CEO of Tecmo Koei, Kenji Matsubara, has declared that his company will be focusing more on the exploding Western markets, and less on their home territory of Japan. This is what Matsubara had to say.
“The US and European markets are expanding very fast, so we have to focus on these markets. And our strategy is to expand our library. We have our current brands like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive – they are very popular especially in the North American market. And we have Dynasty Warriors as well.
We have to focus on expanding our existing brands, and in addition we plan to create new IP targeting the western market. So we’re hiring developers not only within Japan but overseas too, like in Singapore and Toronto Canada.
We are pretty much ready to develop titles focusing on a western audience, so that’s our strategy.”
Matsubara then went on to talk about how targeting all consoles is the only way to ensure market saturation. And he is confused about Activision’s recent comments about dropping support for Playstation products.
“I’m not sure what Activision means in those comments, but Activision sees that the PS3 is a very important platform. In the PS2 days, Sony was dominant, and nothing else came close. Now, in the PS3 era, I understand that the 360 is bigger, but the PS3 isn’t small – it has a big share [of the market].
So from a publisher or developer’s view, focusing on a single platform is very risky. Instead we have to focus on providing every title for every platform. That’s a key standpoint for Tecmo Koei.”
Is Tecmo Koei correct in saying that developing console-exclusive games is too risky? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
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