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Platinum on Japan dev 'decline': 'There are tons of terrible Western studios too'

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Nibel

Member
Feel Fishy if old

Speaking in the latest issue of Edge, which is with subscribers now, the exec director argued that despite certain sectors of the industry painting a dark cloud over the region, not all Japanese studios are terrible and, in fact, "there are tons of terrible Western developers" too.
"I don't like it when people lump Japanese games developers all together into one group. Frankly, I think it's a joke. What do these people know?"

The Okami creator continued: "Think about Western developers. There are many Western developers making terrible games, and then you see one like Infinity Ward making a game that sells 20 million and everyone goes, 'hey, Western developers are amazing!'

"There are tons of terrible Western developers, just like there are tons of terrible Japanese developers. To lump studios together in great masses misses the point."

While the Bayonetta studio acknowledged that sales figures of its games haven't been "a breakthrough success," it pointed out that unlike many other Japanese developers, sales of its titles are balanced "much more towards the West."

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance director Kenji Saito added:

"I don't think there's a need to be down on Japanese games in general. Platinum is a company that is trying to push to the front and do big things. But I think it's true that some Japanese developers are still making Japanese games, and trying to maintain their status quos - that's their whole strategy."

The never-shy Inaba interrupted: "They're falling behind then, right?"

Read the full interview with the Platinum Games producers in Edge 246, which officially hits newsstands on Thursday, September 27. Buy it online.
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Source
 
Call Phil Fish etc.

He's right anyway. It depends what genres you like, though. All of my favourite games this gen have been JP developed.
 
Man so many Platinum threads lately :d.

Many good japanese studios are just more handheld focused nowdays. But those don't count I guess.
 
I completely agree. I think a large reason that people have started thinking this way is because they are still looking at the older big name studios, rather than towards newer successes like Platinum.
 
Finally! I'm so glad that someone finally said this. I feel like he's speaking directly to Inafune here.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is a perfect example of this crisis of self-confidence spinning out of control. Why would Team Ninja emulate the west? It's like they didn't even realize that Japanese devs are usually far better at making action games.
 
He's absolutely right.

Japanese failings are more stark to Western audiences, but that perception doesn't take into account the amount of shit a lot of Western devs put out.
 
Japan has studios like Platinum, From Software and Nintendo EAD. Yeah, some of the larger names like Capcom and SE have fallen behind, but to say that Japanese devs are terrible is just stupid.
 
Platinum and From double teamed this generation with it's greatest games, so yeah, the "japanese developers are shitty" vomit from a certain aquatic hipster was always nonsense nobody should have taken notice of.
 
The Okami creator continued: "Think about Western developers. There are many Western developers making terrible games, and then you see one like Infinity Ward making a game that sells 20 million and everyone goes, 'hey, Western developers are amazing!'

"There are tons of terrible Western developers, just like there are tons of terrible Japanese developers. To lump studios together in great masses misses the point."
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While it probably isn't, I can't help but feel this comment is partially directed at Capcom and their sometimes overly simplistic view of western developers.
 
Seems to me Japanese development is looking in far better shape now than it did at the start of this last gen, they hit a significant bump in the road with the change towards PC-style GPU coding but both technologically and creatively they seem back on track.

Meanwhile, Western development hasn't been growing outside of the handheld space and has been getting increasingly mired in overlong production cycles and marketing mandated content decisions.
 
Shinta said:
Finally! I'm so glad that someone finally said this. I feel like he's speaking directly to Inafune here.
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AvsfC.png
 
Antagon said:
Japan has studios like Platinum, From Software and Nintendo EAD. Yeah, some of the larger names like Capcom and SE have fallen behind, but to say that Japanese devs are terrible is just stupid.
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"Final Fantasy games aren't as good as they used to be, therefore Japan is pretty much done."
 
Yeah, Activision receives a lot of praise for how much CoD sells. But few want to bring up that they've also shut down 9 studios in this generation alone.
 
Ookami-kun said:
Always thought he's more like Batman of the Justice League (i.e. he hangs around and represents as well but he doesn't associate himself officially)
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Maybe he is the Batman of the Justice League :lol

It isn't quite clear to me, but Vanquish was developed under PlatinumGames' flag and Mikami is cool with Kamiya and Inaba - I still count him as PG staff member although he has his own company at ZeniMax

Maybe that PG member on GAF can tell us more about his situation :)
 
Nagoshi is another Japanese dev that's tired of this talk

In his weekly column in Famitsu this week, Nagoshi recalled conducting interviews with members of the overseas press during E3. He was repeatedly given the old line about Japanese games being no good. While he says that he kept his composure and responded to the questions, he was so mad that he wanted to get some Yakuza fist action going.
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http://andriasang.com/comwj9/nagoshi_japanese_games/
 
So glad someone finally had the guts to say it instead of bending over and taking it. The last couple years of complete dismissal of Japanese games has been very frustrating to watch
 
Nibel said:
Maybe he is the Batman of the Justice League :lol

It isn't quite clear to me, but Vanquish was developed under PlatinumGames' flag and Mikami is cool with Kamiya and Inaba - I still count him as PG staff member although he has his own company at ZeniMax

Maybe that PG member on GAF can tell us more about his situation :)
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but I think he's been gone from Platinum for a while now. Worked with Grasshopper, then on to Tango Games.
 
Shinta said:
Finally! I'm so glad that someone finally said this. I feel like he's speaking directly to Inafune here.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is a perfect example of this crisis of self-confidence spinning out of control. Why would Team Ninja emulate the west? It's like they didn't even realize that Japanese devs are usually far better at making action games.
Click to expand...

Citation needed.

OT, he is definitely right, there are many crappy western studios, more so than the good and great ones, however I feel like most good or great studios come from the west these days as opposed to Japan. My view was different last generation and significantly so during PS1/SNES/NES era. Of course this is all my personal opinion on what my current taste for games are.
 
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance director Kenji Saito added:

"I don't think there's a need to be down on Japanese games in general. Platinum is a company that is trying to push to the front and do big things. But I think it's true that some Japanese developers are still making Japanese games, and trying to maintain their status quos - that's their whole strategy."

The never-shy Inaba interrupted: "They're falling behind then, right?"
Click to expand...
Now I want to read how Saito answered that interjection by Inaba. :p
 
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