14 DAY TRIAL // The Japanese gaming industry has long been seen as being in decline, both by developers working inside the country and by the global audience, and one of the most well-known developers linked to it believes that the reason is the closed mind of the development teams.
Speaking at The Future of the Japanese talk that was part of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Keiji Inafune, best known for producing both Mega Man and Resident Evil, said, “The Japanese games industry has become like a frog in a well. It is very closed minded. There is a conscience and desire to win missing.
“We, the Japanese, have forgotten all about that. Back in the day we grew used to winning. At some point these winners became losers, and not acknowledging or accepting that has lead to the tragic fate of Japanese games.”
The former Capcom leader says that everything that the Japanese industry has contributed to worldwide gaming is in the past and then added, “They are now just great, great memories. Perhaps the folks who are now running the show in the Japanese games industry are those who simply jumped on a bandwagon. The creations that measured up to global standards were crafted by our predecessors.”
Inafune believes that Japanese developers need to understand that they are currently failing in order to actually be able to create better games in the near future.
After working at Capcom for about 23 years, the developer has announced in late October 2010 that he was leaving the company in order to start his career all over again.
The new company is called Comcept and the team is apparently working on a new experience for the PlayStation Vita handheld from Sony which will use an entirely new universe and hero.
Capcom is currently relying on veteran franchises like Street Fighter and Resident Evil in order to drive up revenue and sales.