Xenobla Chronicles X director, Takahashi Tetsuya, talked to TIME about his preference for things West, specially videogames, against the current Japanese videogame offerings.

- on Japanese videogames being very particular and tailored for the specific demographic and western games' performance in Japan, he said:

“Japanese tastes are unique compared to those in the West, so if you focus solely on gamers within Japan, you’ll always find yourself running into this problem. (I think this is easy to see when you notice that FPS-style games sell only around 100,000 copies or so in Japan, as opposed to 10 million worldwide."

- on his preference of Western things, including videogames, over current games made in his country:

"This may be a surprise to hear, but I don’t have very much interest in “current” Japanese anime and games, and I don’t play them, either. (I do get hands-on with them for future reference, though, and I still love older games that came out 30 or so years ago.) Most of the movies, TV dramas, novels, and games I pick up are made in the West. I don’t do this deliberately; that just turned out to be the kind of thing I like. As a result, I’ve come to the realization that it’s best to try and organically make the kind of things I like, or want.”

- on the rise of mobile games in Japan and how videogames for dedicated gaming platforms fit in all of it he said:

“We’re also seeing mobile games flourish in Japan while the console market declines, but the type of audience playing mobile games in Japan now has never bought my games, not since even before mobile existed. I consider the entire world to be my main field of battle, so I don’t worry about that at all. I also think that other companies’ RPGs, those with the potential to fight it out on the world market, aren’t going to be threatened by the state of mobile within Japan. That’s the kind of thought process that led to the completion of Xenoblade Chronicles X, and I hope that people will be willing to give it a try.”

- He also said that Monolith Soft’s next project will look and feel “pretty different from this one”

http://time.com/4149809/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-tetsuya-takahashi/

1) Do you find his preference for games made in the West surprising?

2) What do you think on the Japanese games vs Western games appreciation situation?

3) For those who've played XCX, did you see any instance where the game could have revealed that someone who appreciates western games was in charge? Like adding an element from western games in the JRPG mix?

Playing XCX, its Western influences are very noticeable; a lot of the gear, vehicles, and interior design is strongly reminiscent of the Mass Effect games.

So this confirms that why might be working on a new western type ip. Interesting to say the least.

I think it's natural for someone to fall in love with something foreign and palatable. I'm western and I really don't like many western games. However, I'm all for spicing up the JRPG genre. It's been dull for years and games like Bravely Default really don't do it for me. It's kind of a step backwards imo.

Yeah, XCX has western influences all over the place. I definitely see that it's a japanese game, but probably one with the most western influences I've played. So I'm not very surprised to hear this coming for the director.

 He also said that Monolith Soft’s next project will look and feel “pretty different from this one”

This is interesting considering Xenoblade Chronicles X has strong hints for a sequel. Maybe we'll get a Xenosaga situation where each game is very much different, but they still continue the story. 

I thought he meant a new IP.

Like I said, Xenoblade Chronicles X is heavily hinting direct sequels with a lot of the things the story didn't resolve. Unless they are making multiple games, I think he might be overstating the "difference."  

Careful; some might say you're verging on spoiler territory here.

You know he's not only the one person. We also have Keiji Inafune prefers Western games to Japanese ones.

Who else... There's more.