Square Enix CEO On Japanese Game Industry, Releasing Games In The West
Ars Technica has an amazing interview up right now with the CEO of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada. This prolific studio is responsible for such incredible franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, or their JRPG opus Chrono Trigger which is the recipient of more accolades and love than I can possibly get into here.
In the interview, Wada discusses his views on various issues affecting Japanese developers in the gaming industry right now; specifically speaking towards his company's move to diversify and appeal more towards a Western audience, for example, he made this comment that's likely to appeal to many of the company's Western fans who don't speak Japanese and hate waiting for English ports of their titles-- discussing their release dates on titles like FFXIII, he said the company was committed towards achieving parity between the Western and Japanese dates with future titles:
"For the last three years, we have worked very hard to close the gap between Japanese release timing and North American and European release timing," Wada said. "We tried to go for the global, simultaneous release [of FFXII] but that was something that was inconceivable, in a sense. But we have been able to close that release window gap to three months. For us, it was a very big step forward."In the future, Wada says that these kinds of games, which are released so close to one another, will actually be held back in Japan to make way for a simultaneous worldwide release.
Wada also commented on the difficulties in bringing traditional Western titles to a Japanese audience that has generally been averse to them.
"The Japanese community tends to be closed," he told Ars. "In the past, Japanese retailers have said that Japanese gamers have their own idiosyncrasies and tastes, and that that is the reason why the audience is not accepting of overseas titles. But I believe that is not the case, it was just a matter of poorly executed marketing."
All in all it was a fascinating read from a developer that is arguably a powerhouse in the gaming industry.
mixvio
Posted to Hot Stuff on 18 November 2009
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: ceo, square enix, yoichi wada
The whole catering to Western audiances is nonsense anyway.
I think most gamers who veer to the Japanese games do so specifically because of what those games have that makes them popular to Eastern audiances.
I know I'm not looking for a macho-ing up of games.