TGS 2008: Is Japan's gaming influence waning?

By Randolph Ramsay, GameSpot AUPosted Oct 9, 2008 12:10 am PT

Executives from Square, Capcom, and Namco Bandai open up about how they feel their country is losing gaming clout--and how they think the Japanese game industry can turn itself around.

TOKYO--With the gaming world's focus fixed firmly on Japan today with the beginning of the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, you'd expect Japanese companies would be using the opportunity to puff out their collective chests and proudly show off their best titles to the world. But oddly, the event started this morning on a negative note, with some top executives from Japan's biggest publishers bemoaning their country's waning influence on the global gaming stage.

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada kicked things off with TGS's opening keynote address, which he titled, "What the world is looking for in Japanese companies." Wada was frank in his assessment of the state of the local industry, saying that Japan has lost its position as the leader in the video game world, and had not coped well with the rapid rise of gaming markets in the US and Europe.

Wada said Japan's leadership in the previous decades was based on strong networking between hardware manufacturers and content producers, as most of the home consoles were designed and manufactured within Japan's borders. With more recent console generations, new competitors such as Microsoft entered the field, with even Japanese console makers joining up with foreign partners to create more advanced machines. Wada says Japanese companies were slow to embrace this change, and hence were left behind when information and networking infrastructure shifted more to the West.

The solution? Wada says Japanese game companies need to work together better with one another and with external partners (such as universities and government) in order to better share best practices and knowledge. One particular example he pointed to was the success of developer conferences such as US-based Game Developers Conference, adding that Japanese developers weren't very adept at these type of conferences. Wada was downbeat about the industry's chances should it fail to create new hubs--he says time is running out, but that thanks to still-strong local sales, most local developers were financially well positioned to tackle the challenge.

Following Wada's keynote was a roundtable discussion which included Wada, Capcom president and chief operating officer Haruhiro Tsujimoto, and Namco Bandai COO Shin Unozawa. Both Tsujimoto and Unozawa agreed that Japan's standing in the gaming world had indeed diminished, but Unozawa said it was less a matter of Japan faltering than with Western companies becoming better. Capcom's Tsujimoto said that going global was the key, and reiterated his company's previously stated goal of becoming the number one games company in the world.

To close off the roundtable, Wada offered a bleak analogy. He said that he was a heavy smoker, and that he thought nothing short of a doctor telling him he has cancer and only had years to live would make him stop. Wada said perhaps that's what needed to happen before Japanese game companies admit that they need to work together to solve their collective problems.

216 Comments

  • Rizer

    Posted Feb 11, 2009 1:26 pm PT

    I agree with a lot of what you said TheoleDominion, except for a few points. Voice acting: This really isn't Japan's fault that American voice actors chosen to dub their material have stunk for the longest time...it actually improved a lot in the past couple of years, but still...the past has made a bit of a stain on the reputation of English dubbers everywhere.

    Character Models: I haven't been to Japan since I was ten or so, so I don't know if this is what the tastes of Japan's youth are gravitating toward, but...well...it's not the hair that bugs me, it's the cloths. It's just my opinion, but with today's graphics if you still can't tell the difference between a JRPG guy and a flatter chested JRPG girl (reguardless of age) until the voice actor speaks up...something's wrong.

    Too linear/Too stiff: Meh...you're right I guess. I love stories in general, but I love multiple endings and plot changing flexablity even more. It makes feel more as if you are a actually there and more than just an observer. Custom choices keep you interested longer. Sure it's harder to accomplish for writers and dev alike, but the results are worth it

  • TheoleDominion

    Posted Feb 11, 2009 11:04 am PT

    I'm a huge fan of JRPG's,but some of the dated concepts has got to go! Maybe that's why they're seeking partnerships with western dev now. I'll list some my problems with recent JRPG's and see if you agree with me.

    Static Environment- Though I've seen improvements, they really need to make it more immersive and interactive instead of being "locked" into a certain path. Oblivion is what? 4 or 5yrs old and I've yet to see a JRPG that even comes close in that category.

    Text- I'm for texting especially for the hearing-impaired but there's no excuse for not having voice narratives included. Also the amount used is overwhelming at times (Lost Oddessy for example) I did just as much reading than actually playing,and that's bad. They need to be able to tell the story better in realtime while playing, as oppose to interupting the player in order to read for long periods of time. It really kills the gaming experience.

    Voice-acting- I really grow tired of the "corny" and "awkward" dialogue. With the amount of voice talent out there's no reason why the bad acting still exists in most JRPG's today.

    Skills/Technique- I love games with a robust amount of this stuff. The problem is alot of them have very little or no effect on gameplay or becomes obsolete before you're even mid way through the game. If you're gonna have alot of them,make sure it MEANS something.

    Character Models- a few postings have already touched on this. Does EVERY character have to be a kid with a spikey hair-cut? Or to the other extreme looong flowing white or black hair? How about putting in the character customization featured in most of the better RPG's today.

    Party/Combat System- I believe Star Ocean is heading in the right direction in making combat realtime even when switching characters. I can't tell how many times in similar games where you eventually end up putting the entire party on "auto" and you do more watching than actually playing.

    These are just some of the problems I see in a genre I love so much. Hopefully JRPG's devs will "get with the times" and I'll start seeing the improvements and great strides I've seen in other RPG's such as Oblivion,Mass Effect,Fallout 3 etc...

  • gwx11

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 10:03 am PT

    Even I, a long time defender of J-RPGs being better, must admit Japanese RPGs are not catching my interest as heavily. I recently finished Fallout 3, went back to Tales of Vesperi, and found it bearable at best. I think the J-RPGs having been losing its ability to tell a good story. And in absence of that and good characters, it is mostly an empty shell. On the other hand, even though Fallout 3 didn't have a complex story or characters, the fact that I can approach a quest in 3 to 6 different ways ranging from pure genocide to guardian angel, makes it such an enjoyable experience. So if JRPGs refuse to have mutiple choice based RPGs, fine, but they must get their story telling abilities they've had in Xenogears/saga and other similar games back. So I beleive American-RPGs are far from a joke.

  • IceDefenseGod

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 7:43 am PT

    I have yet to play an American game in the same universe in terms of quality as many Japanese games like Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry. The biggest differences obviously being RPGs; American-RPGs are a joke.

  • Crystall3d

    Posted Jan 3, 2009 5:03 am PT

    japs have shot their own foot by:

    giving out exclusives to MS

    choosing the "MASS vs quality" way

    wasting time on localizations , a jap game should sound like a jap.

    ignoring the "character animation advancements" like branching animations most western games use.

    as a gamer , i cared about the last one the most

  • NoLifeGamin

    Posted Dec 31, 2008 10:26 am PT

    lets see...the ONLY reason i bought a PS3 a few days ago was to play Final Fantasy 13 (and the fact i am a playstation fanboy)BUT i saw this and i was like.... THIS IS TOTAL BS! i mean some of the greatest games in video game HISTORY was developed and produced by Japanese game companies and think about it......if 10 years ago the Japan video game industry died then would you even think about how many AWESOME GAMES we would have missed if it didnt die? (hypothetically speaking) now in the present if it DOES die then i would just quit playing console games (WOW FTW) because even though the West has made many great games the games that has the most biggest impact on us was game FROM JAPAN i mean look at DMC,MGS,RE,Tekkan,Final Fantasy.....and the list goes on...

  • MrFinalFantasy

    Posted Dec 19, 2008 3:28 pm PT

    that is a really deep analogy by Wada. as he states. the Country should work closely with other gaming industries in the states and Europe to increase its efficiency. as gaming gets more and more advanced and with the crashes of many game publisher and the sacks of workforce in the US gaming market. the Japanese gaming industry should tap in the other game publisher in the states and Europe to recover their lost sales and go on another round table meeting to make more effective idea on game production and the masses taste. such an example of a great collaboration and success is the Square-Enix and Disney collaboration to Kingdom Hearts. the Japanese gaming market should be more open to Europe and United States to Emulate the success and probably. get more great games out there.

  • firedrakes

    Posted Dec 4, 2008 3:16 pm PT

    i think japans games are not as fun as the west games.

  • kkkkknaruto

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 9:05 pm PT

    if japan dies ps3 dies, cuz north america is basically owned by microsoft and without counting the wii is an actual system ms wins, i believe sony is the key to japans domination and if sony is ready to take on the responsibilty they will bring back this dieing country.

  • Ascendo

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 2:02 pm PT

    vietboi89: "i say if its 2d then make it downloadable and CHEAP!! DONT CHARGE FULL PRICE FOR A 2D GAME!!"

    I'm not particularly sure the number of dimensions a game has is relevant to its monetary value. Perhaps you're a philistine who is incapable of appreciating the aesthetics of any number of dimensions.

  • BLuFAlc0n

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 11:01 am PT

    @WKK and jdolly
    u 2 are tottaly right!

    @ xlukebearx
    yup, ok.. that was a good comparissonnd explanation.
    like GT vs NFS, MK vs a badly made racing game.
    It's the quality that matters, gameplay and innovation. I never said that violence in games make it cool at all (although it did sounded like it), it was just examples of violent games that the Wii has, well I didn't like Manhunt 2, I just can't stand it, but NMH is actually good. About online, yup it might be made for competition, but SSBB also has some features to link with friends, but one of the best online systems for the Wii is gotta be Mario Kart.

    Well GC has hardly any "mature games", that's why the Wii started of with hardly any of those games. The Wii focuses on breaking the line of non - gamers and hardcore-gamers. Non-gamers became "casual-gamers", but some hardcore gamers just left the Wii out. Probably at next year, Nintendo might have solve these "problems". Releasing DisasteroC, CoD:WaW then The Conduit, and a new Mario game and Zelda game, if Nintendo actually made Zelda "more realistic" than TP, it would be cool. But me, I like playing games, and I don't care about graphics, I only care about gameplay, innovation, originality and quality when it comes to games. The Wii has tecnically all of the features above. That's one of the reasons I like the Wii. Well all the 7th gen consoles got their purposes, and some features, and whatever people prefers best, that's what you'll like.

  • PirateG

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 8:50 am PT

    well the game creating "cultures" have merged lately, in my opinion.
    But we owe the true extract of RPG to the japanese.

    As for microsoft:Its potentials are unreachable so you cant say that.The example is the original Fable and Fable 2.Anyway good games come from creative people that can be found in both japan and US(oh and europe too )

  • chrono_wind

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 9:25 pm PT

    " azren89

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 7:22 am PT

    Japanese makes lots of amazing games like Resident Evil,Final Fantasy,MGS,DMC and lots other.
    I bet that Microsoft not even capable of develop games
    like that.Im proud to be an asian."

    You made me NOT proud to be an asian and your post was just plain selfish and idiotic. The US have their share of creative and wonderful games as well and have minds such as Sid Meier and Will Wright on the helm of some of these games.

    Japan set the standard to add story into their games, however and I still enjoy these games. However, both Western and Japanese development have become stale with the US bringing a little bit way too many FPS games and the Japanese releasing MANY RPGs. We'll see how things go..

  • Lisandro_v22

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 9:22 pm PT

    yeahm, maybe they should make a bad game now and then

  • Shadow_Fire41

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 5:57 pm PT

    heres a easy solution, commercials for game in America at least 1 month before release, send your games here, try to appeal to American's tastes and not just japanese,and a couple other things i can not think of at the moment.

  • akiwak

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 11:43 am PT

    It also has to do with Japan releasing good games but the US market not buying them. Think Yakuza and Okami both great games but with only ok sales. I'm not saying this is the only reason but it sure is contributing to it. Yakuza 2 is barely making it's way over here and it has been out for a year in japan.

  • GatsuBlackSword

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 10:35 am PT

    I think that japan has great Ideas but how many games do we actually get from there? We loose out on so many good games from that country. Like the Berserk PS2 game (Fanboy) and well even the fist of the north star fighting game by Sammy. We get maybe 40% of the content they produce over there and they have less money or pour into producing crazy unique titles like No More Hero's or Killer 7 and when they do come here they are bombs. Does Okami Ring a bell...? So it's not lack of quality it's we don't buy it their for less content coming over here? and I'm done

  • jdolly posted Oct 12, 2008 7:22 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    jdolly

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 7:22 am PT (hide)

    I just don't understand these posts...the WII is Nintendo.... Nintendo are Japanese. Nintendo is outselling everything. 360 is childs play next to the Wii and Microsoft hasn't even entered into the hand held market.

    It has 1 comptetitor and it lacks anything good. It's a box with bad graphics, an un-responsive controller, and an insanely high failure rate.

    Japanese gaming has most likely never been better.

  • YoJim8obaJoe

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 7:03 am PT

    diggyman

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 11:41 am GMT

    All industries (movie, automotive, videogaming, music, etc.) are ever-changing. If you try to remain one way in any of these industries, your business will suffer. That's basic business ethics. Now me, I could see myself enjoying a lot of these strange japanese games (because I'm a little different, proudly), but the majority wants the kind of content that the japanese culture doesn't particularly like to elaborate on (guns, excessive violence, etc. of course there are exceptions). What do all cultures have in common? Sex! Everybody loves sex. Maybe they can make sex games, I dunno... I guess you never heard of hentai games?lol

  • diggyman

    Posted Oct 12, 2008 3:41 am PT

    All industries (movie, automotive, videogaming, music, etc.) are ever-changing. If you try to remain one way in any of these industries, your business will suffer. That's basic business ethics. Now me, I could see myself enjoying a lot of these strange japanese games (because I'm a little different, proudly), but the majority wants the kind of content that the japanese culture doesn't particularly like to elaborate on (guns, excessive violence, etc. of course there are exceptions). What do all cultures have in common? Sex! Everybody loves sex. Maybe they can make sex games, I dunno...

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