"I just can't understand why Japanese gamers are so reluctant to play networked games."
Capcom's Jun Takeuchi has an interest in networked games. He headed up Lost Planet and Resident Evil 5, so you can kind of get why he's discouraged at Japan's reluctance to play networked games.
Takeuchi frowns on the Japanese gamers' need for hand holding. He commends American gamers for not being afraid to jump into something new.
I find overseas players to be more curious — they go towards what they think looks, sounds or feels fun by themselves. In Japan, I have the feeling users are just waiting for us to guide, to feed them with fun things. The problem is that the online experience is something that requires users to make a move first.
Takeuchi says that he wants to create that draw for Japanese gamers to go online. I think it's just a matter of time before they are won over by online gaming. I'd guess a lot of Japanese gamers are looking over the pond and seeing how much fun we're having over here. Give it time, Takeuchi.
[via GoNintendo]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
9:40 AM on 11.04.2009
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That's what I thought, monster hunter for the psp and wii is huge isn't it.
I just don't think there attracted to our types of online games.
Monster Hunter is a really social game in Japan but its mainly played offline even though you can find tons of people playing it on ad-hoc party
How do you explain Madden then...?
Obviously there are exceptions (like FFXI and among Japanese PC gamers), and Capcom is leveraging Monster Hunter Wii to become one also, but for the most part people aren't really "into" the session-based multiplayer a lot of western gamers take for granted.
It could also be an issue of interest. Japanese players tend to prefer RPGs and fantasy settings, and most MP-concentrated games tend to be twitch shooters in one form or another.
I would love to take on the whole damn world in games like Uncharted 2. I was a 1 player game guy until I got a PS3.
Condemning people for not being part of the online experience=Not cool.
Long story short,don't talk bad about people.Just make something new and good,and people will flock to it.
Koreans? They only play ONE network game. Scratch that, they called, it's NOT a game, it's a lifestyle.
I'm not saying developers shouldn't make what the want to make in a game, but they need to listen to the customer base.
A good portion of them wanted nothing to do with players that weren't Japanese, either because of the language barrier, or because non-Japanese players tended to adhere to different rules of etiquette(or complete lack of) when interacting with other players.
As goofy and as frustrating as they could be I really liked the pre-translated phrases in FFXI that at least allowed for some rudimentary sort of conversation with people that didn't speak English. It'd be nice if more games would implement something like that. Or if you could choose to only be matched up with people that speak your language.