

I used to buy almost all japanese games, until about the time i got a 360, almost all the games i play now are western.

@anthonycg He meant it in other ways. It played like a futuristic Monster Hunter, complete with ten minute animations.

More Dead or Alive Fighting.

"He was particularly critical of game designers who find success in a genre and then stick to their established formula, saying that approach no longer works. " He's right. America has much greater variety in it's games. I can never decide whether to buy a FPS with the focus on multiplayer, the FPS with the focus on multiplayer, or the FPS with the focus on multiplayer.

5 years huh? That would put them back in the PS2 days. Sounds about right. Games sure have come a looong way since the JRPG!

They have to change because Western games make more money. They can't compete in the big budget realm by showing off 12 year old girls bodies, not any more.

False alarm on LP2. Lost Planet was too "crappy save pointy", "crappy online roomy", "crappy achievementy", and crappy customizy" to appeal to the west. The art direction was fine. But his worries aren't without cause. Don't forget that anime was practically banned from US television years ago. Anime and manga has a cult following here but that's still not enough for something to be considered popular. I just hope that they don't try to conform to any low standards just to sell their games. A lot of great things aren't popular in the west...

Japanese should really try to be more inventive in these recent times.

@Kenrocc How the hell is that pathetic? He is just interested in what life is like over here and wants to make a game that will appeal to us. If anything it's cool that he takes interest in what westerners like.

What the hell RE5 is a joke, its not a true Resident Evil survival horror game its just a shooter that panders to the Xbox Live crowd of lets play with friends crap by ruining games that were not made for that by moddifying them and slapping a numeral sequel to get people to take it seriously and buy it. Also mentioning Gran Theft Auto and Call of Duty?? please thats the western game developer or rather most of them making games about crime, killing, massive slaughter and glorification of guns, did you see the EA E3 presentation? the one where they announced the "Gun Club" with a background song talking about how the singer just loves guns and just what do guns do, they shoot bullets and those that get hit die or become heavily injured. What Keiji Inafune SHOULD have said is "I appologize for rushing Lost Planet 2" and or changing it too much from what the audience that claimed to love the first game and either announce a Lost Planet 2 "Appology Edition" or announce that the game series is end of life and devote their programming effort towards another IP. As a matter of fact Capcom has been listening too much to western fan feedback, did that play a role in how LP2 turned out? think about it but then again unless it was a xbox 360 exclusive it would not get a free pass and glowing review recommendations and GOTY banners.

Lost Planet was too sucky, and who is this guy who thinks he has the right to talk for all Japanese game developers did he play Demon's Souls and follow how it broke sales records despite the fact that it was supposed to be a Japan only retail game and that western gaming media and magazines did not give it a single cover story (specifically the game magazines) instead of all Halo and gears and assasins creed coverage because the western gaming media, yes even the websites are anti Sony and anti any game making an impact on the Sony PS3 platform with all the fear mongering about the game being too hard when all these overhyped games like Bioshock, Alan Wake, etc hold your hand like you are an idiot, tell you what to do, when to do it, what weapon to do and in the case of Forza put a blatant line that tells you when to slow down and an insulting rewind button??!! Keiji Inafune should speak for his own company that relies on heavily rehashed Ken and Ryu games and Megaman and yes I am a big fan of Megaman and SF series but remember all those years of rehashes, we were not born yesterday there were 3d polygon Street Fighter games on Playstation 1, its not my fault Capcom rushed SF EX3 on PS2 and delivered a subpar mediocre game that still was eaten up by the SF faithfull. and don't get me started on RE...

@Kenrocc Did you not read the ENTIRE article? Because appealing only to the Japanese isn't enough. They're not making enough profit to yield investments. No investments, equals, no more games. It goes hand in hand. Westerners have been able to create and develop games that appealed to Westerners and Europe, even the East in Japan and other Asian countries. Japanese developers have only been able to appeal to their own, which is not enough for a gigantic industry such as the game industry. I'm really glad he made the statements he has made. Japanese developers really need to wake up. They're talented, no doubt, but they are too complacent and they need to change with the times and technology. In order to do that, they need to be more open minded and they need to study other game developers Western and Eastern and find inspiration to create better games. Lost Planet 2 was a disaster. Resident Evil 5 took the RE series into a terrible direction thinking they could develop a game around co-op and make it a satisfying experience. FAIL. Older Resident Evil games and Dead Rising are just about the only games I would consider buying and playing. Other than that, forget it. Capcom has kept it afloat, and are leading by example. Now others need to pay attention and follow suit, and improve.

"I want to study how Westerners live, and make games that appeal to them." *looks at the new dante* i am deeply insulted

so next Japanese wave of games will be brown and colorless FPS/RPG with bald space samurai/ninjas? no thanks

kenrocc, if you havent noticed, japan is in the worst economic period it has been in for decades. quote "why do the japs need to tweak there culture to appeal to others? Its pathetic, really nobody had a problem with there games before I don't see why they have to change it" its not thier culture thats changing, its their money system thats changing.

Yeah, I read a good article a while back on this in a EGM magazine. It also was saying how the Japanese companies don't usually like to use other parties software, like licensing out the Unreal Engine, and therefore keeping it all in house.I still find a lot of Japanese made games that appeal to me, but the Western ones seem to be my favorite. Hopefully they all can succeed.

Inafune-San was so worried about Japan's gaming future, so worried that in couples of occasions he fell over with worries, so please, let us understand his feeling and why he said this. I personally like Valkyria Chronicles, but they put the 2 sequels in PSP, so, I'm confident that they have 2 copies unbought.

as for mr.jaws, keep your patriotism to yourself....it will only be used against you as it always has

@M8ingSeezun your cobra symbol shames mine....that is all.

You would be wise to listen to Mr. Inafune, he has been around making high-level games longer than pretty much anyone else.

I agree with some of his points.

I understand where he's coming from. I think the reason he's being so harsh is because he's worried and does care about Japan's success. The idea of making universally appealing games is important in this day and age. I believe that's the point he's trying to make.

Dear Inafune, If you pay close attention to the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series then you will realize that like the Japanese publishers, the American and European publishers are also producing games guilty of being "[stuck] to their established formula." And, have some respect towards the root you come from. respect is going to take you further in life than a fat wallet.

@MrJaws902 If you're not contributing to anything other than blithering moronic idiocy, I suggest you GTFO and go back to bed, you have 7th grade to look forward to, tomorrow.

@MrJaws902: What a miraculously well thought-out argument, I applaud your choice of words and overall eloquent choice of counter-arguments. *sarcasm* On which account do you judge that I'm dumb? First off, this is a gaming forum, I never take stuff I read or write here all that seriously. I wrote my opinion on the matter, and that's that. Seeing your previous comment, I see you did the same but went with an incredibly rude comment as opposed to mine that did no such thing. Secondly, I believe my analysis was quite thorough considering I wrote it in just a half-minute, so what's your conclusion again?

This has become far too apparent with the quality of Western vs Japanese developed games this gen, and I completely agree. Japanese games have all but died for me, whereas western are the opposite. Western developers are the ones trying, and succeeding, at making innovative games with features I have not yet experienced, while Japanese keep implementing the same outdated designs, gameplay, characters, and annoying cliches.

I'll show them how we live. Give me a few free games and they can set up cameras in my house

I can't say i agree that Japan is really far behind, but i don't have the perspective that he does so im sure there is some truth to what he is saying. I never played LP2 because the reviews were miserable and scared me away. RE5 was toooooooooo western imo. It sold well, but only on name alone.

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Think of marvel vs capcom 3, mgs rising, last guardian, etc. I don't really think so.

He's pretty frank, and I agree at some points, the formulas in Japanese games are being overcooked, especially FF and that genre. But there are brilliant games ,still, like Okami, Metal Gear, Soul Calibur... They need to take the risk of changing, Ace Combat is a case in point.

I disagree with Inafune's main point, though what he continues to say rings a bit more true. Games like Super Mario Galaxy 2 have reminded me how strong Japanese gaming can be, and I still prefer it over the traditional Western developed games. That being said, however, splitting up gaming into East and West is silly, I rather put it up to developers. I don't care about innovation either, that's a useless term with neither a positive or negative meaning. I just want GOOD games, and that can come from anywhere. Five years behind is a false observation to make, IMO, since by what standards does he compare? And how is that exactly bad?

@cabose38 Yeah but that's Team ICO. not bloody Capcom pr SquareEnix

I agree but there is always a special place in my heart for final fantasy and resident evil and SUDA 51 you guys make my world go round.

I could not agree more, although the problem is not limited to Japan. European and North American developers and publishers are just as guilty. Fake and gruff voice "acting", balloon biceps, up-the-skirt voyeurism, gratuitous violence instead of meaningful conflict... It's enough to make me suspect these pot-bellied, grey-haired 40- and 50-something developers suffer from arrested emotional development. "M for Mature" does not mean "Make it more juvenile."

hmm, while japan certainly doesn't have the dominance over the video game industry it once had, i don't think hes right about being 5 years behind, i mean gran turismo comes from japan, it will surely see great success in the west. i think maybe what hes getting at is that japanese companies have lost alot of ground to western developers, and he wants to regain that ground, thats what makes sense to me out of this

What about the Last Guardian? That game is more like 5 years ahead.

Very intresting points he makes. I just didn't think somebody would say this thinking it would make themselves seem bad. Let us do hope they jump 5 years back into place because you know, ff13, dq9 and the pokemon B + W are soooo behind -.-