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We'll never catch western dev, says Japanese chap

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Image credit: VG247

Game Republic head Yoshiki Okamoto thinks it's all over. Almost. The ex-Capcom man think western development is now too far ahead for Japan to ever revisit the glory days.

"It's almost too late," he said. "During the Famicom (NES) era, Japanese video games comprised 70 percent of all video games.

"And currently, it's like 15 or 20 percent, isn't it? Now, Western games are more advanced. For games like GTAIV, those guys are spending something like 5 or 10 years to make them. Even if we thought about catching up with them now, they'd still be making progress.

"But, not necessarily giving up, it's just not possible to catch up in a single lifetime."

He has a point. Thanks, Kotaku.

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Patrick Garratt avatar
Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.
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