Aim For the Head! Katamari Creator Calls Japan ‘A Zombie That Won’t Die’
Matthew Lee November 23, 2010 - 9:10 pm
You thought Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi was done being upset with the state of Japan’s games industry? You thought wrong, apparently. Develop have noticed the designer gave an interview with UK magazine GamesTM where among other things he criticised the state of his domestic market, likening it to ‘a zombie that needs to die’.
Takahashi being smart as well as (possibly) crazy, he threw in a few very pertinent observations:
When we go down, we see new technology like PlayStation Move and things pick up a bit. We never hit rock-bottom, and it’s like a zombie that never dies. It needs an injection of life
So, you know, maybe some of those people who complain about motion controls might have a point? I mean, you could certainly argue the vast majority of the time, developers haven’t used them for anything new.
We did point out on BeefJack a little while ago Takahashi left Namco with some fairly harsh words about his former bosses and the industry in general. He’s currently working with his wife as part of a new studio, Uvula, though he’s not announced any new ideas to do with videogames yet, and may not for some time.
Comments (3)
It’s always great to want to do new / different things but unfortunately can be a lot tougher to do if you burn bridges along the way. People in the industry talk and, there are dos and don’ts of how to approach things. While in the heat of the moment or at the time you’re worked up about something it’s easy to lose sight of that. While I don’t disagree with points he has made, I don’t particular care with his method of voicing his thoughts. There is a more professional way to handle things in my opinion. Using bad mouthing anyone else in the industry which you want to be part of does not make things easy and, has never been my top choice of how to handle things.
Beware the press quoting out of context…
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31579/Opinion_Hecker_On_Me_And_The_Wii.php
“I don’t know what the solution is here. It is completely obvious to me now why most developers are not allowed to speak to the press, and why most people who do speak to the press don’t actually say anything interesting or subtle. This is the situation we are in now, and I think it’s going to take the cooperation of both press and developers to get out of it.
Developers do not trust the press, and why should they? My experience over the years is certainly evidence that trusting the press is risky. At the same time, because of this lack of trust, the press never gets any intrinsically interesting information from developers, and so they feel forced to amplify the controversial aspects of any story. Someone is going to have to take their finger off the trigger first.”
Not sure why you’re applying that here. Takahashi gave an interview, the same quote appeared in several different places, he’s said several things like this before, he was very uncomplimentary towards Namco even before he left, he’s never complained about being misquoted over any of it. He doesn’t like the games industry, he doesn’t feel he should mince his words and in between the rambling he’s saying some perceptive, intelligent things. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.