Many industry executives including Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square Enix, agree that the Japanese video game industry is on a downhill slope. But, why?
Wada has an idea which he explains in an excellent Ars Technica interview. “What I’m most concerned about,” Wada told Ars, “is that the game creator foundation is starting to become exhausted in a sense, because there aren’t as many younger creators that are aspiring to become developers.”
He isn’t exactly sure how this happened, but cites the movement of console manufacturers from Japan to North America as a possibility. Even though two of them, Sony and Nintendo, are Japanese companies Wada says, “But now Nintendo is practically the only console manufacturer based in Japan…so the console manufacturer as a hub is now missing.”
Perhaps, creators don’t have enough freedom to make the games they want so they leave the industry or lose their passion. Enigmatic and eccentric developer Keita Takahashi said in a separate interview with Gamasutra, “Or maybe I just don’t like where I think it’s [the video game industry] going. I’m not sure. That’s probably related to my second frustration. I just can’t perceive where the fun is in recent hit video games. I see nothing in them that resonates with me and, their success leaves me feeling confused. The things I find interesting and enjoyable just aren’t reflected in the popular games of today and, I feel like there’s not much room for my voice because of that.”
