Western gaming VS. Japanese gaming: What’s the difference?

[In the first part of a three-part series, we explore the cultural differences between western and Japanese gaming.]

When you walk into a game store and browse through the selection of games available, I’m sure you don’t stare at them and think “Hmm, this one must have been made in Japan.” No, often times we’ll ignore the background of these games and buy them for their content, which is great. However, in a world filled with cultural differences and varied entertainment, it’s not at all hard to pick out the western games from the eastern games. Why is this, you’re wondering?

Well, think for a second about the kind of games you enjoy playing. Are they violent, bloody shooters with super hero style characters? Or, are they stylistic role-playing games with flashy environments, colorful extravagant characters, and detailed storylines? Surely, I don’t need to further explain which category these two types of games belong in, you can probably figure that out by yourself. The real question here is, why are these two cultures so vastly different, and why do they affect our games?

Japan is, to say the least, an isolated island nation. After all, they lived on their own with little knowledge of the western world prior to imperialism in the 19th century. With such independence, it’s not all that puzzling as to why their culture is so unique. They thrive off of eccentric manga and anime, flashy lights and imagery, and relatable storytelling. With video games, this is no different. Ultimately, how could a game developer possibly explore outside of these common interests if they know that these characteristics will allow their game to sell? At the same time, by doing this, Japanese developers are limiting the audience of their game. Out of all of the available games in Japan, it’s not surprising that only a fraction of them are actually released outside of the market. It’s merely common sense that Americans and Europeans won’t have the same reaction to a dating sim or training game that a typical Japanese gamer would have. Casual gaming is the norm in a nation like Japan, but in strong capitalist nations like the United States gamers search for more, a game with exploration or a game that allows them the freedom and independence that they experience in their everyday lifestyle.

Western games often times tend to stick with the trends. You’ll notice that there is rarely one consistent genre that remains popular outside of Japan. Platformers were huge a decade ago, as were action adventure games, but today the platforming genre lives on almost solely through our beloved portable platforms, while shooters in particular flourish. The same can’t be said in a nation such as Japan, where their gaming trends tend to remain the same, which makes them less open to the genres and innovations of the western world. A perfect example, to put things into perspective for portable gamers such as ourselves, is to take a look at Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. Seeing as the real-time strategy genre is often frowned upon in Japan, it was a bit of a disappointment for Final Fantasy fans to hear that the sequel to the latest installment in the franchise would be developed as a real-time strategy game. Thus, Revenant Wings was developed to not only introduce new types of people to the franchise, but to penetrate the market with a new genre. Considering the game did sell reasonably well, I’d say that Square-Enix was at least marginally successful in completing their mission. Square-Enix, unfortunately, is one of the few eastern developers that is willing to take such a risk in the slowly diminishing Japanese gaming market.

There lies the main difference between game development in the western world and game development in countries like Japan. While we, western developers, expand our technology and innovations in gaming, Japan largely sticks to what they know works. Differences between these types of games are so apparent, that it’s remarkable. Artistically, compare the two images below. What characteristics do they have in common? For the most part, they have little in common at all. Meanwhile, if you were to analyze the differences, you could probably come up with an entire list. It’s easy to note the manga inspired artwork used in the image on the right, and the more realistic (Lord of the Rings-esque) approach to the artwork on the left. It’s rare that either of these art styles change from game to game. They may change in technical ways, perhaps with Japanese developers switching to cel shading, but otherwise their designs remain untouched.



In reality, it’s fascinating just how much culture does affect entertainment in our respective countries, and not just in terms of video games. Check back in the coming days for part two of our look at the differences between western and eastern style games as we analyze the background of these two types of game development and just how different making these games is on each side of the world.