I blame Microsoft.

Japanese Development is not dead, but just in a stage where it needs to be tweaked. Over the years Japanese development as stayed on a focused path that brought them up high. Once they hit that flat surface on top they did not tweak fast enough to keep climbing. So to answer your question I don't think Japanese Development will ever be dead. With out them we would not have the games we have today and who knows what could happen if they tweaked there style a little bit and then ran with those tweaks. If you think about it Western RPG's like Mass Effect was a tweak and see how that is doing right now. Just saying you know.

A comment, Yay! I only have a second to respond(or else I would give this post some much needed editing) but I think even if that was not a serious response that you might be on to something... at least a little. The rise of the 360 in the west and the failure of the PS3 to hit hard from launch day probably has pushed Japanese development into a weird place. So they develop for the Wii, which requires a re-thinking of the development process and is a landscape where really only Nintendo sees big success? Do they decide to go for the 360 which has a larger base in the west, but has not proven to have the large base for Japanese game loving gamers? Do they develop for the PS3 which is hard to program for and has a smaller base of gamers? I think things might turn around for Japanese development if the PS3 continues to see gains from the price drop, but I think there has to be a widening of scope in Japanese development for them to be able to keep up with the west.

My biggest problem now with Japanese games is that they are developed for Japan and Japan only. Certain concepts, game play mechanics, themes and archetypes are so abundant in Japanese games because they only cater to Japanese audiences. As Westerners, we just bought into those since they were so dominate, but now with the success of Microsoft in the gaming sphere, it has allowed western developers to do their own thing, and not follow the Japanese. Japanese development isn't going to die, just become marginalized until it is second fiddle or innovates itself to recapture our imaginations.

I don't see this problem as being exclusive to Japan. I know that some journalists and game developers claim that this is the case, but I think the problem of a lack of creativity is equally bad in the West. For every derivative game in Japan, there's a derivative FPS. But, despite there being all these too familiar titles in Japan [i]and[/i] the U.S., there's a wealth of creative games still available. Some titles from Japan this generation that deserve attention are: Lost Odyssey, Muramasa, and Valkyria Chronicles. And there are plenty of high quality DS titles.

@ Frank - I was only partially kidding. ;)

I would like to see Japanese devs go about things in two very different ways. For starters keep making very japanese titles like jrpgs but really look in to certain design elements that may be holding back the game like excessive grinding or over complicated menu based combat systems. Tone that stuff down and focus on making the story and immersion of the game better. The other major option they have (that I expect most will attempt) is to basically copy alot of western titles and throw a japanese spin on it, such as that shooter I forget the name of but it basically looks like Gears of War but with shinier armor and abuse of women. lol I would hate to see the Japanese game industry die outright despite the fact most of my games have always been western titles. They do alot of things very uniquely and to lose that style of work would damage the industry as a whole, not just Japan.

Awesome surprise to come to Bitmob today and see this on the main page! As always thanks a ton to Jason for taking the time to brush up this piece. I have been hella busy and had not gotten back to fine tune this entry. You guys rock and always help turn a OK piece into a good one. Thanks! BTW- Demon's Souls is a GOTY contender from my perspective. I do think there are some small problems with it(unclear goals and frustrating level design), but it is one of the best action/rpg games to release in a long time. If any of you reading this have not tried it I highly recommend going out and getting a copy. I am still excited for Dragon Age as well! On topic- I think my experience with Japanese games has been mainly through Nintendo. Something I have thought of since writing this is that they probably do not get enough credit for being Japanese since their games attract such a global base of fans. Before calling Japanese development dead we might want to remember how hugely Nintendo has been winning the console war this generation. Of course as always, the problem with Nintendo is that their success does not always translate into success for other developers. This might be a small part of why Japanese development might be going through a slump now. The only "Japanese" RPG I had ever played until about four years ago was Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast. I liked that game so much that it made skip most turn based RPGs that released after that and so far the ones I have tried have been good, but not as good. The funny thing is that just a few Japanese smash hits could really change the perception of their development. Right now my eyes are firmly on Last Guardian, and I do think that Demon's Souls might sell a lot better than anyone expected off of good word of mouth. I don't think it will be in the top 10 next month, but I do think it will do well enough to warrant a sequel. I hope!

I think Demon's Souls [i]MAY [/i]crack the top 10, but the Last Guardian is going to be great!

I think maybe they should make more FPS titles, I mean, look at MGS, it sold really well, and I also think they should continue on with pre-existing game series if they have new ideas, because that creates a large, loyal fan base, which=success. But I'm not a gaming expert so feel free to flame my comment.

I don't understand the sentiment that most Japanese games are designed to appeal to mainly Japanese gamers. It's true, there's some very odd 'Japanese-only-get-it" titles out there, but it's always been that way. The problem Japan has had for like the last 8-10 years, is a failure to adapt to improving titles (and to a lesser extent, technology), and a sometimes almost chronic commitment to focusing story elements on tired anime cliches. Why is seemingly every RPG from Japan focused on prepubescent/adolescent spikey haired protagonists as the main crew? Remember diverse, awesome casts like FF6? Why does almost every JRPG center on grinding through tedious random battles? This was barely tolerable 15-20 years ago, but now there's not much of excuse. I've got better things to do than to kill flying pigs 50 times to get to level 6, so I won't get my ass slaughtered by a tentacle deer. When was the last time Japan put out a racing game, that wasn't a snore sim like Gran Turismo? Remember those epic Sega arcade racers like Virtua Racer, Daytona 1 + 2 and Super Scud? Arcade-style racing is still a blast, but Burnout and Motorstorm, and some other Western developed titles OWN the genre now. Mega Man and Castlevania, were just two of my favorite Japanese developed platformers, who to this day, have never had one successful game outside 2-D. Isn't it pathetic that no one has figured out how to make these games good in 3-Dimensions? There's a lot more examples across genres to get into where Japan used to succeed and now not so much. But I can't help but thing the failing of Sega, who used to lead and innovate in so many areas, can't have helped but lead to the depression of Japanese development on a number of levels.

I never paid much attention to who made the games I was buying but when I look at my 360 library I only have three games (out of 34) made by Japanese companies. Street Fighter 4, Dead Rising and Onechanbara. Does this mean they're a failing community? I don't think so. I just don't see the 360 as a magnet for unique Japanese development. My PS2 collection is much larger and carries a greater percentage of Japanese titles. I honestly think that if the PS3 didn't have such a slow and failing start this wouldn't be such an issue.

One thing I think Japanese RPGs could offer to attract more gamers would be to offer casual modes that turn 60+ hour grindfest into 20 to 30 hour affairs. I know I might have stuck with Star Ocean if I did not feel like they were padding the game with tons of filler.

I agree, Frank. Developers should definitely give players a way to work around endless battles, because some people play RPGs strictly for the story and character interactions anyway. A lot of people just don't want to commit 40-60 hours to a single game.

I don't think Japanese game development is necessarily dying, it's just retreated to different ground, and you have to wonder if that was really a bad decision. In terms of hardcore console gaming, yes, Japan has conceded to the west. The region hasn't really accepted HD gaming yet. In a way, Cosmo Cohen is right, Microsoft was one of the major catalysts for this. Japan was the leader of console gaming for nearly 20 years. All the successful consoles and their environments were Japanese. Then, American Microsoft comes in with a development environment that seemed geared towards western developers who had been hanging out on the PC ever since the American console crash of 1983. Japan largely wasn't ready for this kind of development environment which allowed PC developers to basically hijack this market. The big Japanese guys like Capcom and SquareEnix have adapted. Both have taken on western development practices like using middleware, and Capcom is doing a pretty good job of appealing specifically to the west. Sega is also trying to come up in this regard. The rest however simply aren't big enough, and have had to retreat to handhelds and the Wii. Is that a bad thing though? The DS, PSP, and Wii are the top-selling consoles all over the world so right there Japanese developers are not only choosing the cheaper development platforms, but also the ones with the largest install base. The only ground Japan has conceded is the one that is populated almost solely with hardcore gamers. All that Japanese creativity isn't gone completely, it's just shifted to the DS and PSP mostly. My game of the show for TGS 09 was [i]Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker[/i] which is doing awesome things with the franchise. [i]Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box[/i] is also the kind of game I'd like to see more of. If you listen to the TGS episodes of Listen Up they talk about how the culture of gaming in Japan has shifted to handhelds. The biggest game is Dragon Quest IX because you can play co-op and trade items with nearby DS owners. the Monster Hunter PSP games seem to have started the trend and now it's being evoked by Metal Gear, [i]Valkyria Chronicles 2[/i], and other portable games with a local co-op focus. This perfectly fits a population that's reportedly congested and always on the move. I've heared that most Japanese internet browsing is done on phones more than actual computers. In that respect I guess a problem with Japan is that they're making too many games only for Japan. None of that stuff I described above would be very successful in the west unless online was involved, and very few Japanese portable games are doing that. What I wanna ask is why more western developers don't make games for handhelds. They're all focused on making games for the most powerful hardware and to an extent that's what you guys seem to be all focused on too. You need to look outside of that. If you wanna talk about Japan finding its place there though, I think it's possible if they just find the right balance. I'll agree that in terms of control interface at least, a lot of Japanese game design is stuck back in the 16-bit era. The general ideas coming out of Japan though in my opinion are still something you can't get anywhere else. What I'd like to see happen is for Japanese developers to closely examine common mechanics behind western games and apply those to their own sense of game design. The west has been taking inspiration from Japan for years. One of the best Japanese examples of that in my opinion is [i]Lost Planet[/i]. It borrows its controls from western shooters but applies them to level design and challenges that feel like something out of Contra. [i]Metal Gear Solid 4[/i] also did a good job of applying common western mechanics to its own franchise, but Hideo Kojima had the benefit of a western producer next to him. Maybe that's what more Japanese developers need. As for JRPGs, imagine a game with the writing and mechanics of [i]Persona 4[/i], but the production values and control interface of [i]Mass Effect[/i].