Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami has stated his belief that Japanese RPGs aren’t witnessing a decline in popularity in western territories, as they were never popular to begin with.
Speaking during a chinwag with CVG on the state of the genre in the west, Mikami stated, “I think it is because Japanese RPGs were really never all that popular in the west to begin with,” adding, "I think the best way of interpreting things is that they aren’t getting less popular; they weren’t very popular from the start."
This isn’t the first time an industry figure has chimed in with their thoughts on the subject; BioWare’s Greg Zeschuk said last December that he felt the JRPG scene was in decline as the genre was lacking in “evolution.”
"The fall of the JRPG in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression. They kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it’s still the same experience,” he said.
How do you feel, PSU readers? Do you think that JRPGs were never popular to begin with? Do you feel developers need to inject new life in to the genre? Let us know in the comments section below.