Ben-DutkaI apologize to all our readers if it seems like I'm beating a dead horse, but yesterday's comments by Square-Enix president Yoichi Wada have got me seething. All I can do is think about the piece I wrote about how the publisher clearly doesn't care about retaining their old fans, but would much rather gather new ones .
I guess I just can't believe the quote that says anything made for Americans should be made by Americans, or some such nonsense. It's painfully obvious that Wada and Co. clearly believe two things: 1. the cultural divide between East and West cannot be bridged unless one side utilizes the help of the other, and 2. that everyone who grew up with an industry where 99% of all top-quality products came from Japan have jumped ship. They simply don't care anymore. As for the first inaccurate belief, I recognize that Western developers are starting to rake in some heavy sales for huge franchises, thereby eclipsing what used to be the biggest franchises in the world from Japan. But I absolutely refuse to believe that something like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots could be considered a commercial or financial failure, and if Rising had remained exclusive to the PS3, it would've been very interesting to compare the sales of both titles.
In regards to number two, I'm just utterly confused. So, all Western gamers, including the veterans who would once hear a game was Western-made and be all skeptical, want a total shift? Really? They don't want what they used to love? They've all moved on to abandon Japanese-style gaming entirely? You know, just because gaming has become more mainstream than ever doesn't necessarily mean that everyone suddenly has the same tastes. It's too stereotypical to believe that Westerners don't have any patience and only care about shooters. It just is. At the same time – and I hate to say this, because it invariably draws out the increasingly bitter Xbox 360 fans – it may be that Microsoft's success has really messed it up for those of us who really adored JRPGs and other Japanese efforts in the past. Perhaps it's logical to assume that because the 360 simply can't sell in Japan and is immensely popular here, the differences in taste and preference really are insurmountable.
So I get why Square-Enix thinks this but what I don't get is why they don't even bother to try to cater to their long-time fans. Say I opened up a business selling a certain product. For a while, I was the only source for quality in that particular industry. Then, one day, a competitor started to rise quickly and before long, I found myself floundering. Yes, I would certainly assess what makes the competitor's product more interesting in the eyes of our shared consumer group, and I would attempt to adjust ('cough' Move, Kinect, 'cough'). But I'm still in business and I know I still have fans who enjoy my product; who go out of their way to find it. So do I expand my shelf space to include fresh product that might appeal to the consumers my competitor grabbed, or do I replace all my product with what I believe those consumers want? …why in God's name would I eliminate the only thing keeping me afloat?
Few of your followers have changed all that much, Square-Enix. We don't all scoff at what Xboxers might consider "old-fashioned" turn-based RPG gameplay. We haven't all suddenly and inexplicably shifted our personal tastes to Halo and Gears of War . We don't all need a Final Fantasy that barely holds any traditional RPG likeness because we don't have the patience to sit still for two seconds. In short, we are not all in the same boat . The idea that you need anyone else to create products your avid followers wish to buy is absurd, and it's even more absurd to ignore us. Rant over.
Amen Ben,
Just keep Final Fantasy as it is..
Then just make another title to satisfy your insicurity over western gaming
Still pissed over Hiroshima
@The unthinking – aka OhYesss
That's nice. Why don't you simply not post any more unless you have something less offensive to say?
OhYesss……Oh nuooooooo!
Not cool dude.
@Highlander and Jawk
… no kidding.
In what way is that offensive?
Anybody have an alphabet so we can spell it out to this guy?
I have some alphabet soup.
@Chubby,
well I wouldn't go that far, I'm not American, and I thought it was pretty crass and tasteless. But hey, perhaps maturity is overrated?
Underdog15 <— also not American.
Underdog15 <— also finds the comment incredibly crass and ignorant.
What's funny about comparing a video game developer's attitude surrounding $$'s to the instant destruction of an entire city slaughtering thousands of innocent people? I know you're probably a fan of shooters, as are most, but even shooter fans don't find war hilarious.
<sarcasm> I mean, hey, while you're at it, why don't you just poke fun at the holocaust? </sarcasm>
Last edited by Underdog15 on 7/6/2010 2:39:19 PM
Thank you Underdog, you expressed that more calmly than I felt I could. As I should have said in my previous reply. I am thoroughly English, and I found the comment about Hiroshima offensive, not humorous.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 7/6/2010 2:58:38 PM
I just want to add, that I think it's incredibly obvious to me that nationality should have absolutely no impact on the healthy psyche. The only people who find mass destruction humorous are either grossly uninformed or psycho- or sociopaths by nature. Whether those are learned behaviors or not doesn't really matter.
I am Canadian, through and through. I have many friends and family connected to military both currently and as far back as WWII (Grandfather was a bomber pilot for the RCAF). My wife's grandparents grew up in Holland and her grandmother, with whom we are both very close, were liberated by the Canadian army in her small Dutch town. (And prior almost found out by the Germans for hiding Jews!!)
Needless to say, I have a very good understanding of the importance and terror associated with WW2 and even current warfare. (An ex-girlfriend is actually an officer in the navy now! lol. The best man of my wedding is a Master Corporal for the militia, and has spent many terms in Afghanistan)
And let me tell you, the entire WORLD was filled with terror after the dropping on Hiroshima. No elderly family member of mine alive during that time would EVER speak of that event with a smirk on their face, and to hear that done, I'm sure would fill them disgust and recurring nightmares.
Money and SquareEnix…. and Hiroshima….
Seriously? Really??
The Howlett side of my family (my last name) who all immigrated from England, my uncle who works now at the University in Liverpool as a Professor of Law (David Fraser. My mom's brother. Look him up!) would never find that funny and would tremendously disagree with you about how that could possibly be acceptable English humor.
Let's hope you find a physical fight then, because your logic would fail you in a debate.
Of course, with you as a chubby wubby kid, I'm sure an ex-university athlete like myself wouldn't have a problem in the physical realm, either.
I think you're just one of those people most of us roll our eyes at as they holler at the top of their fat-albert sounding voice trying to insult people since insults are the only way anyone will pay any attention to them. Lord knows you won't ever have any real contributions to any type of intellectual conversation to which it is worth paying any heed.
Either way, you present no threat. I now await your response pretending to act like I didn't insult you back because what I say doesn't matter to you. I'm sure your number one philosophy in life is "When owned, try not to care. That way it hurts less, and I can use a comment like 'What you say don't matter' to make it feel like I've had some sort of rebuttle."
And yes, I realize your philosophy is both porous and has poor grammar. You should have used "doesn't" instead of "don't". I run into 20-year olds like you on a regular basis, dude. I work at a youth centre, and your psyche is anything but unique. Do you have any idea how many young adults with bleak futures think it's ok to insult saying whatever they want because "it's a public place" or my favorite excuse, "it's a free country"?
Lots.
You see, that's the problem with people who develop life philosophies based on a large series of "stick-it-to-the-man" comments. There's no substance. It's merely a large variety of insignificant and poorly thought out loose-tongue lash-backs.
You're destined to receive little to no REAL respect for your point of view. I know I know…. "You don't care". And that's fine. But at best, you can merely hope to make it as high up the corporate ladder of life to the coveted position of 'entry-level'. And that's if you REALLY try.
I suggest you have more respect for those who have lost their lives and loved ones unfairly in events like Rwanda, the Holocaust, and Hiroshima. If you don't have the decency to stay away from mocking immense tragedy like that, then I'm afraid you're in for a meaningless travel through life. I seriously doubt you will ever find real meaning in life, and based on your perceptions, I'd say your own personal meaning is something you're struggling with right now.
Guys like you are an open book, dude, with nothing to fight for but your right to HURT people.
How lame.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 7/7/2010 8:33:28 AM
Well that was a good read, thanks
🙂
No problem! Case in point! I don't need to point fingers if you're just gonna stand there waving your hands while point at the top of your head shouting, "Hey, Hey, Hey! Look at me! I'm the dimwit! I'm exactly the type of person you're referring to barely earning a living/ living with my parents!"
Why footnote when you have a flag-bearer at your disposal? Which I had that for many of my essays in university!
Missed the edit button! >.<
*Wish* I had that. ^.^
Too many people think that free speech is a license to offend. Personally I have always felt that with rights come responsibilities. Like being held responsible for the utterances that leave your mouth. So when some hate filed ignorant person spews forth, sure, it's their right, but what the hell happened to responsibility or accountability. If we uphold the right of free speech in the US without also holding people accountable for what they say, then we have no checks and balances in place to prevent unthinking hate.
Exactly what I said earlier, Highlander.
"Do you have any idea how many young adults with bleak futures think it's ok to insult saying whatever they want because "it's a public place" or my favorite excuse, "it's a free country"?"
People have written entire books about the weakness of people's psyche's who speak like this. Research has even gone to the point of pointing out that those types of people are typically represented in impoverished and high crime regions. Basically, there's a very high coefficient of these types of insulters to people who may not have had the best luck in life.
So it should come to no surprise, that the people with these negative attitudes are also 'down-and-outers' with a grudge. Because…. everything bad that's happened to them is basically the fault of everyone but them.
Yes, that's right. You're right Highlander. It's been discussed at a high level of academia. People who talk like that, very likely, have no understanding of accountability. They are the same ones who think their 'down-and-outedness' is everyone else's fault but their own.
Funny thing is… this ohyes guy is someone proud of his porous and damaged psychology. (Which is common. These types of people don't even realize they're broken)
Why is Japan trying so hard to appeal to the West anyway? Is the market dying over there?
Because I can't understand a situation where a foreign product isn't selling good in my country, but I want to go to that country that is making it anyway and give them my 100% focus and just forget about my home country.
The West isn't trying to appeal to the East so why is the vice-versa trying so hard to make it happen.
Kind of like a guy that dumps his girlfriend(or vice-versa feminists), but he/she just can't let go. They eventually become pushy and the "dumper" starts to hate the "dumpee".
Last edited by Hitch on 7/5/2010 9:56:22 PM
yeah come on, resident evil is pretty good, call of duty 4 and world at war ain't bad offline….story mode wasn't, short though…
Actually the West has been trying to penetrate the Eastern market. Trying and failing that is. XBOX sales are dismal at best compared to the homegrown technology and content.
There are so many metaphors I can use in describing Wadas statements. Quantity over Quality. Sacrificing the quality for the sake of sales. Love versus Lust. Whereas the experiences we Love lose out to the Lust for sales Wada is after. Sell out!!
Just one more thing. Maybe there are more sales in the Western market because there just may be more people over here.
I love old style RPGs. I have actually grown tired of the same old shooter. I love deep RPGs with a great story.
If they make it we will play it.
Great article, unfortunate situation. As a westerner, I do NOT fall into the stereotype. But sadly, I know far too many "gamers" who do. Some people just don't have the mental capacity…
I've met some that can actually play FPSs better than they can NES and SNES Mario games.
If you can play Resident Evil and Call of D00ty better than Super Mario World, that's really something…….sad.
hey!…. please dont put Resident Evil in the same category as Call of Duty
Resident Evil 5 belongs with Call of Dooty.
The rest made my Mikami are brilliant though.
::Applause::
I knew you had a good rant working it's way to the top Ben. Nice one!
BTW just to add further ire, here is a nugget I mentioned in the thread yesterday about SE. Apparently NamcoBandai has decided to bring their IdolMaster series to a home console. You know the IdolMaster game, a J-pop infused ball of anime cuteness dressed up as a game? The series of game that sells by the truck load on the PSP in Japan.
So guess which home console NamcoBandai has apparently selected to bring their IdolMaster games to?
Yep, that's right, the Microsoft Xbox 360.
You mentioned business sense right? How in hell does this make business sense? It's a specifically Japanese game that sees minor sales outside Japan at best. And yet they chose the Xbox360.
::blank stare::
Why? In what world does that make sense? Ah yes, the same world that Square Enix inhabits, a world dominated by the checks written by those paste eating mouth breathers in Redmond – aka Microsoft. The only way this makes sense is if Microsoft has sponsored the development.
So. Wada is confused or insane, or both. He is apparently not alone. I find it interesting that the japanese game companies that have taken their 30 pieces of silver from Microsoft, are also the ones having the most trouble coming to terms with this generation of video game console. Connection?
I'm gonna just say it, and I think we're all beginning to think it. Microsoft has wounded the gaming industry. Microsoft has damaged the industry, and gamers. They continue to cause further damage. If it doesn't stop, Microsoft has the potential to do enough damage to gaming to cause the industry to stall – for a while. I don't think they can kill it single handed.
But they are demonstrably bad for this industry, and their constant meddling in the development of multi-platform games has prevented gamers from seeing many, many games that have sunk without a trace thanks to a horrid choice of platform.
God, how I hate Microsoft.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 7/5/2010 10:07:50 PM
Capcom
Oops, here's the link to the story about IdolMaster.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/03/idolmaster-2-announced-for-xbox-360-coming-in-2011
Vitron.
Capcom? IdolMaster games come from NamcoBandai. I even checked the website to be sure.
I new this would happen when the original Xbox was released. Just look at the crap they pulled with Windows and their constant bashing of Apple.
Hopefully the game industry will find away to over come this bs like Apple did. Apple is now the leader in the US tech industry. They finally pulled ahead of MS. I hope Sony and Nintendo can crowed MS out of the market much like Apple is doing now.
@ The Highlander
Amen to that, brother. I wish the 360 fanboys would wake up and smell the coffee but they are just as clueless as Wada is.
Highlander.
No,not about NamcoBanadai and IdolMaster, its about Capcom also spouting s**t advancing to western style
Last edited by Vitron on 7/5/2010 10:23:22 PM
What amazes me about Capcom is they complain about the 360's lack if disc capacity with just about every game they release and they say the PS3 is more profitable for them yet they continue to focus their efforts on the CrapBox.
Makes no sense to me.
@Vitron,
Indeed you are correct, Capcom. I mis-understood your post. Thanks for the follow-up.
@Jawk
I still firmly believe that Capcom/Nintendo is still steaming about the rise of the Playstation form what I call Nintendo's biggest mistake ever.
What mistake would that be? I'm confused…
Nintendo has made me happy this generation. We should have seen more games like Zelda and Metroid a bit sooner but they are coming.
Capcom has disappointed this generation. Their best games are Super Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs Capcom.
sad….
Not this gen, this goes way back to before i was even born. In '86 Sony was commissioned to make a CD based console for Nintendo, in '88 a contract was drawn up, Hiroshi Yamauchi didn't like the terms of the agreement and felt Sony would have complete/too much control over the titles on the discs, canceled the deal and partnered up with Phillips. In turn, Sony used what they had been working own for themselves, Nintendo filed an injunction and lost, and the rest is history.
So, that's why I say Nintendo tries to get over on Sony every chance they get.
Last edited by main_event05 on 7/5/2010 11:41:01 PM
aaaaaaaaah, i see. well in the end I'm glad Nintendo and Sony didn't collaborate. It's only pushed Sony and Nintendo to strive and innovate.
But i forgot to make my main point
in response to
"What amazes me about Capcom is they complain about the 360's lack if disc capacity with just about every game they release and they say the PS3 is more profitable for them yet they continue to focus their efforts on the CrapBox".
Just part of the bigger picture that is Nintendo's vendetta against Sony since they are now owned by Nintendo. Sure they developed for the PS cause it was a cash cow, but as soon as a semi-profitable alternative came around they jumped ship, even though that ship was a speed boat as opposed to a yacht.
@main
That is one hell of a grudge. :O
@ highlander
awesome post as usual.
@ jawknee
see we can agree on somrthing.lol
@ artcile
most japanese companies are dead to me this gen. most of them
@ ben
there is a sky ad covering the comment box cant see what i'm writing fix it please 🙂
🙂
OMG, Highlander, this site won't let me give you the 10 thumbs up you deserve…
-Arvis
You realize, of course, the same folks defending the XBOX are the same ones that laugh at the Apple commercials….
In terms of Capcom… I want another Mega Man X game… on the PS3.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 7/6/2010 2:47:22 PM
"it may be that Microsoft's success has really messed it up for those of us who really adored JRPGs and other Japanese efforts in the past."
This pretty much sums it up. Mediocrity sells like hot cakes and the 360 is Wada's International House of Pancakes.
Square is done. To nail that final nail in the coffin all they need to do is get Nomura to make his FPS he's talked about in the past. Once that happen's, the transition from Greatest Japanese RPG developer EVAH! to just another washed up game company will be complete.
The only games Square seems to be getting right this generation are PSP games. Their PS3 support has been utter garbage and their 360 games have pretty much been crap too for the most part. Shame to see companies like Square and Capcom go the way of the dodo.
This quote of Ben's article is almost spot on
"it may be that Microsoft's success has really messed it up for those of us who really adored JRPGs and other Japanese efforts in the past."
But as I said above, I think it goes wider than simply JRPG games. I think Microsoft has damaged the entire industry and generation and acted as a spoiler on potentially countless projects that we will now never see.
Yup, i agree. I didn't see your post before i posted my comment. I would have responded more appropriately. Shame one company can do so much damage to an industry. I just hope Sony can at some point make MS irrelevant like Apple is doing to MS in the states.
Last edited by Jawknee on 7/5/2010 10:16:06 PM
The argument is sound in the grand scheme of things. The true fans of Japanese games here in the west never actually left you see, the market simply grew when a generation of people with no patience or intellect took up the hobby (Here I am speaking only of people who can play nothing more than a point and shoot game or wave a wand.
We are now witnessing not the death of the traditional JRPG, but the execution of it. SE is spearheading that execution by proliferating this (essentially racist) propaganda. I know I'm not the only one to take personal offense to statements like theirs. Never in history have games needed to be made by their respective countries in order to prosper. All that matters is that the game is good, and some day all the fluff isn't going to add up any more.
Wada does sound like a bigot. Amazing how one company can turn away millions with one statement.
From now on Level 5 is getting my support and Squares's games are bargain bin purchases for me.