Smash Bros creator Sakurai says Japanese developers should avoid creating "Americanized" games

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Nintendo's iconic Super Smash Bros. and Kirby franchises, believes that Japanese developers should focus on their own domestic audience rather than Western tastes when creating games.

The details:

• In a recent interview with Entax (via Automaton), Sakurai shared that he believes Japanese studios should focus on domestic tastes rather than attempting to appeal to a Western audience in order to keep the country's gaming industry growing. “It’s not really my own idea, but as an industry trend, I think Japanese people should keep pursuing the things that Japanese people like,” he said.

• The designer went on to explain that Western fans prefer to buy games developed in Japan because of their "uniqueness and fun," rather than play something tailored specifically to them. He noted that the trend of "making Americanized works" was popular in the past, following the international success of Japanese IPs, and led to a "culture of following de facto standards."

• However, Sakurai states that it is vital for developers to "do things freely" when creating new titles, and that his perspective of view is simply an opinion. He also stated that if studios "make games the way [they] like," players will enjoy the experience if they like various elements of the game.

• Sakurai previously stated in an interview with Nikkei that, like toys, games are frequently developed with a specific audience in mind, even if the creators themselves do not belong to that group. NES classic Kirby's Dreamland, for example, was designed with a younger audience in mind, despite the fact that Sakurai was older and more experienced.

More gaming news:

• PlayStation has opened a new studio, Dark Outlaw Games, led by former Treyarch veteran and Call of Duty Zombies creator Jason Blundell.

• PowerWash Simulator 2 will be released later this year across PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.