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Western developers 'superior' to Japanese, claims Platinum Games photo

Platinum Games may be something of a hardcore gamer darling right now, with its Okami pedigree and upcoming hot titles such as MadWorld and Bayonetta, but the small developer is humble. Game creator Atsushi Inaba shared his thoughts on international game development, confessing that he feels the West has outclassed the East. 

"To be honest, I think that western developers are superior to those in Japan overall," said Inaba, who is responsible for creating Viewtiful Joe. "So we the Japanese developers should realize that we have to work hard to reach the western level. We’re fast reaching a stage where it’s going to be about individual developers and not about what country they are in, globalization is coming to our industry too."

Inaba isn't the first Japanese developer to share these sentiments, and he probably won't be the last. I don't want to agree with him, but having been forced to play Onechanbara this past week, I really have no choice.


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18 comments | showing # 1 to 18

CocoJambo's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:08
CocoJambo
I'm really tired of this comments, its like a group depression. Why are western games better? Have they any other reason besides sales? Will they start making FPSs too and finally end with the fun in the industry?

There's so many reasons why this inferiority complex isn't justified.
killias2's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:12
killias2
Yeah, I'm not really sure where this came from. I do think that Japan has lost its dominance, but I also think that certain companies (I'm mostly looking at you Capcom!) are still putting out consistently incredible material. Nintendo, despite all the naysayers, is also still putting out quality, and some of the smaller developers are making some really fun stuff.

Square-Enix, however, really needs to get their shit together.
EternalDeathSlayer's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:20
EternalDeathSlayer
CocoJambo: Unfortunately, in the eyes of the Japanese business men who run these companies, inferior sales are a good enough reason to say Western developers are better.

The way they see it, they aren't meeting their sales numbers, and the reason why must be that the games simply aren't good enough.

I'm not saying it's true, but that's how they're seeing it. Western-developed games, shooters in particular, rule the gaming world. That's just how it is.
Drack48's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:22
Drack48
Ohh..come on now! We still love you Japan! @Killa: They need to hit it out of the park with FF13 to restore my faith in them..and I think they will..
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:28
Jim Sterling
"Nice reasoning there, like Western developers don't ever make low (or even high) budget shovelware"

I think somebody decided to miss the joke?
Fury-Genesis's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:33
Fury-Genesis
Meh. it's just a combination of how huge franchises like Halo and GTA and Gears of War has become in the west, and typical Japanese modesty, that makes them say that stuff.

It's not strange at all I think. Very different culture. Modesty is still a virtue there. Traditionally, Japanese don't really beat themselves on the chest and shout about how awesome they are like people do in the west. It's considered inappropriate and rude by many.

...unless they're a narcissistic douchebag like Itagaki that is. :P
killias2's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 09:49
killias2
"They need to hit it out of the park with FF13 to restore my faith in them..and I think they will.."

Exactly. However, I'm not as optimistic. After FF12, I can't even trust reviews of FF13. I really don't know how I will respond to it.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 10:24
Necros
Al3xand3r makes a strong argument, but I have to simply counter with "I disagree." Japanese gaming has lost the spark it once had - there are fewer original titles, and those are all stuck on more outdated platforms. In general, Japanese developers are terrified of HD game production, and anything produced on 360 or PS3 still feels amazingly last gen. The worst part is that any developer that does try to make a solid, original game in Japan (see: Clover Studios) is swiftly punished by an uncaring public, despite increased success here in America. It's no wonder that Japan is playing it safe.

My problem is that I see nothing on the technical level of recent tour de forces like BioShock, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, or The Orange Box. Even when games receive big budgets, they still feel decidedly limited and lacking in polish. Obviously, there are probably some counter-arguments to this, but this is the general feeling I've been having for a while. That, and the fact that while I love many anime, its influence on games has been mostly negative, leading to horrible anime-inspired bullshit in games, with cutscenes that aren't nearly as good as their inspiration that sound unnatural and go on way too long.

As of today, the only Japanese developers that I've seen embrace both HD consoles and "worldwide gaming" are Capcom and Konami, both of whom have made excellent strides that I wish the rest of Japan would follow. And stop making so many JRPGs. With the notable exception of Atlus JRPGs, they're as annoying as endless FPS games here in the States.

And to the West: less FPS games as well. At this point, they're the equivalent of fighting games in the 90s (usually Japanese) or SHMUPs in the 80s.
pascuz46's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 10:30
pascuz46
Well, the western developers have come a long way since the birth of videogames. But lets think for a second, the Japanese developers had a strangle hold on the video games industry for over 20 years. This is natural progression and in the future 'innovation' or sales will flow to another development region. Weather it be western or Japanese. Japanese games are still very good, and I'm looking forward to seeing what is coming next from the big Japanese developers.
Redzie's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 11:02
Redzie
I think this is another case of Japanese Modesty misunderstood by westerners again. Though I can see that this response from the Japanese is from the lower than expected sales of Japanese games in the western market. I don't blame them, I blame the influx of the new market that the Wii has opened up and Halo pre-teens for muddying up the market.
DR EGG's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 11:03
DR EGG
This is just typical Japanese ultra-modesty at its best.
ChaosTeaCup's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 11:22
ChaosTeaCup
Hmmmmmm... Apart from, as mentioned above, Konami and Capcom, of late I would have to agree. Although the fact that, in general, I hate, and always have hated Japanese games, possibly skewers my ability to be objective. But things like terrible menu systems, last-gen graphics, awful, awful soundtracks, and an obsession with borderline paedophillic androgenous imagery, I don't think my stance is entirely unwarranted.
Colette Bennett's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 12:20
Colette Bennett
The humble act is bullshit. There is no way you make a character like Bayonetta and don't feel like a fucking porn star for doing so.
Trevor McGee's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 12:53
Trevor McGee
Yakuza 3 will bring honor to the Japanese. :)

GIVE ME YAKUZA 3 SEGA!
Cowboy TTop's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 13:17
Cowboy TTop
At the moment I'd have to agree with Platinum Games.

I love games from east and west. I've swayed from love one side to the other and now both.

The japanese are behind for a few reasons. The first is their lack of investing 3d tech from the west over the years, or better yet creating their own tech. This has left many of their games looking like PS2 product for far too long, with only the big developers like Capcom and Konami breaking the mold.

They are great game designers, but lack of creative vision can sometimes hurt their games before they get out of the gate.

Now, Dtoid might have reviewed Onechanbara, and given it an avearage to low score, which is fair enough. The amazing thing, that no one seems to mention is that Onechan is an amazing piece of low budget software, the likes of which would never see the light of day in the west (unless on PC), where only large money backed games make it. I doubt it was made by a huge team, but its nice to see it on sale. I do think in the west, beyond Valve, many in the industry do not sing the praises of the mod/homebrew developer scene enough, if at all. If we did, we'd be able to make budget games like Onechan.

The MS incursion into japan with Xbox and Xbox 360, is a fine way to bring about change and oppurtunities, for small japanese devs to reach other markets, and vice versa for western devs.

Think about this too. Japan's game design schools more than likely focus on game design and development, but probably a lot less on 3d graphics, whereas in the west things are more about 3d engines and programming. I feel for japan to strike back to the top, they need to learn more about 3d engines and how to build them, as well as other game design philosophies not taught. When their games start to look better, they'll be more inspired to break the androgenous character chains and try something superb (or so I hope). They also need to break that 8/16 bit cycle of rehashed game creation, and kudos to those that do.

There's hope out in japan though. Atlus done wonders with Persona 3 and 4, Platinum Games seem to show that perhaps smaller japanese development maybe is a better way to go, so more ideas can be tried out. The recession might bite into this though.

As for Square, they are successful like Blizzard are. many in japan want to copy their success, but seem to not want to adapt much. For Square, I hope now that they have Eidos, that they learn how to make other types of games. they are not strong at.
ChronosWing's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 13:31
ChronosWing
Is this really news? The Japanese have been trying to emulate the western way of life for decades, they basically have been holding Americans as some kind of almighty race that they must strive to be like.
BattyAdroit's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/20/2009 16:11
BattyAdroit
Obvious fact is obvious. :)
Dan CiTi's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/25/2009 23:55
Dan CiTi
Most western developers suck, so no. Especially WRPGs, they are mostly bad. Being too humble. The west puts out 10 good games in the past couple years yet Japan makes 100 but no one cares because they've been doing it for decades.
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