It seems like everybody is talking about Warhammer Online or is crazy for BlizzardCon. Who really cares about TGS 2008 which commenced today in Tokyo Japan? Besides Final Fantasy XI, do you remember any other Japan-branded popular MMORPGs? Even single-player games the Japanese used to be so proud of are facing great challenge from Europe and North America. It's not all surprising that CESA Chairman & Square Enix President Yoichi Wada commented: "Japanese Industry Has 'Lost Its Position'."
Gamasutra reported CESA chairman and Square Enix president Yoichi Wada presented a passionate keynote that addressed the problems of the Japanese game industry head-on. The executive suggested, in particular, that the country's game biz has "lost its position" as the leader in the global marketplace, and offered some possible solutions for all developers.
In terms incredibly blunt for the director of a Japanese industry association, Wada explained of the local game industry, "We do have issues that we are confronted with. ...We have not been tackling these issues into a straightforward manner."
"We have not ignored these issues," Wada noted, but opined that the American and European markets "have developed very quickly" in recent years, and the Japanese market has not kept up. Game companies are in good shape financially in Japan, but not as successful overseas, apart from select titles.
Wada acknowledged that the "cost has become very high" to develop next-gen titles, but that being a worldwide concern, it is not necessarily the problem. Rather, it's the lack of "hubs" and open communities in Japan that is preventing the industry from moving forward. The CESA chairman believes that, with work, "we can catch up once again."
"Why has the Japanese industry lost its position?" he asked, adding, "I as chairman of CESA shouldn't be saying this, but it's true."
He explained that historically, most of the game console manufacturers were Japanese, and hardware/software alliances were strong. So originally, the "hub" was the Japanese hardware producer such as Nintendo or Sony, and all the game creators interacted through that hub.
Wada pointed out that the PC industry has many communities, including the mod community, which helped to create Counter-Strike by having an open exchange of tools and ideas. He noted that such a mod scene doesn't exist in the same form in Japan. AlsoŁ¬he stated that the game business in Japan is "a very closed industry," and having more open networks is key to moving forward.
He referred to "creative engineers" as the idea people might be aiming for, and said once again that "inconsistency in terms of systems" is what is holding the industry back in Japan.
The Japanese development industry tends to want to reinvent technology every time it develops a game. That's a major flaw, Wada claims, noting the belief of Japanese developers that "standardization of the interface can be seen as standardization of content." That's just not true, he argued.
"Unless we change ourselves within the next few years, maybe there will be no expectations for the [output of the] Japanese gaming industry," he warned. But he was also hopeful, adding, "We still have sufficient time to recapture this leadership."
Read More Here: TGS: Square Enix's Wada: Japanese Industry Has 'Lost Its Position'
Resources: gamasutra
