Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, believes that “young Japan” is losing out in the competition with the West. Writing from his Twitter page, Kojima expressed concern about the state of the Japanese education system. Stemming from a viewing of a documentary on foreign exchange students at Kyoto Seika University, Kojima saw parallels with the gaming industry.
"The Game industry is very similar. The West is very motivated. The younger generation of Japan is losing," Kojima wrote.
"The designers and to-be-designers in the West have the focus, ambition, and ability to make their dream become true. So it is not the Japanese technology or culture that is losing, we are lacking the motivation."
Kojima believes that consequences will arise due to the lack of Japanese undergraduates studying at schools such as MIT, Oxford and Harvard. "The engineering population in Japan may be in jeopardy. We should first review our education system here in Japan," he said.
"Lately I have come to conclusion that, with highly motivated foreigners... it doesn't matter where they are from, working with highly motivated individuals is the only way to move forward. I am tired of taking care of people who do not have the passion."
The problem is that he doesn't see enough self-starters. “Time is used differently between people who have and don't have motivation. They are willing to learn and study on their own." He highlighted the example of two programmers in his own studio, one who reads two novels a day and another who plays Call of Duty during his lunch hour.
"The reason why the programmer plays COD during his cherished lunch time is because he likes gaming more than anything. Even if I am busy, even if I have to sacrifice something, I would... for movies and books," said Kojima.
"Saying you don't have time because of work, using work as an excuse, will not help you grow. Creating abilities, at its core, is reliant on your love for the creation."
Kojima’s statements join a growing concern from the top producers and developers in Japan. With shrinking markets and less game diversity, the Japanese game industry is “Over, Done, Finished,” unless something changes.
3 Comments
July 11, 2010
He's speaking like a legend
July 11, 2010
Nice work Ben, I always enjoy your articles.
July 12, 2010
I don't think its that they're less motivated, its just the West has had a far easier time adjusting to the HD generation than Japan has.
In America, Western RPG's and First Person Shooters have been in High Definition on the PC for more than a decade now, so it was easy for them to translate such experiences over to the XBox 360 and eventually PS3. And if you look at Metacritic/Gamerankings, these two genres most likely dominate the highest-acclaimed games this generation.
Fortunately we have Kojima, who's made one of the most beloved and highest scored titles this generation with Metal Gear Solid 4. I think that, Demon's Souls and Ninja Gaiden shows that dedicated Japanese developers willing to get their hands dirty and take risks can in fact have success in today's gaming market.