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Inafune on Western/Eastern game differences, Kickstarter proves America wants Japanese games

by rawmeatcowboy
03 July 2015
GN Version 5.0

Coming from a Eurogamer interview with Keiji Inafune...

"In a good way, we Japanese creatives bring to the table these fluffy ideas of world and character settings. Sometimes it's just a mood, or tone or ambiance that we verbalise. But it takes a little while for the team to understand. I'm generalising, but when I see successful Western games, there's a sense of scale: a big world and big things. But when it comes down to themes or core ideas, I feel like there is way too much of the same thing. There are small differences in sequels, but it never strays far from the core successful ideas. Perhaps it's the variety of entertainment interests in Japan that allow us to start from a different place, to have somewhat greater diversity.

But what has changed is the way in which Japanese designers have now embraced Kickstarter campaigns. It's been a confidence-building exercise. Japanese people have been able to see through crowd-funding efforts for titles such Mighty No.9, Yu Suzuki's Shenmue 3 and Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night that there is a demand for our games. We're not dead. And it's a good feeling to see that our belief in these projects was not misplaced - even though publishers passed over them. We've planted a seed and it's growing. Now we need to deliver on our promises so that the plant can flourish. If we can achieve that, the long-term positive effects will be significant."

[Link]