Assassin’s Creed Dev Wants Equal Standards for Western and Japanese Games

Assassin's Creed 3 Lead Designer Alex Hutchinson believes that Western games aren't fairly treated by the media, as journalists forgive the mistakes of Japanese titles while maintaining high standards for the Western ones.

In the last few years, there's been a growing divide between developers based in Japan and the ones from the rest of the world, which resulted in not a lot of really profitable titles coming from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Now, Assassin's Creed 3 Lead Designer and Ubisoft Montreal member Alex Hutchinson has criticized the media for its positive discrimination towards Japanese games, saying that journalists tend to lower their standards when trying such titles out.

"I think there's a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists' side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do," he told CVG.

While racism is a harsh term, Hutchinson quickly elaborated his point, saying that all games should be compared by the same standards, no matter their point of origin.

"Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There's no way [a western developer] could write it with a straight face, and the journalists say 'oh it is brilliant'," he added.

"Then Gears of War comes out and apparently it's the worst written narrative in a game ever. I'll take Gears of War over Bayonetta any time. I just think the simple question should be; is the story any good?"

While Hutchinson's words are a little harsh, he does raise into question the capability of Japanese developers to forge a complex yet easy to understand story without using too many cliches or tropes.

Besides the story, Epic Games' Creative Director, Cliff Bleszinski, also highlighted areas where Japanese titles could be improved upon, like the multiplayer, which is becoming a crucial feature for games nowadays.