Kojima Rethinks Global Strategy
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Well Kojima Productions is taking the Sound of Music approach to their global outlook. In an interview with Famitsu, Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear Solid mastermind, reflects on his team's current focus on Japan instead of the rest of the world.
"I've come to understand that the way we've made games up until now won't translate globally, and I've come to think that I need to make Kojima Productions a team that can compete alongside the rest of the world."
Metal Gear Solid 4 was a very Japanese game, whatever that means. I can see how, although it was critically lauded (yours truly picked it as his best game of the year), a lot of gamers might have been turned off by its eccentricities. At a time when cash is key, such a game needs to widen its reach.
"With games, you've got to use cutting-edge techniques, and doing so costs money - so I don't think you can make games that just appeal to the Japanese market. So, 2009 will see us continuing to think how to create a team that can take on the world."
I want to be optimistic, and put all my faith in Kojima, but as I've said in the past, I don't think anyone really wins when everyone tries to be like everyone else. Can't we have beautiful, dense, strange, somewhat creepy games? Are you happy to see Japanese developers westernize their games, or is this a bad sign for the gaming industry?
Kojima Productions 'starting from zero' for 2009 [Develop]
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 5 January 2009
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: japanese game developers, kojima, kojima productions, metal gear solid
I really get annoyed by "game developers can't do X" or "the gaming industry needs to do Y" comments. The industry is diverse and has many different markets and platforms, and many different ways to achieve profitability.
There isn't any one thing that "the Gaming Industry" as a whole "can't afford to do". These devs need to speak for their own companies rather than the industry as a whole. Because it's just not that simple.
I simply think that if there is a great idea or story with the right kind of motivation behind it(more art, less money/profit), then any type of game can be great.
I mean Katamari? That's certainly not westernized, but a lot of people love it.
I am not a fan of games that are made to appeal to a partucular demographic. I always think of creative media as art but it seems more and more video games are quickly becoming a well oiled machine of games for the masses.
I even read recently that they are making beyond good and evil 2 for a "casual" audience..sigh. Even the director of the new prince of persia claimed sands of time was for the "harders of harcore".... um since when? Yes i still bought it and found it to be mind numbing.
When i was 10 I was not a cave man and could handle a control which used more than "swing and swing again" (wii).
It's offensive that a game that uses more than 2 buttons is considered hardcore these days. I am definately not a hardcore gamer, but the games i play should not be compromised. I think it's the indie developers that will shine in the coming year. "3 Cheers to world of goo"
RANT! lol
I think darkopiate made a good point
I think it's the indie developers that will shine in the coming year.
With gaming growing as movies and television before it, this does make sense to me, look at the movie studios for example, the big ones are making summer blockbusters and big budget films they design them to appeal to the largets demographic possible to recoup the cost and at the same time profit. They often have to tone down controversal themes and sex and violence to keep their image and appeal to shareholders and parent companies.
Independant filmmakers however have less restirctions as their are self funded or funded by people/organizations that typically have the same interests in mind or agree with the directors point of view.
In the case of gaming, independant companies can push the envelope further because only they have to stand by their work, where as a bigger company may have to answer to publishers and stokholders and also have to create large profits for their companies.
I personally don't mind companies trying to broaden their demographics, as long as they do it right, a good example is currently Square Enix, they are a japanese company, that realized to continue to make a profit they need to rope in new groups of gamers or face slowly going out of business (wii vs gamecube anyone?). As much as there is a niche market for all games, to be a successful company you have to have a diverse portfolio, you cannot succed as a company their size with a hit game every tweo years that sells several million units. So they currently/recently branched out, we see them with the Dragons quest series for those into very japanese RPGs, Final Fantasy XIII for a broader RPG audience and the last remnant, they used a licensed engine westerners are familiar with and created a game to better appear to the western market.
In a perfect world, everyone would be able to be themselves and create the art they want to, but in the consumer driven world we live in, you have to make the appealing game to finance the artistic one, I certainly dont think there is a problem with trying new things, as long as you continue to make the games you love (and are known for) as well.