Gamasutra

As compared to the earlier games in the series, Ninja Gaiden IIIwas a critical flop. It currently rests at an uncomfortable 58 out of 100 on Metacritic despite being , a topic Gamasutra previously explored. 

What went wrong? "It seems like we made a Japanese hamburger for the West," Yosuke Hayashi, head of Team Ninja, told Gamasutra during an interview this morning. 

"I feel like maybe, as a Japanese developer, we need to make good Japanese food... That's what people are wanting from a Japanese developer. What we made, it's an okay burger, but it may not be what people are wanting."

He knows that in the future, he has to change things -- and he's well aware, also, that the industry has changed dramatically since he got his start at the Dead or Alive developer. He's showing the latest iteration of that franchise, as well as the Wii U version of Ninja Gaiden III, at E3 this week. 

Is there a future for Team Ninja? "Looking at the conferences, there weren't very many Japanese games that were talked about, or dealt with at the conferences. But maybe if the industry is going for that Hollywood blockbuster direction, we can offer something that's different," he said.

"And maybe it doesn't get picked up by that, because that's Hollywood, but we can still offer solid entertainment, and make sure that it reaches the people that are looking for that solid entertainment."

In his view, the state of the Japanese development community has become "desperate," with companies struggling to compete. 

"All Japanese developers are right now treading water, and doing everything they can just to basically stay above water," he said. 

But there might be a silver lining to this cloud, he mused. "We feel that actually, you're going to get an answer coming from that, because everybody is so desperate to stay there and stay alive that you're going to get answers for how to move forward and how to make things work in the future. That's the state the Japanese industry is in right now."

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/171966/Team_Ninjas_Hayashi_Japanese_developers_desperate_to_stay_alive.php

Fuck yes. Someone gets it!

we need more sushi and less burgers! only we in the west can make fatty fat

Ninja gaiden 3 was mediocre but has improved with the free updates. That being said, they really sunk from the high point of sigma 2. Ill buy the next ninja gaiden but lets hope they learned some valuable lessons. 

This is insightful and very interesting. the problem really is the development times imho.

this E3 were 6-7 years in the current cycle of consoles. that being said, new Japanese games should've been in development and ready to show here.

i was expecting FF15, at least. that should have been there. a tech demo is worthless to the fans who have waited patiently. where was The Last Guardian? theres so many things they could've done differently.

there are some excellent JP games, but there not from the big publishers we are accustomed to. so they get lost in the torrent of releases unfortunatly.

He answered the question successfully

No, he doesnt get it. Everybody else did, but he stubburnly stepped aside Itagaki's design principles and purposely tried to create something bland.

No dismembering, no challenge, no variety = stupid developer that managed to blow the only good designer they  had for the ninja gaiden series.

Guys that stayed behind and tried to pretend that what was done before didnt work anymore = idiots that contributed for this to happen.

Struggling developer = developer that must die due to dumb decisions. Team ninja was Itagaki. This is now clearer than ever. No itagaki, no more point to team ninja. The only thing preventing DoA5 from going through the same is the fact they managed to sign a deal with SEGA to feature VF characters in the game.

Are you blind? The man just admitted to that. Its in the food analogy!

Yes yes thank you, someone finally understands. Please stop trying to be west because you are not west, no one wants you to be west. Just keep making Japanese awesomeness but bring meaningful innovation to the formula.

The Japanese development community is in pretty bad shape, I mean exactly how many top Japanese games have we seen from E3 this year?