Poll of the Day > Are Japanese game developers just better than Western game developers?

(+) Yeah! (+)

We're talking about relatively big developers, otherwise there probably isn't much of a difference

In general, "big" developers are so mired in corporate/executive meddling that it's mostly impossible to make broad statements about what they're actually capable of.

They're better in some ways, worse in other ways.

The problem is more publishers than developers, but community culture in any given studio depends fairly strongly on who they've hired, and on the pressure being applied on them from above.

There are reasons why the Bungie of 2025 is essentially a completely different studio than the Bungie of 2005, even if they still have the same name. Same for BioWare, Obsidian, Bethesda, and so on. There are reasons why the Square Enix of 2025 is barely recognizable compared to both the Square and the Enix of 1995.

People basically need to start judging companies and games based on the actual team working on them, and not based on the reputation of people who haven't worked there for decades.

Devs are not inherently better or worse than others just because of where they operate.

EA is infamously shitty with its practices, but there definitely exist Japanese companies that are just as bad (namely Konami).

KalloFox34 posted...

Devs are not inherently better or worse than others just because of where they operate.

EA is infamously shitty with its practices, but there definitely exist Japanese companies that are just as bad (namely Konami).

I'll agree with this.
There's a lot of shit on both sides.
It seems the real connection is once you're big, you automatically become shit.

adjl posted...

In general, "big" developers are so mired in corporate/executive meddling that it's mostly impossible to make broad statements about what they're actually capable of.

While this is true the mismanagement in many cases has also completely saturated their hiring process.

And many Japanese AAA publishers for a while now have been trying to imitate the western publishers in an attempt to chase higher profits, like Square Enix.

That said, it seems like there are more Japanese games from AAA studios with reasonable budgets and reasonable expectations, which means they are less likely to be soulless trend chasing trash.

Reminder that this is about "relatively big" developers. I don't want to arbitrarily draw a line where one dev counts but another doesn't. The very least thing you need to count for this is to be in business selling games (even then I'm sure someone could find a good exception), but that doesn't only count the biggest AAA developers.

Honestly, I was with Phil Fish when he said that Japanese games just suck, I think it's been long enough now I can say that. But also that was back then and I think a lot of Japanese game devs have come a long way.

As an example. MH World had so many baffling design issues like having to join hunts solo, then wait for the cutscene before you could play with your friends but it seems they've actually taken that feedback in Wilds.

And I still don't know how they can keep making final fantasy games (and people keep buying them) that are just long hallways filled with enemies and barely interactive cut scenes. I put like 40-60+ hours into FF7 and FF16 and both times I quit because I was just staring down yet another long-ass hallway filled with enemies.

Not throwing too much shade at FF though because one of my favourite game genres is the DRPG which is dominated by Japanese Devs and that's literally hallways with random enemies.

Damn_Underscore posted...

Reminder that this is about "relatively big" developers. I don't want to arbitrarily draw a line where one dev counts but another doesn't. The very least thing you need to count for this is to be in business selling games (even then I'm sure someone could find a good exception), but that doesn't only count the biggest AAA developers.

The thing is, in the west, the "AA" game is practically dead from the big publishers.

They are almost all either massive AAAs that cost 100 million+, hoping to make a billion in returns (and thus are usually extremely risk averse and trend chasing trash), or indie games from indie studios.

A lot of my favorite games in the past few years have come out of Canadian studios, more than US or JP studios.

josh posted...

Honestly, I was with Phil Fish when he said that Japanese games just suck, I think it's been long enough now I can say that.

I feel like citing Phil Fish to try and defend or support any position is a bold choice.

Sure, he made one game that a lot of people kind of liked, but dude was a melodramatic asshole who threw out quite a few bad takes before he decided to have his nervous breakdown and nope the fuck out. If I'm looking for an auteur to try and use in an appeal to authority, he's probably not the one I'm going to go with.

I can't necessarily provide any objective metrics, but I would say in general Japanese companies have a higher chance of making good games, or rather a lower chance of making bad games. Japan has its Konamis and its Game Freaks, but I feel like there are way worse studios coming from the US and Canada.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I feel like citing Phil Fish to try and defend or support any position is a bold choice.

I used him as an example because he copped a LOT of shit for that either justly or unjustly but at the time I just remember thinking, "he's right tho"