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[Freezie KO]

I think we should stop dishonoring Inafune before he falls deeper into his samurai delusions and commits harakiri.

 

[Suzzopher]

Please stop making me hate you, Inafune, I want to remember you as the man who gave me Mega Man, not who you are today

 

[Rad-]

Well he is right about Japan sucking but this is like the 5th interview where he states so. We get it.

 

[chris0701]

At least we know he eventually saw Capcom TGS booth for DmC

 

[Suzzopher]

Well he is right about Japan sucking

I don't agree, TGS left me way more excited as a gamer than E3 did. El Shaddai, The Last Guardian, Ninokuni, Metal Gear Solid Rising, Gran Turismo 5, Yakuza Of the End, Vanquish and Square-Enix's PSP output all have me more excited than 90% of games being made in the west.

 

[PataHikari]

I just find it funny how it's worded.

"Japan is dead"
"I will save Japan"
"But to revive Japan, we need to acknowledge it is dead"

There's some delusional necrophilia shit going on there.

It's best if you imagine it said in an overly dramatic voice.

Also, again, developers. What country is the most successful video game company from again?

 

[Freezie KO]

Also, again, developers. What country is the most successful video game company from again?

If they don't make games for said company, then said company doesn't exist.

 

[mr_nothin]

Japan's deadlines are more lax than America's? That seems kind of strange.

Well GT5 and The Last Guardian come to mind...
I'm just saying

 

[jetsetfluken]

I picture it like The Last Samurai - Inafune is the Western obsessed emperor who will realise too late that they should have hung onto their Japanese values.

I think this is the lesson to be learned this generation, and by the time the PS4 is around we will be seeing things back to normal - PS2 era part II here we come.

 

[bbjvc]

Well GT5 and The Last Guardian come to mind...
I'm just saying

and put them together Duke can still beat them

I thought a well organized project should have a timeline, it is different between no timeline and not enough time.

 

[ULTROS!]

nvm

 

[Bob Coffee]

I think Inafune needs a protip to get capcom back in the game, cause they haven't done shit in the past 2 years worth a damn save for SFIV and SSFIV and RE5.

Protip: Give platinum games some moneybags have them at least plan out a game for capcom to make, namely your old buddy Mr. Shinji mikami, because vanquish is the right motherfucking direction if you want to make a Japanese game with a western ascetic that appeals to a western audience while still maintaining DAT Japanese touch. not the new DMC. Also might want to take a look at Shadows of the DAMNED(damned damned). these are two games that appeal to western audiences, and aesthetic taste, but still have that touch, that you know it came from japan.


I also think there still room in this industry for "Japanese" games, and for them to do well, hell i enjoyed bayonetta a thousand times more than i did Modern warfare 2. not everyone will dig it, but doesn't mean all Japanese development should shift to creating random generic first person shooter that takes place in the middle east with main character that has a large neck beard III: the reckoning.

 

[slaughterking]

There is certainly an argument to make about Japan's current state, but it's no sign of tactfulness if all he can do is a wide generalization and "barely" making his own not-so-amazing company the exception. :lol

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

In terms of sales? Yeah... no.

Uh, he means in development time, puppy.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Uh, he means in development time, puppy.

I just love your pet names.

 

[ULTROS!]

Uh, he means in development time, puppy.

Oh. Nvm then.

I just love your pet names.

He should call you kitty.

 

[Prine]

I dont see the problem about the content of his claim. He's more qualified than anyone on this forum to make that statement, he's also echoing Kojima's concerns. I dont agree but i dont have his insight re the industry.

 

[thetrin]

I dont see the problem about the content of his claim. He's more qualified than anyone on this forum to make that statement, he's also echoing Kojima's concerns. I dont agree but i dont have his insight re the industry.

No, I don't think he's qualified to analyze why Resident Evil was popular in a country he doesn't live in. "The main character is American and speaks English" is probably the dumbest analysis possible, anyway.

 

[wolfmat]

I dont see the problem about the content of his claim. He's more qualified than anyone on this forum to make that statement, he's also echoing Kojima's concerns. I dont agree but i dont have his insight re the industry.

Well, but you DO know what games are out there, right? Inafune is basically making an argument against diversity here, favoring the style of game that sells big in the west, which is something shooter-ish to be sure.

 

[spons]

Casual and hardcore gaming, who even cares anymore? Now it's either Western or Asian games. That's possibly an even dumber distinction than the first. Someone tell this guy that E3 is filled with evenly horrid one-dimensional games like most shooters that were shown there.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

I dont see the problem about the content of his claim. He's more qualified than anyone on this forum to make that statement, he's also echoing Kojima's concerns. I dont agree but i dont have his insight re the industry.

Being more qualified doesn't prevent a person from being wrong or foolish, unfortunately.

And it really depends on the claim as to whether or not he's more qualified anyway. In judging the quality of games, he's likely on even footing or worse with the average gamer, since I can't imagine he has a great deal of free time to play. I'd say the average GAFfer is also infinitely more experienced with Western games than he is, as well, given that he seems to think finding a formula that works and sticking with it is a Japanese-only trait.

That's not even getting into the lousy argument that is "Shadow of Rome failed because it was only superficially Western, Resident Evil succeeded because the main character was American and spoke English".

 

[farnham]

I liked this part of the article: Nintendo always seems to be the exception in these East vs. West discussions. Yet Japanese 3rd parties keep trying to emulate Western developers and failing, while they might have better luck if they tried to emulate Nintendo.

Edit: Beaten by Father Brain (kinda).

Nintendo is always ignored in discussions. Last gen any discussion about Nextgen was X360 Vs. Ps3 and funnily enough it stayed the same.

 

[orioto]

There is clearly a big cultural problem with japanese gaming since the end of last millennium, let's face it.

Videogame are like this cute little kid that was so full of fantasies and innocence, then became a fat ugly teen full of pimples and wanting to act cool to impress girls.

 

[Blackace]

Actually as much as people want to jump on him and make seem like a crazed old man, he isn't really that far off based on the industry as a whole in Japan. Pretty much all companies are looking west for help these days.

And for me personally there aren't many Japanese titles that make me wait for their release, outside of EO and maybe monster hunter.

I know it is a taste thing but Japan has always been real elitist with the fact that their games aren't bad they just aren't for the west and so on... It is refreshing to see a major figure saying (maybe too bluntly) we need to expand and adept...

 

[farnham]

Actually as much as people want to jump on him and make seem like a crazed old man, he isn't really that far off based on the industry as a whole in Japan. Pretty much all companies are looking west for help these days.

And for me personally there aren't many Japanese titles that make me wait for their release, outside of EO and maybe monster hunter.

I know it is a taste thing but Japan has always been real elitist with the fact that their games aren't bad they just aren't for the west and so on... It is refreshing to see a major figure saying (maybe too bluntly) we need to expand and adept...

He has said this for ages now. And all Capcom did was outsourcing games to western companies like Grin, the guys that did Dark Void, Blue Castle or Ninja Theory.

 

[Nemo]

Dude needs to shut up and make some platformers again

 

[thefro]

Don't these game developers watch Hollywood movies? Figuring out how to appeal to a global audience isn't that hard. Hell, Avatar is weirder than most of the Japanese games I've played and it made a ludicrous amount of money.

If you want to make a quirky game with a weird artstyle, that's cool, but the budget is going to have to be low.

The bigger problem as far as appealing to the "core Western audience" is the Japanese 3rd parties being behind on the tech side. The games that have came out with high production value generally are sequels which haven't changed enough from the previous games in the series.

Of course, the other side of the coin is you could actually make a game that anyone can pick up and play and make a ton of money. Considering there are people still around at these companies that made arcade games back in the day that shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

 

[Haunted]

Inafune is the new Itagaki.

 

[norinrad]

He has said this for ages now. And all Capcom did was outsourcing games to western companies like Grin, the guys that did Dark Void, Blue Castle or Ninja Theory.

Thats the company that killed the Bionic Commando remake isn't it?

 

[Rubius]

I must say that I pretty much agree with him.
Every time I see a Japanese game, I see the same thing with some change and better graphics.
I rarely see new idea coming from Japan. Even from Nintendo. The most innovative Nintendo games are from American and European Teams. Mario is still Mario, Kirby is Kirby. The last original idea I seen was from Myamoto with Pikmin.
Its nice if you love Retro gaming, but the time of Dragon Quest is gone. RPG dont NEED to be boringly grindy anymore.

 

[Blackace]

He has said this for ages now. And all Capcom did was outsourcing games to western companies like Grin, the guys that did Dark Void, Blue Castle or Ninja Theory.

It isn't easy to change a country that doesn't really like to change. Even now they are trying to train gamers to like FPS games...

 

[slaughterking]

Thats the company that killed the Bionic Commando remake isn't it?

That's the company responsible for the amazing Bionic Commando Rearmed and the flawed, but okay Bionic Commando.

 

[Pureauthor]

I must say that I pretty much agree with him.
Every time I see a Japanese game, I see the same thing with some change and better graphics.
I rarely see new idea coming from Japan. Even from Nintendo. The most innovative Nintendo games are from American and European Teams. Mario is still Mario, Kirby is Kirby. The last original idea I seen was from Myamoto with Pikmin.
Its nice if you love Retro gaming, but the time of Dragon Quest is gone. RPG dont NEED to be boringly grindy anymore.

Western games are equally 'same thing with some change and better graphics'.
What new ideas from American and European teams are you talking about?
Dragon Quest isn't grindy, and also isn't used as a template for a whole lot of jRPGs anyway, so I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

 

[wolfmat]

He has said this for ages now. And all Capcom did was outsourcing games to western companies like Grin, the guys that did Dark Void, Blue Castle or Ninja Theory.

… and died in the process

Edit: Speaking of Grin, of course. (Dark Void ~> Airtight btw)

 

[farnham]

It isn't easy to change a country that doesn't really like to change. Even now they are trying to train gamers to like FPS games...

they dont need to train an audience. what they need is to understand what people want and execute that. western gamers that mainly play Halo or Call of Duty are already getting their games from devs like treyarch, valve, id, bungie, infinity ward (respawn) etc etc. The market is oversaturated. They have to target a different audience from that to succeed. But they are trying to win over that FPS hardcore crowd that already is getting more games then they can buy.

I must say that I pretty much agree with him.
Every time I see a Japanese game, I see the same thing with some change and better graphics.
I rarely see new idea coming from Japan. Even from Nintendo. The most innovative Nintendo games are from American and European Teams. Mario is still Mario, Kirby is Kirby. The last original idea I seen was from Myamoto with Pikmin.
Its nice if you love Retro gaming, but the time of Dragon Quest is gone. RPG dont NEED to be boringly grindy anymore.

Wii Sports, Nintendogs, Wii Fit, Brain Training etc. etc.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Oh god it's another one of these threads.

At least it's not about RPGs.

 

[Haunted]

Just to make a summary of what he said in that interview:

- Everyone at the TGS is making awful games
- Japanese game developers are making games that are 5 years behind and stuck in the last-gen mindset
- There is no diversity or originality in game play, ideas, or design
- Capcom is barely keeping up
- Japan is behind because when they find an idea that works, they stick with the formula, just tweaking graphics and/or image quality
- Japan is also behind because publishers are not putting $75 million budgets behind the games for development/marketing
- Shadow of Rome failed because it was only superficially westernized
- Resident Evil, on the other hand, succeeded because the main character was American and spoke English
- Japanese games cannot be popular overseas anymore in their pure state; they are like sushi and North America requires California Rolls.
- Monster Hunter will never be a success overseas because it is Japanese to the core and any attempt to change it will make it unpopular in Japan
- Games that sell globally are best, but selling only in Japan is okay if they make a profit
- It's getting harder to make a profit on Japan-only software because the domestic market is smaller than ever
- Buying overseas companies is just a start, it takes a lot of work to yield proper dividends from such a relationship
- Lost Planet 1 was totally okay for westerners, but the team that made Lost Planet 2 screwed up and made it too Japanese and that's why it failed
- You can't take on America head-on, you have to use strategy
- Inafune's strategy was to bring robots into the game and use harsh environments, but Lost Planet 2 lost its way
- He can't do everything he wants to do at Capcom. He's been strong-arming things through but there's still a lot of resistance
- Pay is shitty, leadership is nebulous, and Inafune thinks he can't be on the board or directors because management thinks developers are stupid. That's the difference between Nintendo and Capcom.
- If Capcom changes, the Japanese games industry will change.
- Level 5 rox
- It's too late for Japan to enter the US gaming market, it will take years now. Japan needs to focus on entering emerging markets in China and Korea.
- Japanese gaming is dead
- Inafune loves Japan and wants to save it
- Everyone needs to face up to the reality that the Japanese games industry is dead.
- Capcom is ranked low globally, is dead no matter how you approach it. Resident Evil only sold 5 million copies. Not good enough.
- Inafune fancies himself like the revolutionary samurai Ryoma Sakamoto, who made strong efforts to open up Japan to the West and got assassinated.
- Inafune daydreams about being assassinated in medieval times for being so bad-ass.

I mean, look at that. Look at his criticisms. He hasn't got the slightest clue about what Western games are doing to succeed. Oh yes, Western developers never stick to the formula... what was the top-selling game last year again? Call of Duty 6, was it?

It's fascinating to see someone's descent into madness.

 

[Momo]

Hey Inafune, you're wrong.

 

[tino]

This dude (Inafune) has been a bad seed for Capcom. His biggest crime is driving Mikami away from Resident Evil, away from Capcom. Frankly, the only good game he can take credit for is Dead Rising (and DR2 potentially). He is directly reaponsible to Lost Planet 1/2 Bionic Commando , DmC and other Capcrap this generation.

 

[farnham]

This dude (Inafune) has been a bad seed for Capcom. His biggest crime is driving Mikami away from Resident Evil, away from Capcom. Frankly, the only good game he can take credit for is Dead Rising (and DR2 potentially). He is directly reaponsible to Lost Planet 1/2 Bionic Commando , DmC and other Capcrap this generation.

LP1 was pretty good though

 

[Blackace]

they dont need to train an audience. what they need is to understand what people want and execute that. western gamers that mainly play Halo or Call of Duty are already getting their games from devs like treyarch, valve, id, bungie, infinity ward (respawn) etc etc. The market is oversaturated. They have to target a different audience from that to succeed. But they are trying to win over that FPS hardcore crowd that already is getting more games then they can buy.


Wii Sports, Nintendogs, Wii Fit, Brain Training etc. etc.

Hardly true at all.. Western gamers weren't playing Halo games forever. Japan has to explore and expand. They have been very stagnate... It is not saying they suck or making horrible games

 

[Rubezh]

A Japanese developer says Japanese developers make bad games. NeoGAF says the former aforementioned Japanese developer makes bad games. Point proven.

 

[teruterubozu]

He needs a gaijin girlfriend.

 

[Sipowicz]

he can suck my cock, tgs had loads of good stuff this year

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Its nice if you love Retro gaming, but the time of Dragon Quest is gone. RPG dont NEED to be boringly grindy anymore.

Dragon Quest hasn't been grindy since DQ2, DQ9 is the highest-selling installment in the series, and a lot of why it's awesome is because the daddy of the franchise took some influences from Western games, Oblivion in particular, and integrated it with his own ideas to create a nice fusion of east and west. And he was able to do all of that without spazzing out like a drama queen and suggesting Americans only liked RE because it was about Americans.

 

[farnham]

Hardly true at all.. Western gamers weren't playing Halo games forever. Japan has to explore and expand. They have been very stagnate... It is not saying they suck or making horrible games

im not talking about every person playing games in USA and Europe. I am talking about a specific demographic (15-35 male) that seems to have specific tastes (gore, violent, a lot of shooting, gritty etc etc.). The gaming market has evolved around this demographic for years now.

And for exploring and expanding. well Japanese companies are (or at least Nintendo is) actually making games for people that dont fit in the traditional 15-35 male demographic. The rest of japan is not though (Level 5 is kinda successful with layton but thats about it.)

 

[ArjanN]

I picture it like The Last Samurai - Inafune is the Western obsessed emperor who will realise too late that they should have hung onto their Japanese values.

It's hard to cling to your traditional values when you just saw a bunch of giant black ships sailing up that had guns and coffee and eyeglasses,
and you just realized your country wasn't on top of the world, but the rest of the world was a century ahead of you.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

That's a quite funny statement coming from someone which company are bleeding money becuse of their western development.

It isn't easy to change a country that doesn't really like to change. Even now they are trying to train gamers to like FPS games...

Well those games didn't even succeded in the west, the early success game this gen from Capcom came from their internal studios, all of their bombs came from Western studios...

And ironically enough, both LP, DR and RE5 are very japanese in their desing and gameplay....

I doubt DR2 is gonna sell well, I doubt DMC is gonna sell at all and I doubt that any capcom console game is gonna sell well unless is called RE or MH, and it's because of this man...

 

[Technosteve]

"Japanese development is dying" is the new "PC gaming is dying?"

Capcom is the only japanese publisher to publish games on the PC this Gen. PC gaming isn't dead people are just getting poorer.

 

[Cheerilee]

Inafune: I look around Tokyo Games Show, and everyone’s making awful games. And that's when I realize it. I'm not at Tokyo Games Show. I just fell asleep on my desk again. Sorry. -_-;;