Platinum Games: Japanese games companies have lost their vigour

News - Platinum hopes to lead a Japanese revival

In an open letter to the gaming world, Platinum Games president and CEO Tatsuya Minami has expressed sadness over the ailing state of the Japanese games industry.

Minami bemoaned the lack of originality in Japanese games of the moment and emphatically stated that he hopes to guide Platinum to become "The Japanese Standard Bearer in Global Competition".

The studio is already well on its way to gaining the title with titles like Vanquish and Bayonetta under their belts as well as the commercially under-appreciated mature Wii title Mad World.

Minami wrote: "I believe that games exist to offer fresh surprises to those who play them. As members of the games business, we have always pursued the creation of the new, and we take pride in doing our part to support our industry. However, the current games business is struggling. The "fresh surprises" I mention are becoming few and far between, especially in our home of Japan. Not so long ago, Japan lead the world's games business, and it was not a stretch to call games a uniquely Japanese specialty; however, now it appears that Japanese games companies have lost their vigour."

Series grow ever-longer; original titles are on the decline. Games with new at their core are disappearing. Japanese games that garner worldwide acclaim are slipping away. This state of affairs deeply saddens us. When we turn this mirror on ourselves, I feel it is fair to say that PlatinumGames is currently one of the very few healthy Japanese games companies. I also came to realize that we must now consider our work in creating games to be that of a mandate."

Read Minami's full open letter on the Platinum Games blog.