Hideo Kojima has stated that he is unsure how Japanese developers can operate in a market where the only thing that seems to sell is shooters.
Everyone knows that the Japanese markets following different trends as compared to those in the West, even when it comes to the Interactive Entertainment (read, ‘video game’) industry.
The creator of one of the longest running and most iconic series in the video game world as now added his voice to the story. Hideo Kojima is the person who has been at the helm of the Metal Gear series from the start and although he has tried to leave the project for someone else to take over, he has in what can only be explained with the Godfather’s famous dialogue, “been pulled back in.”
According to him there are not many Japanese games that can appeal to masses in the West, where gamers primarily play shooters. Statistics will back his statement up with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 earning $775-million in just five days following its release.
“It’s much more competitive now: if you look at the triple-A titles on a worldwide scale there’s maybe only ten really big games that can get gamer’s attention, and I’m not sure how Japan can compete on that level,” explained Mr. Kojima, in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine.
While games like Demon’s Souls and its sequel, Dark Souls have received a fair amount of critical acclaim, they have not sold as well as many of the shooters in the industry, and trends like that are what seem to becoming increasingly worrying for the Japanese video game industry.
“I think its more consumer demand – right now, consumers are happy with what they have. First-person shooters sell like crazy, so there’s not really a strong demand for anything else, and that’s why (original ideas) stop being made.”
Mr. Kojima’s opinion is only backed up by how publishers behave these days; churning out sequels to ideas they know will work (Call of Duty) while very few dare to experiment and come up with something fresh with titles such as Demon’s Souls being the one star exception.
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