Not too long ago, a Japanese game Veteran named Yasutaka Ikeda (Studio Delta) noted the differences between the Chinese and Japanese business models in terms of game design philosophy. There was a time in China when console gaming was banned for over a decade. This led gamers to rely on gaming cafes, where China began to perfect the free-to-play, anime-inspired open-world business model. Japanese developers have been designing Finished Product game releases for consoles since the very beginning. It is baked into their culture and design philosophy. China had more time to trial and error their design philosophy. What sells Free-to-Play games like Genshin Impact are the characters. To make players addicted enough to roll for these characters, they learned that Character Animations are important. So they have done something that Japanese developers won't do: invest in the animation department of their game projects. Games like Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, and Zenless Zone Zero have a staff of 200 animators working to perfect the characters animations. Character Trailers are important to them. Japanese developers, on the other hand, won't spend that much money and resources on character animation. Not because they are incompetent, but because executives believe if it doesn't double or triple revenue, then it's a waste of time. This is why companies like Square Enix are failing with these Free-to-Play models For the Japanese Game industry to compete, it has to undo years of ingrained gaming philosophy. China and even South Korea have been doing it for way longer than Japan. It's crazy how the banning of consoles in those specific places created a competitive force that has taken over the gaming market Japan once dominated.
