This is always a tricky subject. On one had i feel like Japanese developers should just focus on making games that appeal to the Japanese consumer. At least their fans are happy and of course the fans of Japanese games in the rest of the world are happy too, since we would be getting the experience we have come to love in the past, instead of the terrible attempts of their games pandering to western audiences. The problem with that is most of those probably won't get localized any where else, which sucks for fans of Japanese games in the rest of the world. It also sucks for the devs as they wouldn't be getting nearly as much money as they would have if their games were bought and were a at least a semi success in say Europe or NA.

On the other hand the idea of making games reach a broader audience sounds nice on paper, but i feel as they are just hurting themselves while trying to guess what the west wants. Honestly i think it just comes down to a culture difference. That barrier is a difficult one to break, especially now that there are many more Western developers and Wrpgs around. The Metal Gear Solid franchise did pretty well around the world and it is a great example of how successful a Japanese game can be, To anyone who has ever played a Metal Gear game, you can see the Japanese flare in the franchise. It doesn't have any of the norms that Westerners often complain about in Japanese games, but at the same time is Very Japanese in nature.

I think the West just has a bad image of Anime as most of the more mature and adult themed anime isn't often seen on television, rather, most people seem to think of anime as Dragonball Z, Naruto, Yu gi oh, ect. Many in the West view it as childlike and therefore shut themselves off a game before it is even really given a chance. Self fulfilling prophecy type deal. That's not to say that Japanese games aren't flawed. Jrpgs specifically (while i love em) suffer from extremely cliche dialogue that makes otherwise fantastic characters seem cheesy.

Let's not forget how much more Western games get advertised than Japanese games (at least in the US anyway, and of course with the exception of Nintendo IP's). I feel Japanese developers in general have their own unique ways of making games. They have a certain charm that I personally love. I really think the first step to making their games successful to other parts of the world would be to work on creating games with a more mature mentality in mind. Allow the characters, while still anime, to be older and masculine. Don't get me wrong i like games like the Tales Of series, but i'd like to see more Jrpgs with less cutesy characters and more bad*** characters. Once they get their plot and characters down i suggest they work on writing better dialogue. Then of course, advertise the hell out of it.

tl;dr

1. More mature themes/plot
2. More mature character designs/less feminine males (Less like Vaan and more like Basche and Vossler)
3. Less cheesy dialogue that doesn't make me feel embarrassed when a friend or family member is in the room while i'm watching a cutscene.
4. Advertise! Like a lot!

I'm no genius and I'll never claim to be, but i think even those 4 points would do wonders for Japanese devs.

Also, I left out things more common in Wrpgs such as dialogue options, tons of random quests, open world, ect simply because i've never been a fan of Wrpgs. I find they are quite boring and uncreative with generic plot lines and characters. Plus, i could never stand the aesthetics. Seriously, they have some good graphics but horrible aesthetics imo. I've always like Jrpgs better for their creativity, interesting (at least memorable) characters, and focus on the games story instead of wandering around.

But yeah, that last paragraph was more of my own personal opinions.

I have to disagree with Kojima this time.

Japanese developers have to stick to what they do best from the past. I don't want everything westernize.

Pretty funny really considering the Japanese studios that produce the niche games like Gust,Compile heart and Idea factory have been posting record profits while the studios that have been trying to panda to the western market are struggling.

I agree on some parts and disagrees on some part.

I don't agree with him that focusing only Japanese audience is not good. The Japanese games become successful because of it. FF is one prime example and the JRPG. People like it because of its own unique charms and so as the other games.
I also don't agree with Japanese Dev stop catering for their audience it's doing great for Namco, NiS, Gust, Atlus and etc.

I agree that that they should target the global fanbase not just Japan, US, the European countries and etc. They shouldn't restrict some of their games to a specific audience but focusing on how to create a great rather in catering for a specific audience.

I'm with you in those 4 points, more mature characters, plot and design could help to make succes of some japanese games, by example: Catherine a moderatelly good succes on sells for a small comapny like Atlus.. but is kinda fun the point 2 when You have Laguna in your avatar.. one of the most Femenine characters of Final Fantasy games...XD May be are you being sarcastic or hypocrite?

If kojima want to make a MGs FPS then do it.. he will sell a lot! But don't go there saying that japanese games are bad now... Is just that some smalls companies have some different definition of SUCCESS... look a companies like ATLUS and NIS.. they don't sell trillions of copies like COD but they have being profitting in recent years... The problem is with companies like KONAMi, Square-Enix, CRAPcom, that have gretter expectatives and end lossing money because they haven´t adapted to the changes of the market...

I want my Japanses games being japanese in every sense! I don't want any MGS meet COD nor SF meet MK nor FF meet Skyrim... is Enoug with the God-of-war-like Castlevania (I enjoy it XD)

I disagree. I don't think they were ever in a position of near irrelevance. Not even as a console maker. They were getting their asses handed to them marketshare wise on the home console front, sure, but even in their darkest hour they still had incredibly successful handhelds and incredibly successful first party software all around. That's nowhere near irrelevant, and they never will be as long as they have Mario, Zelda, and the Pokeymans.

At least not until kids who grew up on iWhatsits have their kids playing Angry Birds Karts on the iPad 37.

Hey now, as far as character design yeah, Laguna is pretty feminine. But at least he has a believable personality. He isn't constantly being emo throughout the game or wondering if he's doing the right thing. He knows what he's suppossed to do, and he does it. Much more believable than the " I..I don't want to hurt anybody!" or "Am i doing the right thing...?" typical characters. But that is neither here nor there haha.