June 9, 2010

Konami Exec Talks E3, Nintendo 3DS & More

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Kazumi Kitaue, executive VP of global sales and marketing at Konami caught up with 1up and had a few things to say about the games industry as well as E3 and the Nintendo 3DS…

“Japan has about 130 million people, and I think the fact that number was able to support the huge market of the past is something of an anomaly,” Kitaue told Famitsu magazine in an interview published this week. “The US and Europe both have over 300 million people; the whole denominator of things is different. Thinking about it that way, the Japanese market may be smaller compared to its peak, but it’s still a healthy one. If anything, the Western markets have been too small up until now. Different cultures like different game genres and have different preferences when it comes to platforms. What Japanese gamers want is completely different from what American gamers want, and it’s tough to keep everyone happy. Games are always meant to be fun, but now people want more than just that. They want communication features; that’s the biggest thing. Lots of users want to interact with other people through their games, something that gamers had a tendency to shun in the past. We, as creators, have to change our style in response to that, and I think we haven’t caught up with this change in taste quite yet.”

See what Mr Kitaue has to say about E3 and the 3DS after the break.

Kazumi on E3:

“We’ll have new titles announced, of course, and we’ll show off how our previously-announced games are coming along. E3 is something like a big festival of gaming, and in that respect, I think we’ll have a pretty big number of titles on display.”

On Nintendo 3DS:

“Our task is to use that tech to create new things, and while it creates more challenges, it also gives us more chances. When the Wii first came out, creators had to think about how to use the remote and came out with all sorts of games in response. We might see something similar to that happen.”