In the past few years, Japanese developers have racked their minds trying to reach out to gamers in the West. Larger Japanese publishers like Capcom, Square Enix, and Konami, have all turned to Western developers to remake and revitalize their portfolio. Hideo Kojima told Famitsu (translation via 1UP) that he’s not sure Japanese developers are going about overseas success in the right way.
"Do we really need to succeed worldwide?" he asked. "That's what I'm really wondering about. Everyone talks about overseas, overseas, but nobody's really thinking about what needs to be done if we want to succeed. We get obsessed with thinking about worldwide because we've had previous success with games and anime worldwide, but none of those successes matter nowadays.”
“When you're making a game, it doesn't matter what nationality the team is -- I think there was a lack of understanding among Japanese developers on that issue. It all comes down to the team you have. Even if I brought in the best developer in the world, it won't result in anything if nobody around him understands what he says."
Kojima’s titles have always performed better in the West than in the designer’s home region, but he believes that Japanese developers need to structure themselves differently to succeed. And be prepared to pay for it.
"If you're trying to break out overseas, then I think the only way is to divide your development teams between the Japanese and global markets. It's impossible to encompass it in a single group -- everything needs to be separate, down to the office and pay structure,” he explained. “There are loads of talented developers overseas, but you can't get them unless you spend the money. If you base your calculations off the standard Japanese salary structure, nobody's going to come to you. It's the difference between what you pay a Hollywood star versus a Japanese film star."
Kojima cites a divide in target audiences in the West and Japan.
"To put it in an extreme fashion, Americans like games where you have a gun and you're shooting at space aliens," he said. "If you don't understand why that's fun, then you shouldn't be making games for the world market; you don't need to. I mean, Japanese people might say 'Why space aliens?', but Americans will counter with 'What's with these games featuring these feminine-looking boys fighting in Japan with these huge swords?' It's no wonder the target audience for a lot of games is getting so compartmentalized,” he said.
The Metal Gear Solid creator is ready to put his money on the table with his all-new Fox Engine. He has yet to reveal what project the new engine will power, but he believes it will make development far more efficient.
"Once that's complete, we'll be able to develop games more intuitively as well as far more efficiently," he closed. "That's the way games are normally developed overseas, but we just didn't have that."
