Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida isn’t a fan of the term “JRPG” after seeing it used negatively for years. Yoshida made the comment in an interview with YouTuber SkillUp, interpreted by localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (thanks, RPGSite), and explained why other developers at Square Enix and elsewhere believe the term has such negative connotations.
“There was a time when this term first appeared 15 years ago, and for us as developers the first time we heard it, it was like a discriminatory term,” Yoshida said. “We were going to create [RPGs], but to be compartmentalized, they felt was discriminatory.”
Yoshida is likely referring to the period around the time when the PS3 released, when consumers, developers, and media often spoke about Japanese games in disparaging terms, criticizing their perceived lack of innovation in story and structure compared to games such as Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption.
counterpoint: as an Asian person i absolutely felt anti asian sentiment throughout the gaming press and industry, and it was happening well before phil fish made his racist comment to a Japanese developers face https://t.co/7bJRMHxt6z pic.twitter.com/pEHRlF60Nk
— Gene Park (@GenePark) March 1, 2023
I was at NISA in the "Japanese games are bad" era, and while that idea was a bummer, many of us saw it, too. As JP pioneered the mobile market, many devs creating console RPGs stagnated. Some fair criticism, but plenty of latent anti-Japanese + western exceptionalism sentiment.🧵
— Antonio!!! (@Pasta_Taco) February 28, 2023
Yoshida said that, then and since, Square Enix developers never tried setting out to make a game that fits in a certain genre or even that fit an idea of what Final Fantasy would be. He believes uses of the term have become more positive in recent years, which coincides with the rise in popularity of games such as Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI, though it’s still a touchy topic for many developers.
Final Fantasy 16 releases for PS5 on June 22, 2023.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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