“When asked how he feels about there being less prolific “auetur” developers in the scene, like Hideo Kojima, Suda51, SWERY, and Kenji Eno, Niikawa suggests that this might be due to the “corporate” nature of the video game industry. “That’s a bit unfortunate, to be honest. To put it in my own words, I feel like the salaryman-ification of creators keeps progressing,” he says. For context, a “salaryman” in Japan refers to white-collar workers, employed at large corporations, who stereotypically prioritize work over anything else and are subservient to their organization.”
“On the other hand, when you’re a developer who works for a company, various other factors, like company policies and decision-making, as well as profitability, come into play, making it more difficult for “individuality” to come through…”
Isn’t this also happening in the West? In any case, AAA rarely appeals to me; almost underground-like indies/mods/Foss games are the places to find the really experimental works.
popcar2@piefed.ca 11 hours ago
This happened to the industry worldwide. As studios became way bigger and jobs became way more specific, nobody is really allowed to do anything outside of their field. Back then, companies were small and everyone had a hand at making the game. People also wore many hats so they would get experience on making different parts of the game from start to finish.
Now? In AAA companies you work some super specific field like “junior gameplay combat designer” and you won’t have the opportunity to work on anything else and you’re in a company with 500 people that all have different opinions so anything you suggest will be ignored.