Usually when a Japanese developer starts talking smack about the gaming industry, it’s DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball creator Tomonobu Itagaki. But after walking the floor at this year’s TGS and seeing Japan’s most recent offerings, it was Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune who had some harsh words for his peers.
In a video posted on Destructoid, Inafune asks the crowd at a Dead Rising 2 event what they thought of this year’s show. After receiving a less than stellar reply, the usually reserved developer gave an emphatic thumbs down, adding via a translator, “When I looked around at all the different games on the TGS event floor, I said ‘Man, Japan is over. We’re done; our game industry is finished.”
It’s worth noting however, that this rebuke was immediately followed by some encouraging words about Capcom’s upcoming games, so Inafune’s doomsday prophecy for Japan’s gaming industry is as much self-promotion as it is honest reflection. That said, we don’t hear too many Japanese developers saying they’re pleased with the state of video games in Japan either…