Resident Evil’s Shinji Mikami reacts to accusations that Japanese games suck

Shinji Mikami, best known for creating the Resident Evil series, is the head of ZeniMax's only Japanese studio, Tango Gameworks. These days he's busy working on the studio's codenamed survival horror game "Zwei" and assuming management duties, but he's also worked on titles like Shadows of the Damned, Vanquish, and God Hand.

As someone who's achieved such momentous success, comments like Phil Fish's at GDC aren't hurtful, but they do contain some truth.

"When I was making Resident Evil 4, Capcom's non-Japanese staff noticed that people overseas were writing that Japanese games suck, and they got upset," he told CVG. "But the game we were making didn't suck at all, so it didn't bother me.

"To be told that Japanese games suck is a bit harsh, but personally, 80% of the games I play at the moment are not Japanese," he said. "Skyrim, Batman … games like that are more interesting to me right now. Japan needs to make more good games if it wants people to think otherwise.

"There are amazing games," he added. "Just not enough of them."

Mikami said Japanese studios don't spend nearly as much money on making games as America does, but they should.

"Japan needs to make games like Hollywood makes movies," he said. "I think Capcom and Hideo Kojima's team are trying hard on that front."

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