Yakuza creator Nagoshi says the era of game size being most important is coming to an end

Yakuza / Like a Dragon creator Toshihiro Nagoshi says he feels games will soon no longer be judged on how big they are.

In an interview with Famitsu, Nagoshi explained that his new studio’s debut game will be an action-adventure game, but stressed that he doesn’t think game size is as important as it used to be.

“I want to make a game that is fun to play, but isn’t too much of a hassle,” Nagoshi said (via machine translation).

“Even though there aren’t many completely original games now, if you include overseas games there are so many titles out there that it’s impossible to play them all.

“Looking at the situation, I think that the number of console games in the lives of ordinary game fans may be a little excessive. There are still many titles being released, but I feel that the era of games where the volume is the selling point is coming to an end.”

Nagoshi founded a new studio three years ago, but has yet to announce its debut game. After sharing his views on larger games, he told Famitsu that he was currently in the process of trying to make the world map smaller in his current project.

“We should be entering the mass production phase for the assets soon, so it’s about time to decide on the final volume estimate, but I’m still thinking about whether it’s really good enough,” he explained. ” Of course we have the map, but the current version is so large that it’s almost too large.

“This time, while researching existing games, we started by making a fairly large map with roads and highways. Now we are gradually shrinking it down and exploring the best balance for the game.”

When Famitsu’s reporter suggested that a large map is nice to have, but its content has to be dense, Nagoshi agreed.

“That’s the point,” he replied. “You could fill it in with some element to create a sense of density, but it’s not modern to have similar experiences repeated over and over again.

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“I think that in order to properly connect the scale of the map with the fun of playing, it is important to design the world view and explain what the player, as the protagonist, is doing in this world. The role of the drama is to support that. I feel like the time to decide what the right size is to balance everything is coming up soon.”

In Nagoshi Studio’s first Western interview last year, Nagoshi told VGC that he would not let down fans of his previous games and would ensure they would be happy with his new studio’s debut game.

“Obviously, we’re not going to create something exactly the same, but I do understand there are expectations from people based more on me as a creator and my personality, so people want to see my tastes and my personality in my new games,” Nagoshi told us via a translator.

“Obviously, I will not betray my fans in that sense – I will create something with my personality and make a dramatic game, stuff like that – and my taste and personality will be reflected in the game. I can’t tell you exactly what genre it’ll be or what the game is going to be like, but I will not betray my fans.”