An Englishman in New Tokyo

Crossing borders

Many Japanese game companies have publicly expressed the need to be more globally minded in recent years, with Capcom and Square Enix in particular aggressively pursuing relationships with Western developers. But Kay has noted another trend: that of Japanese developers bringing in staff from abroad to work domestically.

"When I first arrived in Tokyo foreigners were quite a rarity at development studios, and I was often the sole foreigner at any given studio. I knew a handful of other foreign developers here, but that group has grown significantly over the past few years. It's becoming easier and easier to get a job here, if you have the experience.

"I guess the idea is that foreign developers bring with them foreign development methods that will make a Japanese company successful in the West. It doesn't quite work that way, of course, and companies must be truly willing to make efforts to change and think more globally, rather than viewing hiring foreigners as a panacea."

Tanner agrees: "Employing more foreign staff and sending their own staff abroad is a start for developers here. But is this the ideal way for Japanese games to find a global audience? I hope a way can be found for Japanese titles to enjoy universal appeal and still be uniquely Japanese at the same time. But it would be arrogant to assume that ours are naturally superior, or more fun than the game styles of other, newer territories in the arena.

"If we look at things from a purely comparative, statistical perspective of how many global developers are now working today then it's only natural that the Japanese market will dwindle in influence."

For Kay, it's more than just a problem with statistics. Rather, there are fundamental problems with the Japanese studio system that are hampering success. "Japan's primary failings revolve around the inefficiency of development practices," he argues. "Japan still works with an 'auteur' system, where a single person, or a select few at the top, decide on every little aspect of the game, and don't think twice about demanding changes that could easily derail the schedule. This has, of course, lead to some amazing games in the past, but with next-gen development, this approach is dangerous and frustrating."

For Dylan Cuthbert, president of Kyoto-based Q-Games and another Brit, competition from rival industries has drained the talent pool in Japan, while simultaneously cooling off consumer excitement about videogames in general. "A lot of programmers who would have naturally progressed into the videogames industry now go into the mobile phone industry which admittedly tends to pay better for entry-level and even mediocre programmers.

"Making full games is harder and needs a better grade of programmer. Combined with this, we have uninterested consumers and a lack of risk-taking from the big publishers, whose conservatism influences one another in a depressing downward spiral. Many good games just fall flat here these days simply because the consumer just isn't all that interested in them. They'd prefer to be playing a sub-par game so long as everyone else is playing it, so they can talk about it with them."

"I'd describe the Japanese games industry as confused right now," says Kay. "The fact Japanese companies need to consider a global market, as opposed to simply making Japanese games for the Japanese market and then exporting them, is by now clear to most, but how to successfully go about it is still very much up in the air.

"The financial meltdown has had its effect in Japan too. Nobody really has the money or impetus to make an effort any more and in hard times Japanese companies would rather stick with what they know and are good at. It's a natural reaction, of course, but it's not what the industry needs right now. Rather they need to open up, learn from Western practices and learn to communicate better with Western publishers, developers and audiences."