Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creative mind behind the Yakuza series, recently shared his thoughts on game development in an interview with Famitsu. He believes the era of focusing on game size as a primary selling point is coming to an end, even as his own next project is shaping up to be quite large.
Nagoshi, who left SEGA three years ago to found his own studio at NetEase, is currently working on an action-adventure game. While he acknowledged the current trend towards larger games, particularly in Western markets, he expressed concern about the overall volume of content available to players:
"I feel that the era of games where volume is the selling point is about to pass... I think the volume of console games in the lives of average game fans may be a bit excessive."
Despite this, Nagoshi admitted that his upcoming title is also "a bit large in scale" and features a complex game system. His team is currently working on finding the right balance for the game's size and density. The map they've designed is currently "too large," and they are actively working to shrink it down.
The irony of predicting the end of the "game size" era while developing a large game himself isn't lost on Nagoshi. His previous title, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, is known for its considerable length. This new project, with a team of around 80 developers, is expected to be similarly expansive.
Nagoshi promised to share more details about the project soon. Stay tuned for further updates.
