Suda 51: Middle market is key to refreshing Japanese game industry

by JC Fletcher { Jun 23rd 2009 at 8:30PM }

GamesIndustry.biz spoke to No More Heroes/Killer 7 creator Suda 51 at the Nordic Game Conference, and while it may seem like an odd fit to ask the Grasshopper Manufacture head -- who isn't known for big sales numbers -- about marketing, that's exactly what GI did, discussing the slowing Japanese market.

Suda approached the problem from a game design perspective. "Well, there are a lot of core gamers, and a lot of lighter users playing on platforms such as the DS," Suda said, "but there's nothing in-between. I think it's going to be very important for games to be created for that middle audience, and that will help bring the market back on-track."

Responding to a follow-up question about Grasshopper's signature style, Suda named some mass market games with their own distinct styles. "For example, Call of Duty, LittleBigPlanet or BioShock -- you can feel different core elements in each of those games. Burnout Paradise is my favourite [smiles]."

Tags: burnout-paradise, casual, japan, suda-51, suda51

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

sony boy @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:54PM

good point.

i've always wondered what; what kind of name is suda51? it sounds like a band.

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:03PM

his real name is Goichi Suda. In Japanese, "Go" means 5 and "Ichi" means 1

sony boy @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:28PM

that's clever.

Jose @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:04PM

I downloaded some crappy movie based game trailer because it had 51 in the name, and I thought it was his latest unnamed project, anyway, can't get that bandwidth back now :(

So is Suda planning on entering the already crowded racing game market.

Ryan Rigney @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:08PM

You know what OTHER game Suda51 created? "Flower, Sun, and Rain" for the PS2 (and as of recently) the DS. And that game is such a load of flaming crap that I created an account just to warn the world about it. Here's a review of it that I wrote for Cinemablend: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Review-Flower-Sun-and-Rain-18230.html

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:16PM

you fail

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jun 24th 2009 8:16AM

"Okay, so the graphics are terrible, the sound is terrible, the dialogue is just strange"

Wow, shut up. Get out and shut your whore mouth.

madhat @ Jun 24th 2009 10:23AM

Huh. Why was he voted down? Because he's trying to drive traffic to the other site or something? I've never played F, S and R but it has gotten universally poor reviews, so he's not saying anything controversial.

Mr Khan @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:23PM

The lapsed gamer seems to be the bane of their industry, according to recent financial reports from Nintendo. That too many gamers are just losing interest, and it's their primary problem to win them back, before really pursuing anything out in the Blue Ocean, so Suda's not too far off with this.