Shuhei Yoshida was an executive for PlayStation for over 30 years before he officially retired last January. Yoshida is focusing on the growth of indie developers, but he thinks that one game deserves credit for saving the Japanese game industry.
As it turns out, Yoshida is very thankful for NieR: Automata for keeping the spirit of Japanese-designed games alive.
How NieR Saved an Industry
In a recent interview with AV Watch (via @Genki_JPN), Yoshida explained how NieR: Automata managed to revive the Japanese gaming industry when it struggled back in the PS3 era. Yoshida explains:
"I think Yoko Taro made [NieR] without thinking whether or not it would sell overseas. However, it was a huge hit overseas. From there, it became clear that Japanese creators were making 'Japanese things' and those things were selling overseas. Everyone realized that with NieR.”
Yoshida firmly believes that the slump in the Japanese gaming industry was caused by many developers thinking about how their games would sell overseas, but the only successful games they have are those designed with a Japanese audience first. Yoshida continues:
“It wasn't just a matter of saying 'It's okay to do it like that', but "we have to do it like that'. So the direction of Japanese creators became 'let's stop imitating overseas countries anymore', 'if we create things with our own culture and that we understand, they will understand it overseas'.
According to Yoshida, the success of NieR: Automata was like the ‘eureka’ moment when developers understood that they didn’t need to cater to Western audiences when they designed the games—audiences would understand if Japanese gamers authentically designed something.
“I think the Japanese game industry was revived after NieR, so much so that I would say it was before NieR and after NieR,” said Yoshida. “To put it simply, I think NieR: Automata was the title that made people realize ‘let's make something Japanese.’”
Other Japanese Developers Agree
Yoshida isn’t the only one who thinks Japanese devs should stick to their gut when designing their games. Earlier this month, Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai also shared that Japanese devs should focus on making games for the Japanese market.
In an interview with Entax (via Automaton), Yoshida had also pointed out a trend that Japanese developers had wanted to make their games ‘Americanized’ to cater to Western audiences, but he believes that Western audiences flock to Japanese games specifically for the different approach to game design. “I think the ideal is to make the games the way you like them, and the people who can accept them will enjoy them,” says Sakurai.
Japanese Games for Western Audiences
For now, modern gamers seem to know distinctly what they want from game developers. Sure, Western games are great for more casual gamers and make it easy for anyone to jump in, but seasoned gamers specifically go for Japanese games when they want something more extensive and customizable to their gameplay experience.
Monster Hunter and the Final Fantasy franchise have been testaments to authentic game design, and they’re probably as popular as they are because they’re not designed like Western games.