Itagaki: Japanese devs lack social skills

By Fred Dutton Published 25 July, 2011

And execs don't know what they're doing.

If Japanese developers want to better compete with Western studios they need to hone their social skills, according to former Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Itagaki argued that many Japanese creators lack a sense of humour, making it more difficult for them to operate on a global stage and successfully promote their work.

"It's important to have the skill to express what you're doing, what you want to do - you know, express yourself. I'm talking about social skills," he explained.

"Japanese developers, they don't have the necessary social skills. The American social skills, European social skills.

"You know, maybe they don't have humor; they don't know how to joke around. Maybe it's a problem with their manner. So if those people don't have those necessary social skills, and if those people are the ones who are developing the game, no matter how much they try to make globally accepted, globally popular games, that work in different cultures, that might be very difficult."

Itagaki also laid into the way upper management operates within the Japanese games industry, praising suits at new paymaster THQ for being better informed on how the game-making process works.

"The head, the guy I'm involved with, is [THQ's EVP of core games] Danny Bilson. As you know, he can make movies, he can write novels, scripts, he can do TV, and he can do games as well, and also he's a businessman as well. He's that kind of guy, so it's really fun to do business with that kind of guy.

"I think it's rare to have a guy like that. But then again, in the US, more so in the US than in Japan, I think there are a lot of top management people who actually know how to make games. I think there are more people here like that, than in Japan. I think it's a good thing.

"You to have talk about money, when you're doing business. That's the business aspect of it. But at the same time, those guys know how to make games, so they also know that it costs money to make good games - especially good games. So those two aspects are on a direct one-to-one relationship.

"In Japan, management people, they sort of pretend they know what they're doing," he continued. "Those management people, they say, 'I love games,' but they don't know how to make them.

"So the kind of instructions that they would give to the employees would be, 'Okay, you've got to make it by when, and it has to be within this budget, and you have to sell whatever many copies.' It's the opposite of the practical. It's not practical."

Following his split from Team Ninja and Tecmo back in 2008, Itagaki's new Valhalla Game Studios outfit is currently working on action title Devil's Third, which is due for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in early 2013.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 10 months ago

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  • Shotofen #1 10 months ago

    This just in: Itagaki is a moron. Wow, maybe there should be a news article about my opinion too?!

    Edit: Read my post at #21 to find out why the people negging me are also morons. You don't have to be a famous game designer to realize that sweeping statements like "Japanese devs don't have social skills" is a ridiculous generalization, especially coming from someone as hilariously immature as Itagaki, he whose every game has no plot and an overabundance of T&A.
    Edited by Shotofen at 25/07/11 @ 22:47

  • Mr_Brown #2 10 months ago

    This just in, Japanese developers must become western to be successful. Despite the fact that many many great games come from the Japan.

    The problem is not development, it is marketing, price and actually bringing titles out over here. But I am sick of all this talk that Japanese developers have to become more western to be more successful. Did western developers have to become like their Japanese counterparts when they were dominating the industry? Nope they just built on and innovated on what they had.

  • fafaf #3 10 months ago

    @Shotofen

    Unlike you Itagaki is a famous game creator and actually knows what he's talking about.

  • repeater #4 10 months ago

    Itagaki? Isn't he the guy who always wears shades indoors?
    Yeah, go tell your colleagues about social skills..

  • jstar #5 10 months ago

    Someone should tell him that wearing sunglasses indoors doesn't count as having social skills.

    And fafaf what on earth are you talking about? If you agree with the assertion that Japanese devs will only compete with Western devs if they develop social skills you are an idiot. Their success or failure in the western market is entirely related to the games they make not the way they talk about them.

    Itagaki has no idea what he's talking about. Bearing in mind this is the man who brought Dead or Alive beach volleyball into the world. And it wasn't social skills that made it sell, it was tits.

  • superfurry #6 10 months ago

    @Shotofen When you make a top selling videogame, maybe there will be a news article about your opinion.

    Until then, you'll have to satisfy yourself with posting comments on videogame sites.

  • SalarymanDaishi #7 10 months ago

    Yeah, like we wouldn't have adorned JRPGs and quirky, truly novel stuff back in the 90's. Japanese game development is still very much there but it's afraid to come out over here except in trinkles or having swallowed that silly idea of needing to be more western, hook, line, and sinker.

    Even Itagaki's next "this is the way to do it" offering is - surprise, surprise - yet another generic fast-paced action game? Yay! We adore that stuff over here! Sheesh! What about the next kick-ass, world-shattering FFVII, ICO, or even just plain believing in what you keep on doing but feel antsy bringing it to the western market?

  • StolenGlory #8 10 months ago

    This just in: Shotofen is an idiot.

  • Subdominator #9 10 months ago

    What exactly was funny about Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki-san? Aside from the sales numbers that is. The Japanese are like they are, it's a cultural thing. They are to Asia what the Finns are to Europe.

    @Mr_Brown: Yes, we actually copied the Japanese in the late 90s. And then build upon that. Japanese game development has stood still ever since because the creative process over there lies in the hands of a couple of directors. It's what 3D Realms was doing. Projects are too big these days for such leaderships, western directors don't interfere with the actual design process, they manage various game designers for the better result. The Japanese still think that the name at the top sells the game and thus has to say how it should look like. But a good game designer is no good manager and the other way around. Games with this premise still sell in Japan but not much anywhere else. Japan has to get rid of the Miyamotos and Itagakis to be a powerful force in the industry once again, but that is not going to happen.

  • dadrester #10 10 months ago

    I know western games programmers. They have no social skills either. ZING!

  • Silent-Hal #11 10 months ago

    Hearing the whole "Japanese devs need to be more like the west" drivel just makes me angry these days. They may not be the all-conquering driving force of the industry that they were, say, 10 years ago but to say they've lost their way is pure drivel. Honestly, if you have that opinion then you've simply not been playing the right games. Period.

  • Phishfood #12 10 months ago

    When Itagaki opens his mouth its usually bashing other people. Good to see he has something insightful to say this time round.

  • DrStrangelove #13 10 months ago

    "Those management people, they say, 'I love games,' but they don't know how to make them.

    Legend has it that there are also American top management people who say they love games, but in reality they hate games so much they buy and close down as many studios as possible.

  • patchbox360 #14 10 months ago

    Itagki is King

  • drumbaby #15 10 months ago

    Ninja Gaiden, a bit like DMC minus the social skills (charm, character, personallity).

    Is this what he's shooting for?

  • Agiel7 #16 10 months ago

    He has a point: Creativity comes from human experience; the more exposure you have to different people and tastes the more tools you have to make a creative work, whether it be films, literature, or games.

    Here's an example of a Japanese going down this route Itagaki wants devs to take: the stream of From Software demoing their next Armored Core game. You know a game's in good hands when a producer goes to these wearing a Lucha mask.

  • abigsmurf #17 10 months ago

    Dear Japan.

    You were doing perfectly fine until you felt the need to copy western developers.

    Japan's strength isn't megabudget titles. It's continually trying something new or looking at something that's around and revolutionising it. Sure it results in lots of

  • gm914 #18 10 months ago

    ITT: A lot of things just coming in.

  • Pasco #19 10 months ago

    @Subdominator
    "What exactly was funny about Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki-san?"

    Just an example: Having a ninja museum built in the statue of liberty. Then reading the plaques and Ryu commenting that they have no idea about the true nature of ninjas.

    Another example: in Ninja Gaiden 2, you can decapitate your opponent and then afterwards push the sword in his chest and throw the body away, as if there was any need. Hilarious!

    Itagaki is an endless source of entertainment and I pity anyone who thinks otherwise.

  • AdamAsunder #20 10 months ago

    Is this the same Itagaki that had a complaint lodged against him for sexual harrassment?

    Hmm.

  • Shotofen #21 10 months ago

    Wow guys, Itagaki fans much? The guy is beyond arrogant to suggest that he knows that every Japanese game developer's problem is a lack of social skills (I'm sure that plenty of Western devs lack social skills too...it is a totally human trait). It just boggles my mind that you people negging me don't see that. This is the guy whose development video for the Devil's Third consisted of, not gameplay footage, but Itagaki and crew partying with scantily clad women. Yeah, because that shows the guy has mad social skills /sarcasm. He makes games like Dead or Alive that are all about T&A (witness the volleyball spin offs) or Ninja Gaiden that are about T&A and gore (and a shit camera/graphics/plot/characters/etc.)

    Please people, Itagaki is a moron who wears dark glasses all the time for no apparent reason. And he's also a bad developer who criticizes his own team's work (see his response of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 and 2) for not other reason than that he wasn't involved in their product. Mark my words right now that the Devil's Third won't be out for at least two years because Itagaki is a lazy developer whose games haven't changed in many, many years.

  • hiddenranbir #22 10 months ago

    @Mr_Brown

    Not come, but came. When was the last big j-game storm that rocked us. I can't remember it. But I do recently have this DW17 or something.

  • Genji #23 10 months ago

    Apart from the "morons" thing (not helpful), Shotofen is right about the generalization that Itagaki uses.

    Itagaki might be partially right, but he's not arguing the point very well. What does he mean by "developers"? The programmers? Executives? Art designers? Unless he personally knows most people involved in Japanese game development (there are a lot of them), he's in no real position to judge their "social skills", whatever that means.

    You only really need a few people to have those kinds of skills in game development. Programmers aren't required to have those kinds of skills. It's the frontmen like Itagaki, Miyamoto, Suda51, Mizoguchi, etc. that need to be able to sell the product. If the companies have those sorts of people, then it's a step too far to blame this element for the problems that the industry faces.

    Personally, I think it's more a matter of creativity being stifled, amongst other things.

    EDIT: For the record, I don't have any particular problem with Itagaki, or his games. He's just using a bit of a strange argument here.
    Edited by Genji at 26/07/11 @ 03:20

  • terminaljeremy #24 10 months ago

    "Mark my words right now that the Devil's Third won't be out for at least two years because Itagaki is a lazy developer whose games haven't changed in many, many years"

    Well, that... and that it's not actually due for release 'til 2013.

  • metroid455 #25 10 months ago

    grrr what a load of rubbish! im honestly sick of alot of westerners saying that japanese games need to be more like western games
    it drives me nuts, NO THEY DON'T. the day japanese developers stop making the cute, fun, quirky, vibrant, colourful, lighthearted games that they currently make is the day i stop being a gamer!!!
    JRPG gamer for life!!!!

  • SpaceMonkey77 #26 10 months ago

    Indeed, Itagaki might be a bit of a tool, but at least he's got some personality, and is someone you tell from the rest of the game development community. Sure, he wears sunglasses indoors, but show me a rapper or celebrity that hasn't done the same thing. Do you think this is a trend born of japan? Do your homework, it's surely not.

    And yes, Itagaki does talk a lot of crap at times, but so does the likes of Peter Molyneux, Do we hate him for it? No, because at times he speaks the truth too. Shoto, you sir are just another gamer gettin on the Self Defense Force bandwaggon. Itagaki is right. In the west, because of better working conditions (that are sometimes exploited by the bad likes of EA/Rockstar etc), an employee is more likely to have better social skills, due to being able to get a day off work, to chill, go out and socialise with strangers etc, as apposed to be a shut in maestro. In japanese game studios, the work culture has many of them sleeping a work at times, something that's just insane. As a result, many become very depressed and withdrawn with bad diets and low energy. Not at all the best ingrdients to drive a creative machine at all. Bare in mind he's saying some, not everyone in the japanese dev community.

    Also what he says about the committee style of suits is true. if they do not understand how games are made etc, but yet call the shots, there's going to be a disconnection somewhere.

    Itagaki is not the first person to shed light on this kind of stuff, as western employees working out there have said similar things, so there's certainly something negative going on. And while we love some japanese games, I'd hate for them to come from sweatshop style studios, where the creative teams might be treated like dogs, to meet our needs, but obviously, we don't want to think about where and who our games come from, beyond a figurehead name. I think the big difference is that in the west, when a member of the dev community experiences bad working conditions, he/she is more likely to air their views discreetly. In japan, they'd be more likely to suffer in silence, and live half a life because of it.

    To move forward and drive and incourage fruits of creativity, the conditions must be right. We are influenced directly and indirectly by our everyday experiences in life, as well as other factors, it could be simply from a book you read or that weird guy you saw on the street corner, yesterday. If anything can stimulate creativity, its muscles need to and should be stretched as much as possible within legal/work/play limits. This goes for east and west.

  • djed #27 10 months ago

    I think moron might be a bit harsh, he has just started his relationship with big Western (American) publishers, so naturally he's a bit starryeyed. He's just been served the champagne, let's wait a year or two and hear from him again after his anus has started bleeding.

  • waynenot #28 10 months ago

    In light of his conduct with some western journos at E3 this year (listen to this week's Games, Dammit), I think this may be trying to drum up a bit of free 'controversy/publicity' - be good if he just got on with making a game and it being decent.

  • mushroomyakuza #29 10 months ago

    The only problem with Japan's games industry is that they've convinced themselves they need to be like Western ones. They don't. In fact, they need to invest more far in their creativity and zany concepts that the West sorely lacks.

    And just for once, it would be nice to see a Japanese developer standing up for themselves rather than slagging off their own products. Criticizing is the easiest thing in the world. How about saying something positive and encouraging for once?

    And Japan, for once, stand up for yourself. I'm not going to be so naive as to say without Japan we wouldn't have a games industry, but hell if they haven't had a crucial and essential impact upon the industry. Japan has given us some of the best games ever made, and will almost certainly continue to do so long after everyone's forgotten Igadaki's name.

  • CamberGreber #30 10 months ago

    I think what he is really saying is that Japanese Developers dont interact with there western fans.

    There is not even a website for people to give feedback they can access.

    Team Ico has no way for us to contact or communicate.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #31 10 months ago

    @wayne

    Yeah, I heard about Itagaki's mood in Games Dammit. This confirms he's a bit of a tool, while being well known.

    I find it interesting that some still think that for japanese devs to improve, that they'll somehow lose all their cool zany cultural stuff. Get a grip. Culture is not that easily dispatched. There will always be crazy jap games. Absolutely no reason why they can't keep all that, yet learn new tricks.

    For all the negativity that some place on western devs, its these same devs that are breathing more life into this industry than Japan, so please don't diss the hand that feeds you, too much. And if Nintendo hadn't started the console market, the PC would have easily filled that gap anyway, as it was always a driving force for tech and games.

  • djed #32 10 months ago

    @mushroomyakuza

    Your two paragraphs are at odds with each other. First you tell Japanese developers that they do not need to be like Western ones, then you tell them to be more like Western ones: self-glorification is rated pretty low in Japan, as opposed to selfflagellation. However, couple that with delusions of grandeur, and you get stuff like Itagaki (if this has been reported/translated correctly), telling you what's wrong with all of Japan.