Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai was recently awarded the Art Encouragement Prize from the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs for his remarkable achievement with the 'Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games' YouTube channel.
As part of that, he conducted an interview with Entax (thanks, Automaton) in which he stressed a need for Japanese developers to focus on creating games with domestic appeal rather than trying to cater to Western tastes.
When asked how Japan can keep up with booming gaming markets in regions such as China, Sakurai simply stated “It’s not really my own idea, but as an industry trend, I think Japanese people should keep pursuing the things that Japanese people like".
He goes on to say that the success of Japanese games in the West had led many teams in the region to join a growing trend of "making Americanised works". However, he doesn't necessarily believe that Western gamers are looking for this, stating "I think that they seek the uniqueness and fun of Japanese games".
His comment comes at an interesting time for Silent Hill fans, of all people. Though not relevant for the Switch, as such (maybe the Switch 2, though..?), the recent transmission broadcast for Silent Hill f highlighted a desire to bring the series back to its Japanese roots, with series producer Motoi Okamoto stating "As [Silent Hill] was based in the West for the longest time, it felt like the Japanese influence was fading". As such, the latest entry will be the first to take place solely in Japan.
Masahiro Sakurai stressed that his opinion is just one way of looking at the topic, but we think it's a pretty sound approach. We love Japanese games here at Nintendo Life because they're so distinctly Japanese, and we wouldn't have it any other way.