Mega Man Creator on Japan's Culture of Fear

Wait- he's saying the Japanese are afraid of/ need to chanage, and yet he's making a rehash (okay okay, "spiritual successor") to MegaMan?

I think game developer should have vote system to see what games people want. then work on that project only

Dear Japan,

Don't change your culture and become more western. Embrace your roots, your rich heritage. It's OK to use tools and middleware from other countries. And maybe even hiring a few expats for localization. Think quality first, put your reputation on the line, and the resulting product will be good.

Thanks,

"Yes men".... It just proves that Japan as a whole is still a conservative community.

One example is when capacom ran out of ideas for dmc they had a north american company take over. Even with fan backlash majority of the games support came from north american. The japanese wasnt going to support the game(they're the primary supporters of the previous ones). Probably becuase they feel it was becoming too americanized. a concern that they had since dmc3.

I like how some people are commenting and dont really see some of the truth in his words. If we look back japan was always tight on having their pop culture released to foreigners, or work with foriengers. Its alot better today, but i remember when people had to pirate to get certain games, watch certain anime, or read certain manga/light novels with a third party translating. It didnt matter if it was popular here either, or there wAs money to be made but more and more legitmate licenses have come through. You still find japanese versions of some games especially ninetendo offering things only to residents of japan. Im not saying the're wrong, but the chinese for the sake of business will do business and they're better off for it.

Well if current games didn't cost so much to make maybe we'd see some more original stuff. Making profit isn't like the old ps1 and ps2 days, where studios could afford 2 or 3 games making less to no profit and 1 or 2 big games that made some to a lot of profit.
Why take the risk to make something people won't buy? That's what the studios are thinking. too much of a risk = puts the company at risk. That's why some companies are moving to mobile. Low cost to make, big profit, too bad about the originality = 0 in most cases but that's because a lot of players want the same old same old and thus are more likely to pay.
Why did Capcom refused to make another Megaman game? They weren't sure it would sell. They should have gone Kickstarter with Inafune, should have made a deal like: "Ok we'll do it, but we go KS". Imagine a Megaman X game with HD graphics, decent story and a Metroidvania style gameplay. Nope. Don't know if it'll sell. Too much ego from both sides too.

One thing is sure: Mighty nº9 isn't original. It's the same old same old. Couldn't it have been more adult, have a decent story instead of the same cutscenes making no sense or filling a gap? They could have made it like a Megaman x4, but better. Games nowadays need deeper stories, more humor and 4th wall breaking. Mighty is as shallow as a small pond.

But there are still Japanese games with a lot of original stuff...too bad the waifu and anime games are the ones making money.

Boldly claimed that developers were all making terrible games because they're afraid to stand out and try something new, then starts his own dev. studio, and puts out a prettier version of his old Rock (Mega)Man game. I love you Inafune-san, but come on man.

all the money and yet tablet looking megaman.

Wow. Some of these comments. . . I forgot this was a gaming site. . .

I've heared of cultural disagreements but this has gone to another level altogether.

But lie to yourself, and believe YOUR country, political system, and fellow citizens have no flaws in comparison.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--1iCmK8mw--/1299916891286816033.png

and Hideo Kojima are gods.

I find it hard to take this guy seriously...

This "fear" he is talking about is true in the industry in general, the only developers that don't have it are ones producing entries in already strong franchises(like GTA or Mario)...

Every person working on an AAA game anywhere in the world is pretty much a salary man, so what's his point?

And, as always, he directly contradicts himself in the interview... I dunno if this is a interpreting problem or the guy is weird like that.

"during the normal development cycle, you always have the fear that 'what if this game doesn't do well? What if people don't like this game I'm making?' But, you don't have this fear with a Kickstarter project because you already have, in our case, 70,000 people backing you. These people will love my game for sure, so I kind of feel safe and protected in a way."

Just wow, this safety feeling is not useful in making good games. Now we can safely assume MIghty No will be a mediocre game at best.

I gotta say also, that Inafune hasn't made a SINGLE truly good game since he left Crapcom.

But..But.. I like Japanese games for being exactly that...different.

Same thing with foreign restaurants. I hate chinese and japanese restaurants that tries to be more american in their dish. You can really tell the difference in taste if you're a fan like me. So I always goto the more authentic restaurants for being what they really are.

I don't believe games should "cater" to what people want, they always seem to change and most people don't know what they want.

Overconfidence or fear might have been a false dichotomy. The Japanese have influenced the modern entertainment world like no other nation save the US. Hardly proof that the Japanese cower on their own island.

Off topic here, but where is the like button? Not that it's all that important though it kind of makes me feel naked without it. I remember a mod saying there would be one and that was a few weeks ago. And the new comment system sucks a lot.

I have been to japan. The things we like here and in Europe isnt the same in japan. There subways and cities is full of animation billboards and art work. The games they like would be perceived as kids games. Here in America we like more variety like sports and action based games with realism those arent that big in japan. There biggest titles is RPG and puzzles Nintendo is a perfect example of that. Still have sucess in Japan but completely out of touch here. Kutos for Mighty No.9 creater being so honest. I dont care what he says tho that game is Mega Man on crack lol.

They're no longer in a position to not care about the world if they want to make bigger titles. The budget that these games require in 2015 automatically means that you can't just be a success in Japan and fail everywhere else... not if you expect to actually make a decent amount of profit. That doesn't mean that you have to strip away national identity, but it does mean that you have to actually do your research and get a sense of what people like and dislike around the world and reach some kind of consensus on which way to go when it comes to game design.

I'd love to know how Capcom approached Resident Evil 6. That's the most polarizing game they've done in recent memory. Could that not be considered taking a risk? Could that not be a product of trying to appeal to Western gamers? I don't think the QTE stuff was a product of that as I think gamers have generally hated QTE since the day before forever, but specifically with Chris' campaign I'd like to know if that's Japan being Japan or if that's Japan trying to appeal to the West. I mean any way you slice it, they failed big time because they're ignoring their roots, and that almost NEVER works when it comes to a game franchise. It's about changes that complement the core, not changes that alter the core.

"Typical Japanese, they don't like to be in the frontier of anything."

Interesting comment from a man who has essentially made the same game over and over again for three decades.

Japan makes the best video games, western developers have alienated all of its veterans, they are never permitted to flourish, there is a cut between the new and the old. There is no such things in Japan, industry veterans still make games and pass their knowledge to next generations, look at Miyamoto. Capcom is just ran awfully, they will never release Dragon's Dogma on PC.

I blame it on the hormones pumped into all our food, it has made a couple or a few generations scared, pathetic, weak men. Its low testosterone caused by the hormone filled meat we all grew up on.