According to Yamaoka, ”I think it’s true that the Japanese industry is struggling a bit. Maybe we reached the maximum that we could achieve, and we have to admit it. I think that those Japanese people who do not understand cultures overseas will not be able to create entertainment for the global market.”
”Creating videogames is a service. If you can’t, or don’t want, to see and meet users around the world, I don’t think it’s possible to provide the entertainment they want,” he then added.
Digital Reality creative director Theodore Reiker, whose company co-developed the bullet hell scrolling shooter Sine Mora with Grasshopper Manufacture and Yamaoka, states that the experience of working with Grasshopper was mutually beneficial.
”The Japanese videogame ruled the world for many years, but times are changing. The middle-class of game development is struggling everywhere,” Reiker mused.
He then compared Japan’s plight with European cinema when Hollywood began to dominate the industry. ”Japanese creators are still making fantastic and fresh games,” he explained, ”But just like Europe lost cinema after the first few decades to Hollywood, so Japan has lost videogames to the blockbusters and social networks. It’ll be interesting to see how they adapt.”
Sine Mora was released on Xbox Live Arcade last week on the 21st March.
