Summary
ThePlayStation 3launched over 18 years ago now. Despite a tough beginning, the console pioneered online gaming for Sony and launched the company into the high-definition era, becoming thesixth-best-selling home console of all timewith over 87 million units sold.
But, while the console spelled the start of good things forPlayStation, it reportedly had a major knock-on effect on Japanese developers, leaving them to “try to get back to the top of the top of Olympus.”
The PlayStation 3 Left Japanese Devs “Struggling”.
In a Gamescom Asia interview withIGN Japan, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden shared that thePlayStation 1and 2 were ideal for Japanese developers.
He said, “They basically took their experience in the arcade business and translated it into the home, right? That was the selling point. PlayStation 1, Ridge Racer in your house,Tekkenin your house. But the way you develop an arcade experience is completely different from how you develop a console experience. Now, PlayStation 1, they just translated it, and that seemed to be enough, because it was novel.”
Unfortunately for these Japanese studios, that “skill set and expertise didn’t really translate into the console experience.”
“When you got to PS3, and you had the Cell processor, and how do you code for that? And it was no longer an upgraded arcade experience, it was ahigh-end PCexperience you’re offering at home. And I think that’s where the disconnect came for a lot of Japanese developers. And Japanese developers have been struggling ever since to attempt to get back to the top of the top of Olympus,” Layden said.
Japanese developers have been struggling ever since to try to get back to the top of the top of Olympus.
Layden feels that “there’s a lot of legacy, historically super-talented teams that haven’t tasted success for a while and are still struggling to get back to it,” but says, “Capcomis prosecuting that problem fairly directly. I thinkSegafinds itself in a pretty good place.Bandai Namcohas got some refactoring to do.Koei Tecmohas its market, owns that market, and they seem happy with that…How many different versions ofFF7have been made?! Square Enix. I think when they abandoned their overseas developer/publisher ambitions and brought it back to home truths, that was a good move for them.”
The company’s former boss also shared that “It wasn’t necessarily a surprise” that Japan Studio closed down with the studio not having a “hit for a while.” However, he says “Maybe that’s what theTeam Asobithing is. It’s like pruning a bonsai, right? You get it back down to its nub and see if you can grow back out again.”
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