Smash Bros’ Sakurai says Japanese devs should focus on domestic, not Western tastes
Smash Bros’ Sakurai says Japanese devs should focus on domestic, not Western tastes
by Turbostrider27
27 Comments
ButIDigress79
Yes and keep budgets/sales goals reasonable.
Interesting-Season-8
as if we didn’t enjoy the same stuff lmao
erickazo
No idea why they wouldn’t stay that way. That’s the reason people bought in to begin with.
narsichris
I completely agree. Some of the best stuff I’ve played has presumably been made with the West as an afterthought
OrangeJuiceAssassin
I agree. It’s noticeable in games like Final Fantasy XVI where the Japanese devs are clearly trying to make something more like a God of War style game. I think it ends up disjointed and confusing for the players that have certain expectations going into that brand.
yukiaddiction
People are going to praise this word of him and then complain that Smash Bros full of Japanese catering characters. *shrug*
His will always be consistent even when he does smash bros but the gamer is not.
UnofficialMipha
Gonna play devils advocate here and say that doing the exact opposite is what made monster hunter popular after being so niche for so long
But I get the sentiment. Lots of companies were trying to be more western in the early mid 2000s and most of the attempts went very poorly. I can’t really think of a Nintendo franchise that would benefit from being westernized. I guess it worked for Metroid?
Lucas-O-HowlingDark
What I hate is that western localization usually focuses on just USA culture. Not Canadian or other countries.
NowakFoxie
This reminds me of that time that Inafune said that Japanese developers should appeal to western audiences, which led to… whatever the hell Capcom was doing in the early 2010s and some awful, awful releases like Resident Evil 6, that ***weird*** Bionic Commando reboot and DMC: Devil May Cry. And Mighty No. 9. Glad to see Sakurai urging not repeating that mistake.
MyMouthisCancerous
Capcom learned that the hard way under Inafune. That whole era of stuff like DmC, Bionic Commando with dead wife arm and RE5/6 was where they seriously lost people because they were chasing an audience that was never going to come to them
TristanN7117
This is why you actually read the article instead of the headline to understand what he’s really saying
MattofCatbell
I agree, JRPG are my favorite genre of games and they have a unique style that western RPGs don’t have and I want to keep it that way.
linkling1039
A big chunk of online gamers are extremely entitled. Instead of just moving on, they will complain endless when a game doesn’t appeal to their taste or how they tackle other subjects they think are important.
There’s a game out there for every type of player, some things have worldwide appeal, others don’t and that’s okay.
It’s a shame that social media is full with western players that are extremely toxic, entitled and borderline racist when it comes to Japanese games.
KMoosetoe
It’s a big reason why Nintendo has remained successful. They’ve stayed true to their identity.
Capcom shifted and had some really bad years especially during the PS3 era. Now they’re back and more successful than ever.
PlayStation has been a disaster since their focus on Western development and minimizing Japanese output.
Square has struggled immensely with Final Fantasy losing its identity.
Milwacky
Can’t say I disagree. There seems to be way more creativity out of Japanese devs. Granted SSB is not one of those especially creative franchises outside of the initial offering when it blew all our minds in 1999.
sidv81
Westerners can’t even agree on what their tastes are.
Macaron-kun
Ironically, focusing on domestic tastes is the main reason why these games sell so well in the west. People want something different.
For example, anime wouldn’t be where it is if it had catered to “western tastes.” The fact that it stands out from American/European cartoons and media is a huge reason it’s so popular.
Dukemon102
The dark age of Japanese games (PS3/X360) happened exactly because of this.
Remember the days of DmC, Resident Evil 6, Bionic Commando, Yakuza: Dead Souls, Final Fantasy XIII…?
It’s only when they embraced again what Japanese games were good for that the market and publishers recovered.
Dhiox
Agreed, not because western audiences don’t matter, but because western audiences actually enjoy the differences between Japanese and Western games. It’s the same deal with Anime, people don’t want to see anime get more western just because more westerners are watching it. The whole point is that it’s different from what we have domestically
Interesting_Basil_80
Sakurai is right. Japanese devs should focus on what they know.
BOSS-3000
I just wish they had focused on western netcode rather than test in Japan and just sent it.
Pyrofruit
I can’t wait for people to take this completely the wrong way and use this to perpetuate culture war stuff.
john_jdm
Realistically, successful companies focus on the tastes of their customer base. It’s not always straightforward though. It’s possible that their customers in “the west” actually want to buy from them because they like Japanese culture. Either way, if you have a big following and you shift your company’s focus away from what they like then you probably will get what you deserve.
XephyXeph
Smartest thing the man has ever said. The colonization of Japanese media, specifically video games, to fit western tastes is what is currently ruining the video game market. I like Japanese games because they’re Japanese. If I wanted to play a western AAA release, I would. Companies like SONY, Capcom, and Square need to get their shit together and stop making nothing but western-style games. This is the exact mindset that almost killed Capcom in the 2010s, and they nor any other company seemed to learn from that era.
Sentinel10
And keep budget reasonable.
Don’t do what Square Enix does and make games that absolutely need to sell mega millions just to break even.
RosaCanina87
Devs should do the games they want to make. If it’s fan service, that’s fine. If it’s LGBTQ, that’s fine. Just focus on making a good game. Pour your heart into making it.
If a game is good it’s good. And then it will find it’s audience and it’s success. It doesn’t need to please ALL types of gamers (as if that would be possible …). It just needs to please the ones you actually trying to reach…
DoofDilla
„According to Sakurai, Western players buy Japanese games with the expectation that they will provide something different from Western-developed games, so there’s no need for Japanese studios to adapt.“
27 Comments
Yes and keep budgets/sales goals reasonable.
as if we didn’t enjoy the same stuff lmao
No idea why they wouldn’t stay that way. That’s the reason people bought in to begin with.
I completely agree. Some of the best stuff I’ve played has presumably been made with the West as an afterthought
I agree. It’s noticeable in games like Final Fantasy XVI where the Japanese devs are clearly trying to make something more like a God of War style game. I think it ends up disjointed and confusing for the players that have certain expectations going into that brand.
People are going to praise this word of him and then complain that Smash Bros full of Japanese catering characters. *shrug*
His will always be consistent even when he does smash bros but the gamer is not.
Gonna play devils advocate here and say that doing the exact opposite is what made monster hunter popular after being so niche for so long
But I get the sentiment. Lots of companies were trying to be more western in the early mid 2000s and most of the attempts went very poorly. I can’t really think of a Nintendo franchise that would benefit from being westernized. I guess it worked for Metroid?
What I hate is that western localization usually focuses on just USA culture. Not Canadian or other countries.
This reminds me of that time that Inafune said that Japanese developers should appeal to western audiences, which led to… whatever the hell Capcom was doing in the early 2010s and some awful, awful releases like Resident Evil 6, that ***weird*** Bionic Commando reboot and DMC: Devil May Cry. And Mighty No. 9. Glad to see Sakurai urging not repeating that mistake.
Capcom learned that the hard way under Inafune. That whole era of stuff like DmC, Bionic Commando with dead wife arm and RE5/6 was where they seriously lost people because they were chasing an audience that was never going to come to them
This is why you actually read the article instead of the headline to understand what he’s really saying
I agree, JRPG are my favorite genre of games and they have a unique style that western RPGs don’t have and I want to keep it that way.
A big chunk of online gamers are extremely entitled. Instead of just moving on, they will complain endless when a game doesn’t appeal to their taste or how they tackle other subjects they think are important.
There’s a game out there for every type of player, some things have worldwide appeal, others don’t and that’s okay.
It’s a shame that social media is full with western players that are extremely toxic, entitled and borderline racist when it comes to Japanese games.
It’s a big reason why Nintendo has remained successful. They’ve stayed true to their identity.
Capcom shifted and had some really bad years especially during the PS3 era. Now they’re back and more successful than ever.
PlayStation has been a disaster since their focus on Western development and minimizing Japanese output.
Square has struggled immensely with Final Fantasy losing its identity.
Can’t say I disagree. There seems to be way more creativity out of Japanese devs. Granted SSB is not one of those especially creative franchises outside of the initial offering when it blew all our minds in 1999.
Westerners can’t even agree on what their tastes are.
Ironically, focusing on domestic tastes is the main reason why these games sell so well in the west. People want something different.
For example, anime wouldn’t be where it is if it had catered to “western tastes.” The fact that it stands out from American/European cartoons and media is a huge reason it’s so popular.
The dark age of Japanese games (PS3/X360) happened exactly because of this.
Remember the days of DmC, Resident Evil 6, Bionic Commando, Yakuza: Dead Souls, Final Fantasy XIII…?
It’s only when they embraced again what Japanese games were good for that the market and publishers recovered.
Agreed, not because western audiences don’t matter, but because western audiences actually enjoy the differences between Japanese and Western games. It’s the same deal with Anime, people don’t want to see anime get more western just because more westerners are watching it. The whole point is that it’s different from what we have domestically
Sakurai is right. Japanese devs should focus on what they know.
I just wish they had focused on western netcode rather than test in Japan and just sent it.
I can’t wait for people to take this completely the wrong way and use this to perpetuate culture war stuff.
Realistically, successful companies focus on the tastes of their customer base. It’s not always straightforward though. It’s possible that their customers in “the west” actually want to buy from them because they like Japanese culture. Either way, if you have a big following and you shift your company’s focus away from what they like then you probably will get what you deserve.
Smartest thing the man has ever said. The colonization of Japanese media, specifically video games, to fit western tastes is what is currently ruining the video game market. I like Japanese games because they’re Japanese. If I wanted to play a western AAA release, I would. Companies like SONY, Capcom, and Square need to get their shit together and stop making nothing but western-style games. This is the exact mindset that almost killed Capcom in the 2010s, and they nor any other company seemed to learn from that era.
And keep budget reasonable.
Don’t do what Square Enix does and make games that absolutely need to sell mega millions just to break even.
Devs should do the games they want to make. If it’s fan service, that’s fine. If it’s LGBTQ, that’s fine. Just focus on making a good game. Pour your heart into making it.
If a game is good it’s good. And then it will find it’s audience and it’s success. It doesn’t need to please ALL types of gamers (as if that would be possible …). It just needs to please the ones you actually trying to reach…
„According to Sakurai, Western players buy Japanese games with the expectation that they will provide something different from Western-developed games, so there’s no need for Japanese studios to adapt.“
At least for me that’s absolutely true.