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Level-5 on 15 years, making Fantasy Life a million-selling franchise, new consoles and more

by rawmeatcowboy
29 May 2013
GN Version 4.0
The following comes from Akihiro Hino, CEO of Level-5...

On 15 years of Level-5

"To be honest, it doesn't really feel like it's our 15th anniversary. I feel like we established this just a few years ago. Recently some of our newer staff have been telling me 'I played Level-5's games when I was a kid,' and I replied 'When you were a kid?!'.

On Fantasy Life

"For me, Fantasy Life is a title I'm really glad we were able to make. Development on it was difficult and time-consuming, but seeing it be appreciated by everyone gives us the confidence to try creating new things. I'd like to see Fantasy Life grow into a series we can sell a million copies of [in Japan]; I think it's one of the bigger success stories in our drive to take on new challenges, so I'd like to have the courage to connect it to the next thing."

On tackling the industry in 2013

"We'll deal with the changes the game industry has seen in our own style. Right now, there's a huge wave of smartphone software, and instead of just accommodating for that, we want to seriously tackle it in a way only we can. We created Layton for the people who bought a Nintendo DS for Brain Age but had nothing to play after that, and I feel like the people playing puzzle games and such on smartphones right now are pretty similar to those DS owners who only played Brain Age."

On working with new consoles

"I've thought about it a fair amount, but for now, I don't see anything concrete that we have to do on the new systems. Ultimately, it's the gamers who pursue what they want to play next. I'm sure that, within a year from now, what gamers want from the new systems will start to match up with what drives us to create, and we have preparations at hand to move once that happens.

Things like pretty graphics and social features are going to be standard-issue. Beyond that, the key lies in what new thing you can do with these new systems. I'm looking forward to seeing how technology advances — maybe you'll see game characters that have real memories and can play out a full, realistic simulation of their lives. I think that having the ability to make new things happens is what motivates creators to build new things."

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