Support NeoGAF

[SmokedMeat]

Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal
Metro Exodus
Baldurs Gate 3
Witcher 3

Lot of big AAA Western games ignored or forgotten about. Way too much focus on the Ubisofts and EA’s who don’t make up all of Western AAA.

This Gen? Yeah, Japan’s been killing it. Western AAA developers haven’t had the consistency not the same number of quality games.

 

[Saturn Dragon]

Stellar Blade (Korea) and Wukong (China) are great, but it will take a hell of a lot more for them to compete with Japan.

Stellar Blade was published by Sony btw.

Isn't the upcoming Phantom Blade Zero chinese too?
As long they keep with that quality, the will be ok.
Sure, not on par with japanese top productions, but still better than most crap we get from the west.

 

[Silver Wattle]

Enjoy it while it lasts, the stupid executives are hiring the western DEI activist companies to advise them on how to modernize their games for the modern western audience.

 

[Codes 208]

Honestly for me its a toss up between the big N, Capricom and Bandai

 

[Kataploom]

They always do for me, but ok

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal
Metro Exodus
Baldurs Gate 3
Witcher 3

Lot of big AAA Western games ignored or forgotten about. Way too much focus on the Ubisofts and EA’s who don’t make up all of Western AAA.

This Gen? Yeah, Japan’s been killing it. Western AAA developers haven’t had the consistency not the same number of quality games.

I haven't forgotten them; when western studios want to make a great game, they absolutely can. It's just a shame about the rest of the trash that gets sent out there to die for reasons I don't understand.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal
Metro Exodus
Baldurs Gate 3
Witcher 3

Lot of big AAA Western games ignored or forgotten about. Way too much focus on the Ubisofts and EA’s who don’t make up all of Western AAA.

This Gen? Yeah, Japan’s been killing it. Western AAA developers haven’t had the consistency not the same number of quality games.

youre not wrong but the only game on that list from this gen is BG3. i have enjoyed a some western AAA games this gen like Moron Kombat 1, Starfield, and Diablo 4 but even those have been divisive. western indies have been very good tho. balatro tickled my undercarriage in a way few games have in recent years.

 

[NikuNashi]

Just skimming through the top Metacritic games from this year and, apart from indies who are doing great too, it’s completely dominated by Japanese publishers, many of which have been in the industry since the 80s

Here’s a sample of some of the fantastic games we’ve gotten from Japanese publishers this year…


Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (Bandai Namco) - 94

AstroBot (Sony) - 94

Metaphor: Refantasio (Sega/Atlus) - 94

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (SquareEnix) - 94

Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco) - 90

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Sega) - 89

Unicorn Overlord (Sega) - 89

Castlevania Domino’s Collection (Konami) - 89

Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door (Nintendo) - 89

Silent Hill 2 (Konami) - 87


While there’s been so much doom and gloom about the industry of late thanks to the lack of great titles by the likes of Ubisoft, EA, Activision, Microsoft, Bethesda and others, can we all just stop and take a second to celebrate the great things coming out of Japan this past few years and how they’ve turned it around since the PS3/360 generation?

I’ll certainly be raising a glass to them for carrying the industry

Rebirth got 92

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Japan is strong, but the grosser differential right now is largely due to the west falling off a cliff as DEI danger hairs have infiltrated and subverted gaming the same way as other industries and institutions.

Even when you're trying to make the most fun game possible it's hard to successfully pull that off, so many things can go wrong.

But making the most fun game you can is just not the primary goal in the west anymore, it's quite shocking to hear the anti-customer mentality and rhetoric these people often express, or it would be if it wasn't current year. And even when a developer does want to focus on excellence, swelling HR-like forces keep placing more and more barriers to crush that creativity.

 

[ArtHands]

Your sample is missing the GOTY: Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island.

That's because OP's exposure is mostly limited to Playstation games.

 

[NanaMiku]

I count Nintendo as kind of its own thing, but it's gotta be Bandai.

I'm triggered when people mention Bamco as Bandai only. Namco is the good part. Bandai is the bad part.

 

[simpatico]

I'm triggered when people mention Bamco as Bandai only. Namco is the good part. Bandai is the bad part.

Bandai is the Bandai part

 

[nial]

That's because OP's exposure is mostly limited to Playstation games.

Which is why Nintendo gets mentioned, right...
You've been acting weird recently ArtHands, I think you should stick to your LARPing as a PlayStation fanboy.

 

[nial]

I'm triggered when people mention Bamco as Bandai only. Namco is the good part. Bandai is the bad part.

It gets me when people call Nioh a Koei game, it just does not feel right.

 

[NanaMiku]

It gets me when people call Nioh a Koei game, it just does not feel right.

WTF it's clearly made by Team Ninja, which is from Tecmo side.

Bandai is the Bandai part

 

[Kotaro]

Except that Sony is 99% American and 1% Japanese, so they don’t count

 

[dragonyeuw]

I wonder what the difference is between them and western developers?

I'm guessing the underlying intentions. Eastern developers are more concerned with the actual artistic value, the craftsmanship and quality. Western developers clearly focus on what makes for the most profitable endeavor and builds from there. Plus stuffing their gamss with agendas and identity politics.

It's also why I find alot of Korean movies more interesting than Western movies nowadays. They'll typically devoid of trying to beat the audience over the head with whatever 'modern' morality the western studios think will earn then a fanbase and money.

 

[{insert code here}]

Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal
Metro Exodus
Baldurs Gate 3
Witcher 3

Lot of big AAA Western games ignored or forgotten about. Way too much focus on the Ubisofts and EA’s who don’t make up all of Western AAA.

This Gen? Yeah, Japan’s been killing it. Western AAA developers haven’t had the consistency not the same number of quality games.

100 percent. JP is killing it but I'm a bit more excited to see what comes out of SK and China after what those folks did with Stellar Blade and Wukong. There's a lot more juice to be squeezed from those melons. Western AAA is cooked, maybe 1-2 great games per year is all I expect from them nowadays. GTA VI, Doom TDA and Judas are the only Western AAA games I'm looking forward to next year.

 

[Stu_Hart]

This year has been very dry, that's why. There were tons of great western games last year. Japan doesn't even care much about console gaming aside from a few devs, but they have western studios as well like capcom. Games like FF7 rebirth and astrobot would get lost in the sea of great games last year. They are in the spotlight this year because it is so dry, and yet FF7 rebirth sold poorly...

 

[Kacho]

Capcom has been crushing it for years and next year is going to be even better

 

[TropicanaTwista]

Balatro is better than anything Japan has put out this gen though

 

[bundylove]

Looks like competition is not between consoles anymore rather between eastern and western developers.
Good

 

[Represent.]

No they aren't.

 

[ap_puff]

Asian devs just have superior taste. China and Korea are up and coming as well.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Space Marine 2 is amazing and my personal GOTY and GTA VI will bring the Western games back to number one. After that a nice Elder Scrolls VI will secure it long enough for Fallout 5 to come and keep the power going.

 

[nikolino840]

Not really ... in the West there's less mobile less blockchain and less nfts if you look japanese gaming websites https://www.4gamer.net/

AUTOMATON | オートマトンは日本・海外のゲーム情報サイト。ニュースやレビューを発信中

AUTOMATON（オートマトン）は、意見を誠実に伝えることを目指すビデオゲームWebメディアです。インディーからAAAタイトルまで、日本・海外を問わず、ニュースやレビュー、コラムなど、ライターの意見を載せたゲーム情報を配信しています。

automaton-media.com

 

[Danjin44]

This year has been very dry, that's why. There were tons of great western games last year. Japan doesn't even care much about console gaming aside from a few devs, but they have western studios as well like capcom. Games like FF7 rebirth and astrobot would get lost in the sea of great games last year. They are in the spotlight this year because it is so dry, and yet FF7 rebirth sold poorly...

For who? Because this year have been getting great games I'm getting back to back, it was opposite dry for me even after Metaphor comes out I still have DQ3 2D-HD to look forward to.

The only reason someone think this year was "dry" if all they play is western games.

 

[Stu_Hart]

For who? Because this year have been getting great games I'm getting back to back, it was opposite dry for me even after Metaphor comes out I still have DQ3 2D-HD to look forward to.

The only reason someone think this year was "dry" if all they play is western games.

Ohhhh, someone is butthurt, admitted that they don't care about western games this gen and think that I only play western games just because of a comment that I made, and it is a fact that this year is dry compared to last year. The games that you mention would get lost in the mix if it were to be released last year, understood? Last year had bangers after bangers from all developers. This gen as a whole is a slow gen. Cry more.

 

[Kotaro]

Prolly best to just say Asian developers and add Stellar Blade, Wukong, etc. The list is overwhelming compared to west.

Yup, can’t leave out Korea and China anymore, their success rate for relatively newcomers is amazing, Lies of P, Stellar Blade, Wukong,

and many more are coming

 

[EDMIX]

Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal
Metro Exodus
Baldurs Gate 3
Witcher 3

Lot of big AAA Western games ignored or forgotten about. Way too much focus on the Ubisofts and EA’s who don’t make up all of Western AAA.

This Gen? Yeah, Japan’s been killing it. Western AAA developers haven’t had the consistency not the same number of quality games.

True, I agree but even more so the bias is so extreme regarding this the same criticism being applied to those publishers is being completely ignored regarding other publishers like Capcom

Like questioning remakes and remasters from the West as some argument of something not being innovative

And then praising Resident Evil 4 silent Hill 2 and metal gear solid 3 remake

Then questioning a lot of the titles that get released by Electronic Arts or Ubisoft

Only to conveniently Ignore the release of the yakuza series releasing multiple games on the same map using the same assets almost on a yearly basis lol


So I think the biggest problem with the criticism from the West is that the same fucking people making these type comments seem to conveniently desperately tried to ignore the publishers that are doing this from the East

I would argue there's probably more evidence of them doing this to a far higher degree then studios from the West.

So in regards to consistency it generally depends on who specifically you're talking about, Because you have some publishers that are open to making multiple releases to reuse the same engine like you see with Electronic Arts or Ubisoft, Or even with the new ghost of yotei reveal But then you have publishers that are willing to take longer for their releases like Rockstar or Naughty Dog


But that's no different than the amount of time it takes for square to put out a major final fantasy Or how long in between Kingdom Hearts Or even dragon quest titles

So the way I look at it is very convenient for people to try to spam Capcom or Sega but that's just as convenient as the West spamming Electronic Arts and Ubisoft let's stop trying to pretend as if these are the only publishers in gaming to force some narrative folks lol

Don't get me wrong, I love game from the east as majority of my purchases this year have been from games from the east, but a massive fucking pass is given to them using the same engine to the point of people going OUT OF THEIR WAY to pretend its ok, normal, yet same individuals are calling other publishers who do this "lazy" or "reskin" or "copy and paste" etc

 

[EDMIX]

For who? Because this year have been getting great games I'm getting back to back, it was opposite dry for me even after Metaphor comes out I still have DQ3 2D-HD to look forward to.

The only reason someone think this year was "dry" if all they play is western games.

Because assassin's creed shadows and Kingdom Come deliverance 2 got delayed to next year I would argue a lot of people who were interested in those games could definitely feel this year is not as good as it could have been if they're playing Western games but that is merely based on the perspective of what games someone might be interested in

So as somebody that plays pretty much any game as I've never limited myself based on region or anything strange like this I could definitely say the only reason I would say Japan would be doing better from my own perspective is because of the list of titles that were delayed to next year.....

Even the whole remake remaster thing is funny as most of the remakes and remasters I got this year are from Japan lol


Got Persona 3 remake, SMTV remaster, got MGS3 remake pre-ordered same with the Dragon Quest remake and might end up getting the Silent Hill 2 remake

I think people force a lot of odd criticisms for the west that they seem ot ignore for the east. We got some flops by both, some hits by both, remakes and remasters by both, all of this is up to the user's personal taste.

Stu_Hart lol I agree and I"m buying those games lol With releases like GTAVI next year, this will overshadow every fucking release regardless of region

 

[IAmRei]

If i can choose more than one:

- Nintendo
- Sega Atlus
- Capcom
- Koei Tecmo
- Bandai Namco
- From software
- Also even Square Enix in some forms

There are also smaller company returns, i saw them in TGS this year:
- Jaleco
- MOSS
- Natsume Atari

I'm glad Japan game companies still survive and rising after some heavy situation in HD era back then.

 

[Danjin44]

So as somebody that plays pretty much any game as I've never limited myself based on region or anything strange like this I could definitely say the only reason I would say Japan would be doing better from my own perspective is because of the list of titles that were delayed to next year.....

For me it just matter western games just no longer appeals to me, I'm looking at this year and even next year and just none of them interests me......maybe just me issue but I cant think one I'm willing to play.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Western development is working like it has always been.

Japan is seeing a bit of resurgence after a slump.

It will be a challenge for Japanese since most of their games while good, are new to the market. They can keep making them if market responds well to them.

Also, would like to see some big, technical juggernauts from Japan. Monster Hunter Wilds might fit the bill. Lets see.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I wonder what the difference is between them and western developers?

Apart from what you want to imply it is probably also two important things:

1. Constantly perfecting the formula that got them popular e.g. From Soft
2. Having the same core team for many years

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Capcom has been crushing it for years and next year is going to be even better

I’m incredibly hyped for Pragmata and know nothing about it

 

[Team Andromeda]

Focus has been the best for me over the last couple of years. Capcom have been amazing mind

 

[leonokarin]

Capcom has been doing a good job for these years

 

[leonokarin]

Mihoyo is the most successful gaming studio right now, above Rockstar. They are doing more than "compete". There are more studios transitioning from AAA gachas to console/PC. The advantage of China is that they have much more money and the talent pool is huge.

Another excellent ones from Korea are Neowiz (Lies of Pi) and Pearl Abyss, creators of the next banger: Crimson Dessert.

The West is losing flagship studios left and right. Right now it's carried by PS Studios (which must transition to new IPs), Rockstar and CD Projekt. The situation at Microsoft, Ubisoft, and EA is just embarrassing.

Fuck Genshin, fuck mihoyo

 

[Bridges]

Not only do I agree, but I would argue that this was the case last gen as well. Japanese devs/publishers still seem to have creativity and bring new exciting ideas to the table. Western game dev has gotten so iterative, even when it's good (which, in fairness, it often is) it too often feels like a repackaging of what came before.

Nintendo, Sega, Capcom and Square have saved us from the worst gen in my lifetime, imo.

 

[keefged4]

Japanese publishers put the west to shame every generation*​

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Not only do I agree, but I would argue that this was the case last gen as well. Japanese devs/publishers still seem to have creativity and bring new exciting ideas to the table. Western game dev has gotten so iterative, even when it's good (which, in fairness, it often is) it too often feels like a repackaging of what came before.

Nintendo, Sega, Capcom and Square have saved us from the worst gen in my lifetime, imo.

The comeback seemed to start in 2017.

Persona 5
Nioh
Nier Automata
Resident Evil 7

Not to mention Nintendo’s excellent first year Switch titles.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

I voted Sony and also wanted to vote Nintendo, SEGA Atlus, and Capcom.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

They've made a big comeback, but it's not all roses. Western gaming is hell bent on stagnation, if not outright suicide, and that plays a big part in our current perception of the market.

But Japanese games are themselves stagnating in their own tropes, when they're not actively mimicking western games and tropes. Their variety is a fraction of what it was two generations ago, and they've doubled down on remasters, remakes, sequels and known IPs too. Plus, the tech gap with the biggest western AAAs is still huge, and PC support is patchy. They'd also push gacha and similar shit much more if they hadn't realised the hard way that overseas audiences don't like that stuff.

I'll always prefer a Japanese over-the-top character design to the purple-haloed dev self-inserts that you find in the typical western game these days, but the first is not always objectively good. And while your average movie-game plot and dialogue can be max cringe, the pseudo-philosophical babble and the extreme redundancy of Japanese writing and acting isn't necessarily better. On average, I prefer Japanese games because they're less safe, less predictable, more original, and less preachy than western games. But I've dropped more than a few Japanese games these last years.

 

[yanhash]

Western devs are political activists, Eastern devs are creative entertainers

 

[Punished Miku]

True, I agree but even more so the bias is so extreme regarding this the same criticism being applied to those publishers is being completely ignored regarding other publishers like Capcom

Like questioning remakes and remasters from the West as some argument of something not being innovative

And then praising Resident Evil 4 silent Hill 2 and metal gear solid 3 remake

Then questioning a lot of the titles that get released by Electronic Arts or Ubisoft

Only to conveniently Ignore the release of the yakuza series releasing multiple games on the same map using the same assets almost on a yearly basis lol


So I think the biggest problem with the criticism from the West is that the same fucking people making these type comments seem to conveniently desperately tried to ignore the publishers that are doing this from the East

I would argue there's probably more evidence of them doing this to a far higher degree then studios from the West.

So in regards to consistency it generally depends on who specifically you're talking about, Because you have some publishers that are open to making multiple releases to reuse the same engine like you see with Electronic Arts or Ubisoft, Or even with the new ghost of yotei reveal But then you have publishers that are willing to take longer for their releases like Rockstar or Naughty Dog


But that's no different than the amount of time it takes for square to put out a major final fantasy Or how long in between Kingdom Hearts Or even dragon quest titles

So the way I look at it is very convenient for people to try to spam Capcom or Sega but that's just as convenient as the West spamming Electronic Arts and Ubisoft let's stop trying to pretend as if these are the only publishers in gaming to force some narrative folks lol

Don't get me wrong, I love game from the east as majority of my purchases this year have been from games from the east, but a massive fucking pass is given to them using the same engine to the point of people going OUT OF THEIR WAY to pretend its ok, normal, yet same individuals are calling other publishers who do this "lazy" or "reskin" or "copy and paste" etc

100%. I think Japanese games are usually a lot of fun, but they've never been more boring and safe lately. And those are the ones getting most of the high scores. Capcom has literally just put out remakes and rereleases almost the entire generation, with the exception of Exoprimal and Kunitsu-Gami, which virtually everyone on here completely ignored. It warms my heart to see Sega finding success, but it couldn't be a more predictable and derivative format of releases from them. Elden Ring, again literally just the same thing over and over. FFVII is pushing new ground in multiple ways for SQEX so I'm happy for them, but again, a slow motion triple remake.

Including Silent Hill 2 in this OP is strange, because Bloober highlights exactly what most people are missing in western gaming. The Medium was good, had great voice acting, an interesting story, good graphics with 2 dimension world changing on the screen in split-screen which was innovative. Layers of Fear was good and barely noticed here at all. But they make a remake and finally are seeing some success. You'd be hard pressed to find any Japanese developer that could put out anything looking that good on Unreal 5 right now, and Bloober is a barely emerging AAA developer.

Everyone also has to ignore virtually every small "indie" game of the entire generation as well, since most of it is from the west. Annapurna, Devolver Digital almost exclusively put out western games. Underground success from developers like Teyon putting out Robocop, or Saber putting out Space Marine 2 are again highlighting developers that were about on par with Bloober in the AA+ area, all continuing to get better each release. Everyone on here has to ignore anything from MS, but they're basically the top western publisher now and have had really solid output the whole generation. Halo, Pentiment, Psychonauts 2, Forza H5, Forza M, Hellblade 2, Starfield, Age of Mythology. Doom, Indiana Jones, and Avowed right around the corner. Fable next year. Stalker 2 literally is next month. Kingdom Come 2 in February. I can't think of any Japanese publisher that is putting anything out on par with Kingdom Come 2 from the looks of it, and they're not even a big developer.

The list goes on and on. The 2 best shmups I played this gen so far were from the west and came out this year; CYGNI and Valfaris: Mecha Therion. Best puzzle game I played this year so far was Botany Manor from the west. Best Metroidvania for the year is likely Prince of Persia. I'm still playing Shattered Space, and it's basically just more Starfield but it's well done. I played Metaphor's demo as well, and the idea that Starfield is a 55 while Metaphor is a 94 is just laughable to me. There are single rooms in Starfield with more asset detail than you'll find in all of Metaphor. There's great side quests and fun combat. Great OST. Solid voice acting. Giant areas with extremely minimal loading in comparison to Metaphor. I went through Lamplighter's League earlier this year, and it's probably my 2nd favorite SRPG of all time, and it got totally nuked in reviews, while trash like Persona 5 Tactica sits at a 74. The amount of artistry, sophistication and complexity in Lamplighter's League makes Persona 5 Tactica look like an insult, but they sit around the same score. Don't even get me started on The Ascent. No one can ever make that score make sense considering it's one of the best top down shooters ever made, and a new cyberpunk IP with great lore and looked shockingly good and launched for barely $20.

This thread is the same circle jerk that's been happening since the end of the PS4 era. Liking Japanese games of course makes sense since many are amazing, but the constant need to pit east vs west like this is nauseating and just shows how limited most people's taste is on here.

 

[lordrand11]

I wonder what the difference is between them and western developers?

Remakes and Remasters of older content from the looks of it

Don't get me wrong, seeing some of my favorite games from the past get the beautification treatment has been a treat!

 

[W11d]

Sony is no longer Japanese...
At least not their gaming division.

Sony is global

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

It's between Sega and Squeenix for me but I'll go with the latter just because of their great AA output they've had these past couple of years:

• NEO: The World Ends with You
• Star Ocean: The Second Story R
• Octopath Traveler 2
• Live a Live HD-2D
• Triangle Strategy
• Nier Replicant
• PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

 

[Danny22]

CD projekt, Larian, Bloober, Metro devs are all European.

Europe (and esp Eastern Europe) is more than capable of producing high quality games and they often do, the further they are from America (physically and culturally), the higher the chance of that happening.

I would argue that when NeoGaf says 'Western' and the complaints for them, they're mostly talking about America. The grievances they mention are either from America or by countries heavily influenced by divisive American culture wars. The root cause of every forum's standard of conversation declining to the point where it become 'woke vs anti-woke' is that country and its culture wars. Rich superpower of the world pumping out preachy entertainment.

And the second reason is salary. America's salary have simply not kept in line with how 'premium' 70 dollar games are modeled so the big companies chase live services based on corporate models and you'll notice that live service hits often came from games that weren't expected to be such big live service hits. It's hard to focus test and release live service games and make them predictable hits.