Kawazu: Japanese game market lacks "passion" due to overwhelming market trends

Final Fantasy XII executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu has claimed the problem facing the Japanese game market today is a lack of "passion" due to overwhelming development costs and market trends.

Speaking in a interview with Nintendo Power magazine, Kawazu feels it takes more than one person on a team to "keep up with all the skills necessary for game development", while maintaining the confidence needed to "stick with their vision".

"Aside from a few well-known titles, games from Japan are receiving less and less attention, regardless of if it’s an RPG or not," he said. "I feel that it has something to do with the marketing abilities of Japanese publishers, as well as the games themselves.

"The technology is not on par with Western games, and it also seems like developers are losing their passion to stick with their vision because they are being overwhelmed by costs or market trends.

"It’s necessary for each individual developer to constantly be up-to-date with the latest computer and game technologies. It is also important for development teams and groups as a whole to support technological advancement. It is impossible for one person to keep up with all the skills necessary for game development on his own.

"On top of this, developers need to take on a project with the confidence and strength to stick with their vision. Everything I mentioned here applies to me personally, as well, and they are all things I would like to bring to fruition with my next project."

That's a shame, really, but at least he didn't claim the Japanese industry was "finished like Inafune did at TGS last year or "dying" like Itagaki said earlier this month.

However, it sounds like Capcom's Jun Takeuchi had it right when he said unless the Japanese games industry evolves and keeps up with western games development, it doesn’t have a “hope in hell”.

Hopefully, it will all get sorted soon.

Thanks, GoNintendo, Kotaku.