Less than a decade ago, Japan was a tour de force in gaming- two of the three major consoles came from Japan, all the best developers were Japanese, and as a result, all the best games were also Japanese. Today, the situation is very different- Japanese developers are in disarray, leaving console and handheld gaming for greener pastures in mobile gaming, or leaving gaming altogether, and while two of the three console makers are still Japanese, the one that has found success has found it by emulating the Xbox 360’s decidedly western aesthetic, while the Japanese, quirky one has been left struggling for relevance.
Apparently, however, Sony is not happy with the state of the Japanese market as it stands- it hopes to revive it, and then to conquer the revived market. Speaking to Eurogamer, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida said, “PS4 has amazing sales, it’s selling very well outside Japan because there are amazing games made from outside Japan. It’s only this year that, with Dragon Quest Heroes and Bloodborne and Final Fantasy Type 0 and Yakuza, Japanese publishers finally started to make games on PS4 and PS4 is showing some upward swing in Japan. So definitely, Final Fantasy 7 and 15 and Dragon Quest Heroes 2, these games will help.” He also confirmed that the Final Fantasy 7 remake was a ploy to get Japan on board with console gaming again.
Will it help? The industry certainly needs a strong Japan, and between Sony with PS4, and Nintendo with whatever ploy they have in mind with the NX, I suspect we may yet see a Japanese resurgence.