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Forums - Gaming - Square-Enix CEO Calls Out Japanese Gamers on Western Bias!!!!

Kenryoku_Maxis on 07 December 2009
loves2splooge said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
g-value said:

But for the moment, Wada isn't concerned with how to market his company's games in the West,

Total bull, this is exactly what this is all about.  He wants Japanese gamers to get into Western games to justify his companies push to focus on the western market.  He's stated many times that SE in the last few years has been trying to focus on the western market and this sounds exactly like another of his off-the-cuff speeches where he tries to blame everyone else for not following his vision.  A vision which has been hurting SquareEnix for quite a long time.

Yes, quite a few gamers in Japan focus too much on games from their own country.  But its the same in America.  Using Modern Warfare is a horrible example as tons of people who bought Modern Warfare are the perfect example of what he was arguing about, Americans who only buy games that 'look and feel western' and probably don't even buy a single game from SquareEnix in their life.  He should be less focused on trying to waggle his finger at groups of people and their tastes and instead try to make games to appeal to those tastes.  Or better still, trying to find a way to get those closed-minded groups to buy new games, instead of just trying to chastise them in interviews.  Especially since he is head of a company that is one of the forefronts of 'Japanese' interests in gaming.

It's not at the same level. Japanese games have achieved great success in America. How many western games achieved great success in Japan by comparison? It is very clear that westerners (except for the western otaku who think that almost all western games suck and play almost nothing but Japanese games) have a more culturally diverse gaming diet. Look at Nintendo (biggest, most successful publisher worldwide), look at Capcom, look at Square-Enix (Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts are multi-million sellers in the west. Parasite Eve, FF Tactics and some other Square IPs sold quite well too. Name one million selling wrpg in Japan), look at Konami, Sega, Sony (GT, Dark Cloud and what not), etc. Which western companies are having this kind of success in Japan? I'm a fan of Japanese games but for my fellow otaku to make some silly excuse like "well western games suck, thats why the japanese won't buy them" is just wrong. If they gave them a chance, they'd see that there are lots of awesome western games out there to play.

 

But a lot goes into the thought behind why western games don't do well in Japan.  And its two things.  One, they aren't mareted well over there (aka few Western games try to establish a foothold in Japan) and two, Japanese gamers tend to buy games that are sequels to established series or tied to name brands (like Gundam or Suzumiya Haruhi).  Both these things are working against western games doing well in Japan.  Not to mention many of the 'mega hits' from western games are of the FPS/Adventure variety, which Japan doesn't tend to buy much of.  Heck, even many Japanese made games of this type don't do well in Japan, such as Metroid.

I agree, the people saying 'western games suck, go Japan' are completely wrong.  But I still think Wada is just tryin to find a scapegoat for his failed focus on American markets instead of looking at all the actual factors of both markets and trying to make games that target those factors.  Or trying to make a (good) 'original' game to open new markets.  And there's no reason he should be complaining about Japanese tastes when his company runs the two most popular Japanese series.

Xxain said:
@ kenryuku - where did I say xbox at all? I mean in general that includes that tasteless gow...I look how much changed SW side since the took control

Uh...what?  If you're referring to Star Wars by 'SW', I would make the claim that some of the Star Wars games are the BEST part of the Star Wars franchise.  And they are western developed.  And yes, I mean even better than the movies.  And the new Star Wars: The Old Republic only looks to further improve on the reputation of the great roster of Star Wars games.

Also, your post seemed to imply XBOX by talking about Japan being the 'market leader'.  Aka Nintendo.



Six upcoming games you should look into:

 

  

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PullusPardus on 07 December 2009
Hidalgo said:
g-value said:
PullusPardus said:
g-value said:
Unless you can bring me a western game with a storyline as amazing as Xenogears' storyline then IMO it will always be Japanese games >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Western games.

Legacy Of Kain.

No, no and no. Have you ever played Xenogears?

Pardus, I hate to tell you this but I'm afraid that g-value is right ^^.

have you played any Legacy Of Kain games?

do you understand the whole story?



Xxain on 07 December 2009

@ MM - there are exceptions, like Crash, Mortal Kombat Jak&LBP...why? because they are all part of a mainly signature Japanese genre's... I was raised on platformers from our Japanese friends if they were anything other genre I wouldn't have given them a 2nd glance.



FaRmLaNd on 07 December 2009

The notion that narrative, chracterisation and style is nearly exclusivly the domain of the Japanese developers is both sad and horribly misinformed.



Xxain on 07 December 2009

at Kenryoku - LOLOLOLL thats Soaft Ware NOT STAR WARS :).... seriously all signature western genres... SHOOTERS, ACTION, and SPORTS are dominant genres this gen...to my disgust( especially shooters)



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outlawauron on 08 December 2009

It's entirely stupid as it happens both ways. Western gamers are xenophobic outside of the big, advertised games (Nintendo stuff, FF, etc.)

Eastern gamers are xenophobic outside of the big stuff (GTA, MW2, Halo, etc.)



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

outlawauron on 08 December 2009
makingmusic476 said:
The sales of franchises like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil show that Japanese developers have found much more success in the West than Western devs have found in Japan. I can't think of a single Western franchise that has managed more than 500k in sales in Japan since Crash Bandicoot for the original PlayStation. The only one that has come close was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which achieved 410k (which also goes against the idea that the Japanese don't enjoy the occasional bit of Mindless violence).

I wonder why it sold so well?

It could have had something to do with it being a quality title and having decent advertising.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

makingmusic476 on 08 December 2009
Xxain said:
^ there are exception, like Crash, Mortal Kombate Jak&LBP...why? because they are all part of a mainly signature Japanese genre's... I was raised on platformers from our Japanese friends if they were anything other genre I wouldn't have given them a 2nd glance.

So what if they're based on a genre rootedin Japan?  They're still distinctly Western games.  Games like Dragon Quest are based on Western games like Ultima, yet you love them and would consider them Japanese, not Japanese games based on Western genres.  And what abotu Lost Planet?  A Japanese game heavily based on a Western genre.

The fact is you like some Western games. They aren't all crap like you want to believe.  :P



Kenryoku_Maxis on 08 December 2009
Xxain said:
at Kenryoku - LOLOLOLL thats Soaft Ware NOT STAR WARS :).... seriously all signature western genres... SHOOTERS, ACTION, and SPORTS are dominant genres this gen...to my disgust( especially shooters)

And again, like I said before, they didn't get that way simply because of 'western games'.  Those genres are not limited to Western developers.  Plenty of Action and Sports titles are released in Japan.  And shooters got popular mostly in Japan in the late 80s.  You mean 'First Person' shooters.  In which case, once again, I point out that you're trying to blame the XBOX for everything this gen.



Six upcoming games you should look into:

 

  

makingmusic476 on 08 December 2009
outlawauron said:
It's entirely stupid as it happens both ways. Western gamers are xenophobic outside of the big, advertised games (Nintendo stuff, FF, etc.)

Eastern gamers are xenophobic outside of the big stuff (GTA, MW2, Halo, etc.)

I disagree.  In the West, or at least in North America, you have a large number of anime loving, game playing, Japan fans like us.  Western Otakus, if you will.  Our numbers are strong, and we can make even a game like Valkyria Chronicles sell somewhat decently (and it's still selling!).  In Japan, you don't have a fringe group of Western gamers that'll eat up games like Call of Duty.  Heavily advertised Western games sell poorly, and games that aren't advertised are destined to not even reach 10k.