Inafune: Japanese industry "is finished"

By Tom Bramwell Published 28 September, 2009

Capcom man not impressed by TGS.

Capcom R&D chief Keiji Inafune told journalists at a Dead Rising 2 event on Friday that his reaction to the Tokyo Game Show was despair at the state of the Japanese games industry.

"When I looked around all the different games at the TGS event floor, I said, 'Man, Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished,'" Inafune said, in comments translated by Capcom's Ben Judd and captured by Destructoid.

"But, just so you all don't think that the game industry is finished, Capcom is doing our best. I wanted to [have] this party and show you there are still some kickass games out there coming from Japan."

Inafune is well known for his belief that Japanese developers need to think globally in order to match the success of their Western competitors, and he delivered a speech to that effect at Capcom's annual press event in Monaco earlier in the year.

He practices what he preaches, too, working with Canadian developer Blue Castle on the production of Dead Rising 2, and putting a lot of weight behind Dark Void, developed by Airtight Studios in the US. Even Capcom's Japanese-developed titles like Lost Planet 2, produced by Jun Takeuchi, now have a touch of the West about them on Inafune's watch.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #1 2 years ago

    But what about all my JRPGs?

    Don't stop making them.

  • metalangel #2 2 years ago

    The world will always need jailbait heroines with squeaky voices, prettyboys with big swords and rape simulators.

  • Dizzy #3 2 years ago

    The Japanese industry was finished about 10 years ago IMHO but they still produce some good creative stuff (mainly on DS/mobile). That beings said they still generate a lot of money with their by-the-numbers big projects mainly because of a very big populace of Otakus who will buy anything that "follows the rules".
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 09:48

  • menage #4 2 years ago

    It's not progressing as fast as the rest that's for sure. Still, games like Last Guardian still look stellar.

  • hiddenranbir #5 2 years ago

    Of course it is finished, for us. They create so much junk. Their JRPGs have become so interchangeable with other hardly any stand out any more, because they haven't actually progressed forward since the early 90s.

    They do have some cool, unique ideas, yet they're the kind of games they don't want to export out to the world. It is ridiculous!

  • ZuluHero #6 2 years ago

    We still have loads of creative gems out of Japan. And the production values of most games alone leave most western efforts in shame. I guess we need a fusion of some sort.

  • bad09 #7 2 years ago

    "The Japanese industry was finished about 10 years ago IMHO "

    I'd agree with that, DC was the last console on which I remember really getting excited about, and really into, games from the east. These days I rarely play anything Japanese, even the series I loved like MGS and RE are losing their appeal (well RE lost it's appeal after 4..). Shame really.

    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 09:53

  • abigsmurf #8 2 years ago

    I think the popularity of the DS has effected the Japanese games market a lot. Lots of low to medium budget titles being churned out. Just look at the number of RPGs (I believe Square-Enix have what, 5+ currently in development for the DS?) hitting the console. There are lots of decent and creative RPGs for the system (TWEWY is my fav game this generation) but few of them have had real money sunk into development so they often have a lightweight feel or are a lot more cut down from what you would have seen in a PS1 RPG.

    Outside of the portables, there just don't seem to be anywhere near as many games being made. Look at TGS, if you exclude titles announced before the show, DLC and re-releases, you wouldn't need to worry about using a second hand if you counted the unveilings for the show.

    Use the DS or PSP to produce something creative and low budget. Use the money from those to produce the occasional big budget console title.

  • KDR_11k #9 2 years ago

    I think there has been enough talk about the decline of the game industry in Japan over the last few years, supposedly it's the reason Nintendo decided to go for this whole audience expansion deal. They say it's going to spread to other markets soon as well so we may see the industry equivalent of a mass extinction event.

    hiddenranbir: I think they're actually trying hard to innovate with jRPGs since each one seems to feature a different gimmick for its combat system nowadays. Whether there's anything useful coming out of that is debatable. Of course the jRPG is hardly the only genre that's stagnating, FPSes have evolved little since their first appearance. Especially evolution that could convert previously uninterested people is lacking, an FPS won't suddenly make non-FPS gamers play it just because it has a time travel gimmick or whatever.

  • drumbaby #10 2 years ago

    I think Capcom peaked with the PS2 in the West, Mhunter PSP in Jpn. Nintendo gave up making games as we knew them after the Game Cube. Tecmo have lost their golden boy and yet still seem jubbly obsessed to the point of tedium. And Square have been stuck in slightly prettier rehash mode since....forever.

    I haven't been excited about Japanese games for many years now. The Last Guardian is the only one even remotely interesting me, tbh.

  • Bazfrag #11 2 years ago

    ..and we have buggy shit like Shift or fps 3656 at the top of our charts. We are so much better....

  • gamecubeisbest #12 2 years ago

    If you look at the charts for Europe and USA you see that Japan isn't the only place with terrible taste in games.

  • el_pollo_diablo #13 2 years ago

    "The Japanese games industry is in a bad state. Anyway, here are our games!"

    - bit odd?

  • Bazfrag #14 2 years ago

    "It's not progressing as fast as the rest that's for sure."

    I dont quite get what progress you mean. All regions have been making pretty much the same stuff for years. The only real advances the west have made is gfx and physics. Now red exploding barrels look prettier than they did in Quake 2, but their use is the same.

  • Pac #15 2 years ago

    hmm. Demons Souls one of the best games this generation. Also way ahead of it's time in terms of online co-op. Open ended gameplay etc. Keep making games Japan, or I will go mad.

  • tachometer #16 2 years ago

    The vast majority of Japanese games have always been tosh since the famicom onwards, only the very best were translated for the West to enjoy so we got an image of Japanese games as being superior. The problem they have now is that the PS3 is too difficult/expensive to develop creative/risky titles for and the Xbox is not trusted so they've put all there effort into quick profit DS/PSP titles. If the PS3 gets enough middleware to make it into an easier platform to develop for the Japanese will quickly start churming out grade A titles again.

  • menage #17 2 years ago

    @Bazfrag

    True, mainly the advances are technical, but these do pave the way for stuff like the Gravity Gun and such.

    Japanese games tend to do the same as the PS2 era, only with huge amounts of polish.

    Mind you I still love my Japanese games. and I can just as well play Disgaea or DragonQuest, and games like Last Guardian are innovative as hell as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather play those than Halo of Killzone.

    Oh and I'd hardly call SOTC, Dragonquest, Zelda, Mario, etc tosh. I'll have those over racer or shooter x anyday.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 10:49

  • rashes #18 2 years ago

    @Bazfrag

    That's a pretty cynical viewpoint. I feel we are in a golden age of gaming, to be honest.
    There is such a wide variety of stuff to appeal to many different tastes out there... from casual to hardcore and there are far too many quality titles for me to afford to buy!
    And in keeping with the topic here, a lot of the more hardcore market is driven by the west whereas no one can touch Nintendo/Japan for casual and hand-held development.

    Also, just because something is an FPS, doesn't make it bad. Same as just because something is an JRPG doesn't make it bad.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #19 2 years ago

    One only need look at the FIFA / PES conflict to see a microcosm of the Western / Japanese game development divide in recent years.

    Japanese developers seem to be remarkably hidebound by convention. I think they need to do some learning to make things more convenient for the user, instead of the likes of all this "I've never played my competitor's game" posturing between the developers of Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry and Bayonetta.

  • kingmob #20 2 years ago

    I don't think the Japanese game industry is "dead" as such but it certainly needs a massive kick up the arse. The Japanese industry used to be the innovators but (probably due to increased developments costs) they've been playing it safe for the longest time.

  • TheNinkyNonk #21 2 years ago

    Aesthetically, Japan has a rich heritage that will never lose it's place in the creative mediums.

    Mechanically, their games are tired, dated, 16-bit dinosaurs.

    Capcom are at least trying to blend the best of both worlds with their new business strategies.

  • kinky_mong #22 2 years ago

    There's definitely an element of truth in that statement. A look at my game collection shows that the ratio of Eastern to Western games has shifted much further to the West side than it was 5 or 10 years ago, and the quality of the Japanese games has dipped severely. Purely anecdotal evidence of course, but when you look at something like the JRPG and how the genre has barely moved on at all in the past decade it shows they've sort of rested on their laurels.

  • retr0gamer #23 2 years ago

    People complaining about JRPGs being stagnant are playing the wrong ones. Square Enix are churning out generic crap but everyone else is bringing out really good JRPGs like Atlus and the Persona series. I think the problem is the japanese market has shifted to handhelds which is a shame because I'm getting sick of western games on the consoles and would love some more japanese style action games and JRPGs on the home console. Nowadays my PS2 is getting the most play because I can't get the japnese games experience I prefer on the current consoles.

  • Bazfrag #24 2 years ago

    @rashes. I was indeed cynical! I was just trying to point out that no side is deficient, they just have different niches to fill. There seemed to be a lot of unjustified hate.

  • Cid #25 2 years ago

    I think the big JRPG innovators of recent years have been Atlus. The latest Shin Megami Tensei instalments changed the way we approached combat without resorting to cumbersome real-time/turn based hybrids or convoluted battle mechanics. It simply encouraged us to use our noggins and actually think about what we were doing.

    As for the Japanese industry in general, while I don't have much experience with console gaming this gen, the DS has produced a number of fresh titles over the last few years, with the vast majority coming from Japan.

  • Les #26 2 years ago

    I'd hate to see the Japanese emulate the West even more. The world would be a better place without even more pixel fixation...

  • senso-ji #27 2 years ago

    Just because the west are selling more games doesn't mean they make better ones; compaines like Activision are making money through subscription services (WoW) and cashing in on successful franchises (MW2 price hike).

    The japanese still make the more innovative games from time to time, such as Professor Layton, but those are few and far between. Oh, and Capcom are as guilty as any other Japanese developer when it comes to producing uninspiring games.

  • Linkified #28 2 years ago

    I would say they were finished long ago, every jrpg has become interchangeable at this point - the stories are so similiar, the characters are so similiar, the gameplay has become so similiar. Yes you get the odd occational brilliant game - but japanese gamers are in arcades or on portable sytems.

    And the rest of the world prefer to play games online.

  • rhubarbandcustard #29 2 years ago

    I got flamed when I dismissed all Japanese games as tosh earlier this year.

    "Xenophobe" Eurogamers cried out.

    Turns out I was spot on. As usual.

  • ChocNut #30 2 years ago

    I don't know - I think it's an incendiary comment and personally I thought RE5 was fantastic (do not base your opinions on the demo as I did for a while).

    Videogames are going through a paradigm shift. The culture of games is now disseminating into the world at a greater rate and maybe it's natural that a kind of community-style development takes over for a while. We've had such a tight focus on visual detail for generations and now I think that race is slowing down. There is so much scope left for innovation in other areas of gaming and personally I think that's a good thing.

    Controller lag, intelligent hint/guide-systems, better character development, indie-developed chart toppers - these are some of the gaming issues that need some time to catch up. A kind of democratization of the medium (as happened with books and movies and photography) can lead to wonderful new directions and ideas for computer games.

    That said, there are still big jumps that the industry can definitely make in terms of realism/visual enhancements such as 3D screens (not all of which require glasses) or augmented reality.

  • Rubarack #31 2 years ago

    "All" Japanese games are tosh? I think you may have deserved a gentle roasting there. But certainly standout titles have appeared less and less frequently since the days of the SNES.

  • LilithsCurves #32 2 years ago

    Yeah, they are not improving anything. What did they do the last 10 years? - No good games, everything the same.

    Games like Demon's Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Shadow of the Colossus, Professor Layton,... such uninspired games.

    now continuing without sarcasm.

    Yes i would like to see more great games that only a few buy (for whatever reason) and not so much generic garbage that sells well enough (obviously) and sometimes even very well but that is not an issue that only affects the Japanese developers. Everything comes and goes. Typical RPGs from Japanese developers have had their highest point. Now here in the west Action/FPS have their best selling time - that will not always be, nothing lives forever, from time to time they have to be resurrected after a painful death and some sleep.

  • penhalion #33 2 years ago

    In Japan, the games players are getting jaded. Even they can't get enthusiastic for yet another RPG. Sales of even the best franchises have been steadily declining. The franchises still push hardware for the first few days but, then there is a sharp fall off as the hardcore all have the game and the majority just don't bother.

  • Sunyavadin #34 2 years ago

    You know whose fault it is? EVERYONE HERE WHO DIDN'T BUY A DREAMCAST.

    That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

  • CaoSlayer #35 2 years ago

    It should been read:
    Inafune: Capcom "is finished" Comments

    They fired the brains behind their best games, Inafune haven't made a great game in centuries.

    Still, Im amazed at it because Capcom was able to profit last year although it was caused by the milking of their bigger cows (Resident Evil, Monster hunter, Street fighter).

  • Shikasama #36 2 years ago

    Really liking all these comments from people saying japanese games aren't for them.

    Who is going to point out the obvious flaw in the logic?

  • Oh-Bollox #37 2 years ago

    Their war games always contain the exact same themes. I wonder if they do it on purpose.