I would like to hear from these “activists” how burning down a Chinese man’s restaurant and home helps in providing “better education”.
Tell me, oh “moral and good heroes”.
But since we’re on the subject, I have a confession to make.
About 15 years ago, I was having drinks with someone and spent ages passionately explaining the differences between German and Japanese cars.
The whole time, he just kept nodding with this incredibly warm, almost saintly smile. I remember thinking, “Hmm, that’s a strangely patient reaction…”
Turns out, he was an engineer who worked on German cars.
That was the day I personally experienced the Japanese expression “Shaka ni seppō” — literally, “preaching to the Buddha.”
I had basically been teaching the Pope how to pray.
RIP me.
Wait, are you, by any chance, trying to give me a lecture??
You even went so far as to explain some of the technical aspects of game development to me… There are actually quite a few points I could challenge there, but technical arguments tend to become rather unproductive, so I’ll deliberately leave those aside.
Well, how should I put this… Okay, then. Let me address your arguments head-on, not as a matter of personal opinion, but from the perspective of someone who has spent over 31 years working at major game developers and publishers, and offer a few general observations.
I think your interpretation of the facts is somewhat influenced by personal assumptions, possibly due to a lack of firsthand industry experience or a relatively narrow range of information sources.
(1) Oversimplifying the issue as “executives only care about numbers.”
Considering profitability and respecting the passion of creators are not necessarily opposing concepts. (I understand that this might be difficult to reconcile on an emotional level, though.)
(2) Overgeneralizing that the mid-market largely disappeared after 2008.
You’re attributing a complex structural transformation of the market to essentially a single cause.
(3) Citing the success of NieR:Automata while underestimating the importance of the business decisions and financing that made that success possible in the first place.
(Incidentally, Yoko Taro-san, like me, is a former Namco employee.)
(4) Treating “the passion of fans” and “corporate business decisions” as fundamentally opposing forces.
Even to continue delivering the games that fans want, a business needs to remain economically sustainable.
That said, I did notice that you explicitly qualified your argument with “from an outsider’s perspective,” so I understand that you’re at least aware that you’re commenting on the industry’s internal workings without actually having firsthand knowledge of them.