Call of Duty would say hi to you. I'm pretty sure it's outsold the majority of games you mentioned there. All but the bundled games I think...

You would lose your job.

While XIV has been a disaster for SE, XI is the biggest money maker they ever had. You don't want to forget MMO, you want them to actually make a good one, not filled with shit.

I agree.

May favorite games come out of Japan and the decline just hurts.

Errr... you had to mention 4 companies, Kowenicki mentioned one. You could arguably add Rockstar (or rather the dev that did LA Noire) and DICE/EA (For Mirror's Edge). Not to mention companies like Epic and Crytek that have made huge advances in graphics tech this gen that many Eastern companies have been unable to match.

He mentioned a company that ALONE develops more games than those four combined.

I would mention DICE, but as far as anything interesting goes, Mirror's Edge is their only game IMO. Don't ask me to voice my thoughts on Rockstar, please :P :P :P

As for Epic and Crytek... we play games, not graphics... and neither company is in any way close to a genuine legend like Blizzard... plus... you have to remember that Japan's focus is NOT with graphics most of the time. The west's is. Japan creates fantastic artstyles, the west covers its boring ones with graphics.

funny that a guy from Square Enix said this ^^

what about Level-5?  I would say they've been pretty successful this gen.

All 3 Prof Layton's released in West have surpassed 2m (with the first just under 5m)

DQIX is the best selling Dragon Quest title worldwide and also in Japan and Europe and has passed 5m copies worldwide

Their major new IP Inazuma Eleven has broken 1m in Japan on it's 2nd installment with the 3rd just about to.  The 1st game is also selling very well now it has been localised in Europe (but this site has no numbers yet)

White Knight Chronicles is at 800k

Even Ninokuni which has seriously underperformed is at 500k just for Japan

Do they really? Sony's Western titles probably come pretty close plus Valve and Bioware have been more active this gen. The fact still stands that they're only one company. It's not going to do the Eastern games industry any good if only one company is left thriving whilst the rest crumbles around them. 

I also think that you underestimate the effect of graphics tech on games. Yes, Japanese games have great artwork, but the tech effects more than just the look of a game. Factors such as physics, view distances, streaming, animations, frequency of loading, number of movable objects in a given area and level size all contribute to the game design. The tech isn't just a tool for making things look nice but is also an aid for the game designer. Furthermore, the Eastern devs are also trying to compete in Western markets, so they need to balance their intriguing cultural artstyle with the technology that's now available to them.

They are doing well, although they're an exception rather than a rule this gen. Like a lot of Japanese companies they seem to be focused on hand-helds over the home consoles. Outside the hand-helds though I'd say it hasn't been spectacular. WKC is only at 800K which isn't that great considerring how long it's been out. It seems to me that Japanese companies are having difficulty competing on the home consoles (bar Nintendo). Not only are hand-helds bigger in Japan, but the price of entry, the extra difficulties associated with console tech and the competition from the West mean that Japanese devs have had a focus shift forced upon them.

Because some people might like those games perhaps?

What the hell do you think?