Masahiro Sakurai Says Japanese Devs Should Stop Trying to Appeal to American Tastes

Masahiro Sakurai’s long career in gaming has brought fans wonderful series like Kirby and Super Smash Bros., but he has also been a source of wisdom and guidance for budding designers thanks to the sage advice he is known for. His YouTube Channel Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games is a wellspring of insight into how he approaches development, for instance, and is so beloved in Japan that Sakurai was awarded the Art Encouragement Prize from their government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. During an interview with the website Entax regarding the award, Sakurai had another pearl of wisdom to bestow, which we’ll roughly quote (via Google’s translation service) below:

I think the trend in the game industry is that Japanese people should pursue what they like. A little while ago, there was a culture of making Americanized things because various works were popular in America. You could say it was leaning towards “de facto standards.” But I think that overseas “Japanese game lovers”are not looking for that kind of thing, but rather for something unique and interesting about Japan. In other words, I think the ideal situation would be to make it the way you want it, and have people who can accept it enjoy it.

Sakurai’s words come at a time when Japanese companies like PlayStation, Square Enix, Capcom, and others have become slavishly devoted to making games for a so-called international audience, but at the expense of the things that make games from their part of the world special. If gaming becomes nothing but a bland, homogenized bundle of themes, content, and gameplay catered to a singular audience, the hard reality is that it will eventually appeal to no audience. While it’s merely this writer’s opinion, a big part of my own interest in games came from titles produced in Japan because of what made them feel different compared to ones made in the West.

Still, that’s just my opinion—what do you think about Sakurai’s statement? Share with us below and online.

Source: Entax