The state of Japanese game development
By Oni 10 Comments
Earlier today, Square announced that Final Fantasy XIII, the company's flagship title, won't make it to the West until 2010, while the Japanese version is still on track for a 2009 release. Stephen Totilo wrote a piece that got me thinking, here.
A 50-month gap between the start of this console generation and a Western release of Final Fantasy XIII. That is a long time. In general, all the major Western developers have been steadily pumping out games for the current consoles for a good, long time now, traditional initial months of draught notwithstanding. But with the exception of Capcom, who in my opinion has done an excellent job making games to appeal to both Western and Japanese markets and supporting the latest console generation in general, all of Japan's major dev houses seem slow to follow. Why is this?
The argument that they just weren't ready is no longer really valid, as even now we aren't seeing nearly the same output out of Japan that we used to. The powershift of developers and publishers from Japan to America (and to a lesser degree, Europe) has mostly been accepted, true, but why are so many Japanese developers still hesitant to develop for the current hardware?
I think it's partially that Japan still doesn't "get" Western tastes, by and large. When Japanese developers try to appeal to Western tastes it often appears more like a parody of games like Gears of War than an "influenced by" case. Of course, there is a large demographic that likes the anime-based games Namco Bandai saturates the market with, and the Japanese role-playing games still have their audience (which seems to be shrinking). But looking at role-playing games, we're seeing Western games like Fable 2, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect enjoy increasing mainstream popularity, whereas games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, traditional JRPGs, fail to entice all but the most die-hard role-playing purists.
Konami seems to be slowly realizing that the traditional Japanese approach isn't working anymore. MGS 4's more Gears-like control scheme and shooting gameplay was widely acclaimed as a step forwards for the series, and Kojima recently made comments indicating that he's restructuring his team to try a different, more Western approach. It's not hard to see the differences in Japanese and Western schools of storytelling in games, with Japanese games often still opting for long cut scenes and character monologues. But there's more to it than storytelling, though that's certainly one part of the equation.
The stylistic sensibilities are also worlds apart. When Kojima told his designer to create a handsome man, we got this:
A more Western version of an attractive man:
Clearly, something got lost in translation. Western gamers everywhere cried foul on Raiden's effeminate looks and wimpish demeanor. Similarly, Halo's iconic, slightly jingoistic sensibilities appeals to lots of Americans in particular, but Japan doesn't really "get it". Master Chief hardly talks, we can't see his face, yet he's an icon, a hero, someone who fights just because, not because his parents were killed in an earthquake when he was a child and he was orphaned and wouldn't you know it, all his fellow teenaged special forces were also in the same orphanage but they all forgot! The same thing goes for the quarterback all-star cast of Gears of War.
Capcom has demonstrated a willingness to change their approach, as well as corporate savvy, by being the only major Japanese developing and publishing house to latch on to the XBOX 360 out of the gate. Games like Dead Rising and Lost Planet were significant because they straddled the line and appealed to both Japanese and Western sensibilities. Sure, they were still awkward in places, but it's a learning experience. Their support for downloadable platforms Live Arcade and Playstation Network is also inspiring, even to Western developers. Their remakes of Bionic Commando and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo have significantly raised the bar for remakes of classic games. Also, Ben Judd's and David Sirlin's appointments as directors of those respective games indicates they are willing to let outsiders work with their classic franchises.
Square-Enix shocked the world last year when they announced Final Fantasy XIII would be coming to the XBOX 360. But when that release is still probably a year and a half off, and at least half a year after the Japanese release, there is still a problem. They need to show Western gamers that they're just as important to them as the rest. Localization needs to happen faster. They have a lot to prove. Looking at the game's newly announced character, I can't help but cringe. Is this an attempt at creating a "hip" character? Really? It just feels like they are out of touch, and even I, a long-time fan of the series, don't know if it's even for me anymore.
The small contingent of gamers that are still down with the increasingly esoteric, Japanese school of design is shrinking, and the old way of doing business in the West isn't cutting it for them anymore. They need to step it up, both in terms of speedy conversions/localizations and accessibility (of story, gameplay and art).
What do you think? Do you think Japanese development is still in a good spot, or do you worry about their ability to keep up? How excited are you for FFXIII? Is Ben Judd, in fact, the greatest man alive? Comment below!