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Square-Enix discusses JRPG popularity in the states, potential remakes

by rawmeatcowboy
18 June 2015
GN Version 5.0

A portion of a GamesBeat interview with Square-Enix's Yosuke Masuda...

GamesBeat: What observations would you have about Japanese RPGs finding a home in the west? Why is that happening lately? Is it the particular games coming out? Is there are more global taste developing among gamers?

Masuda: Going back to the last generation of games, a lot of Japanese publishers were a bit too cautious about the Western style of gaming, or Western games in general. Because they were so conscious about that when creating their own games, that could have factored into those types of games not doing as well. But it’s very important for us to draw on the uniqueness of our creators, draw on their strength. By doing so we’ll be able to create more appealing games. Rather than copying what others are doing, we’re focusing on what our creators want to make, what they believe in. Those all factor into creating better products. In that sense, with Square Enix and our creators, we believe we’ll be able create more appealing RPGs. As you saw at our conference, we have a large variety of games in our lineup — in the West and in Japan as well. We have a great variety of interesting games. We believe we’re becoming a publisher with a very interesting position in the industry.

GamesBeat: Does that give you any dilemma about doing remakes as opposed to doing brand new Final Fantasy games?

Masuda: Regarding remakes, we’ll look into doing them if there is consumer demand. That said, at our core is creating new Final Fantasy games. The core value of Final Fantasy is to continue to test the limits and create unique new experiences that exceed the previous titles. That’s where we’re at with the brand. That’s always at the base of it. Final Fantasy VII was a special case, in light of that core value.

Full interview here