Can Japan ever go back to its PS2 days in quantity and quality?

No. Japan had a glory age from NES to PS2 gens, but they just don't have a big enough home market to cater for modern AAA games, nor do they seem to handle online at all well. The lack of PC gaming in Japan means there's less ways for indies to get established either.

The likes of Capcom, Konami, Tecmo and Square Enix have all fallen hugely from their glory days.

It's not an embarassment either: I mean, how long could a single country outproduce the entire rest of the world put together in high quality games? The fact they did it for so long is amazing.

Not when handhelds and smartphones are around. In terms of PS only, with developers not having to worry about spending so many man hours trying to decipher the cell there may be a small chance of seeing a nice splurge of console games again.

The glory of Japanese games in the PS2 era was heavily influenced by the fact that good games outside Japan back then were significantly fewer. Now? Everybody is on the AAA train from the States to Europe (West & East) to Russia to other Asian countries, etc.

Japan... has changed..

Do you mean to say that those Japanese games in the PS2 era weren't that good? It was considered good because nothing much else was good at that time?

I think last gen really saw a transformation in the focus of developers, with the success of the PSP and the DS in unit sales, Japanese developers are focusing on a medium that isn't as widely adopted by Western gamers who primarily game on consoles. The high success of the DS and the PSP could have been a large part of this shift, but also console trends could have played their part. The Xbox 360 had no support from Japanese consumers, which probably effected the want to develop for it. The PS3 was a costly system to program for, it required more money, more time, more staff, and Japanese studios tend to be smaller and in some ways these demands alienate their ability to produce games for a wider audience outside Japan. Then on the Wii's end, the Wii was a phenomenal success in terms of sales, but as far as support for third parties went it was a real gamble, gamers were mostly interested in first party titles but gave no attention to third party games. This too I felt hurt the ability of smaller Japanese studios to make games that can reach a wider audience outside Japan.

I'm not sure if Japanese gaming is necessarily in a dwindling phase. I mean it has changed, but it's not going anywhere. It's typical over the years though we see studios rise to stardom, we see studios go defunct, studios get bought by big publishers, we see IPs die, things are always changing for better or for worse.

One notable change in gaming seen last gen is that Western developers have shifted focus into larger budget titles, whereas Japan hasn't not so much. Since more money is involved, Western developers stick to safe formulaic territory for their games, and are less experimental when it comes to big budget games. Whereas in Japan, where many studios might not have the production values of Western games, they have more freedom to be experimental with their games. That I feel is where Japanese games will stand out. Experimental doesn't always mean better, but the opportunity for unique quality gems is there, just gotta keep your ear to the ground.

Japan hasn't changed... Gamers have.

Final Fantasy 15 will do that, i believe that game will be the key for some PS2 level of constant JRPGs this gen ( especially on the PS4 )

Didn't expect to see so many optimist in System Wars.

Yes, nothing is ever set in stone. Japan was in recession for the last 20 years and they've just gotten out of it. They can turn around but it's up to their talent to actually do it.

the problem with Japan is that the otaku population (the same that buy games) changed completely. Moe, colorful, under-age, idols, ecchi... That's what sells now but the worst of all is that the weaboos have adapted to that shit too. Japan is not relevant anymore and that's not gonna change any time soon. Western devs are just too far ahead while Japan is not even trying, except for the usual suspects like Kojima... And... Anybody else?

Japan has gone downhill alot since the 90s in many ways. Back in the day products from japan like sony were seen as amazing and high quality. Now Japanese technology is just average. Korean brands have gained alot of ground over japanese brands.

WIth gaming no one seems to care about console gaming anymore its all about hand helds.

Japan is getting old its population could be 87 million by 2060 and its 128 million now. less and less games will be made as japan keeps losing people. Why spend more money then ever on a japanese RPG when there are less and less people to buy them?

No, its kaput down there

I wish. JP RPGs were my favorite games while growing up.

Yes, Why couldn't they?

even PC gaming have become bigger than consoles just because of visual novels and dating sims. Japanese taste took a very different route from ours. Although I'm not a big fan of Western's obsession with realism either.

Look at how badly the new gen consoles are selling in Japan, and there's your answer. Their own game market is a niche market, and they are terrible at creating games when they try to focus them as western friendly (usually end up with garbage like Resident Evil 6 or Dead Rising).

Every once in awhile they might surprise us with something (Demons' Souls/Dark Souls, Nintendo games, etc), but in terms of quantity, forget about it, there is no market for Japan studios to cater to anymore. At best Japan is just one of a number of regions that create games now. Their lead is long gone.

Maybe not quantity, but quality yes.

We have the new RE4, The Evil Within. The new ICO.. yes Last Guardian is coming.. also MGSVPP is looking like the best MGS ever.

this is pure nostalgia. Japan had a great last gen.

I voted for option 2 because Japan still makes hidden gems like Ni No kuni and I am HOPING FF15 isn't a massive flop because I really do enjoy the franchise so it is not all doom and gloom. The mobile market has taken many gamers away from traditional consoles because casuals don't really care about deep involving games and their phones provide their fix.

@finalstar2007 keep believing that, you poor weeabo...oh wait, actually such thinking is deeply embedded within your ethos

Japanese quality has gone WAY downhill. I have always wished they shipped a few more games than they do. Ni No Kuni ws a great game, but I miss the great old turn based RPG's and new fighting game franchises. It is as if they are afraid to take a chance these days. Also... FFXV looks like dog shit... I can't believe anyone would say that is going to help them out of the hole, it looks more like Devil May Cry than a traditional FF game.

The majority of money poured into the industry comes from the West, and the West likes "Western" style games more than Eastern style games.

If they want to compete directly against the West, absolutely not. I can certainly see Japan carving out a small niche for itself.

Uh, I felt ps2 was one of the most generic consoles in history. Still good, but nowhere near what people make it out to be.

Maybe. Playing Puppeteer right now, and it's really good.

Something needs to be done about handhelds. At the moment the markets are at odds with eachother, particularly because most Japanese just want 2d waifu's and they don't realize how glorious 3d can be.

And yes Waifu's run the market at a base level in Japan, and yes it's fucking pathetic.

No, those days are long gone.

Most of my favorite games still come from Japan. I don't think the quality has dropped, really, but it would be nice to see some more production.

call of duty killed japan.

japans best games were rpgs... rpg is almost dead now. shooters replaced them.

Your typical COD gamer has never played a JRPG in his life. Square Enix has just stopped putting good JRPGs on consoles for the most part, for whatever reason. It has nothing at all to do with COD. Thankfully, Nintendo still exists and we still get the occasional gem from studios like Platinum, Suda 51, and SEGA. Even Square Enix occasionally will put out a good game when they feel like it.

My first JRPG was Miracle Warriors on the Sega Master System. I loved it. As I got older I could never recapture that excitement from them again. Especially the turn based combat. Japan made more than that for sure, but if @finalstar2007 prediction is true, then I wont be buying much Japanese on the PS4 this gen.

Everything has its ups and down, I think as long as nintendo and playstation are healthy, then so is Japan gaming as a whole, they don't even need to sell to japan, they need to sell to the west.

I still get enjoyment out of jpn games.I enjoy the tales games.I enjoyed nier.I enjoyed P4G,I still enjoy FF,I cant wait to play drakengard and im enjoying the handheld jpn games as well.Some may not like the games coming out but that doesint mean you should declair it dead or anything.