14 DAY TRIAL // Some high-profile video game developers recently criticized the Japanese video game industry for its inability to appeal to audiences outside the borders of the country, and another high-profile developer believes that global appeal should be a goal for all teams working on new titles.
Talking to Eurogamer as the Art of Video Games exhibition opened at the Smithsonian Museum, Hideo Kojima, who is the creator of Metal Gear Solid and who leads his own development team, said that Japanese designers currently “Aren’t really aware of what people around the world want” and tend to target only the players on the home market rather than aiming to create new audiences all over the world.
He believes that Western studios have managed to be more successful because they use a Hollywood model and ask how a game will be sold on various markets rather than simply focusing on an already known segment of players.
Kojima would like to see more global games, which have enough elements to appeal to players in Japan and on Western markets at the same time.
Hideo Kojima extends his model for diversity to his own development studio, saying, “You can tell from my generation that I've been influenced by Star Trek, so when I think of my studio I think it as the Starship Enterprise.
“The Enterprise had people from all races - even Vulcans! I want my studio to be like that. This is my Enterprise. It just happens that the captain is Japanese and the ship was manufactured by Konami, but it's a multi-cultural staff.”
At the moment Kojima is supervising the creation of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which is being created by Platinum Games and stars Raiden as the main character.
Kojima Productions is widely thought to also be working on a new Metal Gear Solid title.