Your inclusion of Itagaki is baffling considering he is working on Devil's Third with Nintendo....oh, now i understand

@OP

Japanese gaming isnt dying as much as you think, if you see how many western games floped in recent times or western studios closed you get the impression japanese gaming grew bigger in the amount of games they are producing.
There are big giants who are coming to an end like capcom, konami and sega yet at the same time new talented studios popping up and caring the torch like fromsoftware, platinum and tango.

And in the end of the day i have never seen a japanese publishers go bankrupt, even snk is still around. Meanwhile look how many western publishhers closed down, acclaim, infrogames, thq, midway

Yeah thats impressive. I haven't heard of any JPN dev/publisher going bust in the last few years, like I was surprised there's still studios around who haven't had a major game for a decade, some just to have relegated to mobile gaming, while every few months there's bad news regarding Western dev houses.

Because of this we will never get the "1999 Castlevania game", the world is a cruel place.

Pretty soon we can add Hideo Kojima to this list, unless he decides to remain with Konami in some capacity, and even then...

Namco and Koei Tecmo are arguably stronger than they've ever been. Namco didn't even publish its own games in the US until well into the 16-bit era.

Much like the movie and music industry; talent doesn't get you very far in the gaming industry today. An immense and unhealthy focus on superficial features does (like good-looking singer and actors).
I feel so old and grumpy almost every time I play a new game and I feel sorry for a lot of kids who will grow up without the deep, engaging and well-written games I enjoyed in my youth.

There are still every odd gem being made though.

Sad to see someone like Yu Suzuki out of a job though, that really does speak volumes of the health of the Japanese gaming industry.

Wait, what? Western devs aren't affected?

Tim Schafer

Ron Gilbert

Ken Levine

Feargus Urquhart

James Schmalz

Suzuki would need at least 60 million dollars in this day and age to make Shenmue 3 considering the original cost lke 40 million back in 1998. No studio will fund it considering it is mostly forgotten by all but the hardcore Sega fans. I would love a sequel but a remaster of the first 2 would be a great start in refreshing the franchise first.

Denis Dyack, creator of Legacy of Kain and Eternal Darkness, basically fell off the radar after Silicon Knights imploded. He tried again with Shadow of the Eternals, but that went nowhere.