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Arc System Works talks game development, business strategies and plans for expanded audience games
A portion of a Gamasutra interview with Arc System Works game director Takeshi Yamanaka and producer Kouki Sadamori…
GS: Originally, Arc System Works was known as a fighting game company, and things really got going with Guilty Gear, but it seems like things are more diverse now. There’s the DS game line, which seems to include things in different genres, and then the fighting game line which seems to be more hard core. Can you talk about the strategy there?
KS: Arc is really a company that was built around our first hit game, Guilty Gear, which was directed at hardcore gamers. Our success with this series really gave us a strong fan base to work with.
We’ve realized we can’t put all our eggs in one basket though, so we’ve been looking into a variety of other genres such as adventure, casual titles, and games directed at kids. We’re in the process right now of coming up with new ideas and pursuing those that seem the most promising.
TY: I guess to put it simply, competitive fighting games have made us what we are today, and we plan to continue with that of course — to hold on to our core audience. But we know that to survive as a company, we’ll need to branch out and learn to make other sorts of games at the same level of quality.
And that’s where we’re at now, it’s sort of an experimental time for us. Just like Mr. Sadamori said, we’re looking at bringing out titles directed at kids, more casual titles, even strategy RPGs, adding to our repertoire bit by bit. Once we’ve made some progress with this, and can figure out which non-fighting games our fans enjoy most, we’ll likely make that sort of game our secondary specialty.