Japanese developers discuss the future of gaming

Famitsu this week has a ten-page feature on the future of games, with commentary provided by some of Japan’s top game creators. Find below some notable excerpts. 

• Hideaki Itsuno (Capcom) – really wants to make a sequel to Dragon’s Dogma, as the first game’s world was about two-thirds the size of what he’d envisioned. And he still has more ideas, like running above enemies and jumping to catch a hold of them. He’d also like to try making a fighting game, he has an idea for something new where your advantages and disadvantages are not decided by your skills and experience.
• Motohide Eshiro (Capcom) – wants to make a belt floor action game. Something with today’s technology, but similar to Final Fight. He thinks that overseas developers do amazing work, but Japanese developers won’t succeed using the same methods. He’d like to focus on new ways to play games.
• Goichi Suda (Grasshopper Manufacture) – Killer is Dead is still in progress. He asks that you please wait a little longer until new information is shared. He thinks nowadays online play is an essential component for gaming, so he’s like to incorporate social elements into his work. He is also planning to launch a new, personal project.
• Kenichi Ogasawara (Tecmo Koei) – wants to make another Warriors pillar to go along with Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. He hopes to make an open-world game. He’s said before that he’d like to make a sequel to Bladestorm, but whether or not that’d be open-world he doesn’t know. He’d like to do trial and error testing to find out how to present battles in an open-world style.
• Yosuke Hayashi (Team Ninja) – the team is working hard to ensure the female fighters’ skin in Dead or Alive 5 give off a soft presentation. (Putting resources to work, I see.) Also, they’re making some moves with the Ninja Gaiden series.
• Keiji Inafune (Comcept) – one of Monster Hunter‘s popular features is that people can play together and team up. He wants to make a game that a billion people can play. (If it reflected society’s part, that is.)
• Naoki Yoshida (Square Enix) – wants to be able to put anything the player can imagine into Final Fantasy XIV. Personally, he’d like to play in Final Fantasy VII‘s Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy XIV.
• Toshihiro Nagoshi (Sega) – says domestic sales are falling overseas, and it’s important that developers break the status quo. He is interested in removing net components, but on the other hand, he’d like to harness the strength of titles with dramatic characteristics. He is persuaded when he sees the free-to-play gaming structure, and thinks that it might be good for an Yakuza online game in the future, however it wouldn’t simply be “Yakuza Online.”
• Masayoshi Kikuchi (Sega Networks) – there is still room for development on social games. He would like to create something free-to-play.
• Keiichiro Toyama (SCE Japan Studio) – Gravity Rush was a major shift from Siren, however, if the players want it, he has a good feeling they’d make a sequel. He would also like to work on a hack-n-slash game.

Thanks, Sokuho@Hokanko.