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Grasshoppper's Suda 51

The Killer7 and No More Heroes director on the Japanese games market and the importance of unique games

GamesIndustry.biz The Japanese market is more mature, more complete - but in the West it's still growing up. Do you have a particular age range, or type of gamer, in mind?
Suda 51

I was actually here early last year for the promotion of the first No More Heroes, and I realised that the UK, France and Germany are the mature markets, while Italy and Spain are still growing. There are still new gamers there and they want to know more - so there are good opportunities.

In Japan there are still core gamers, but since Nintendo released the Wii and DS a lot of people who never played games before are now playing. Those people that are playing the different types of games are growing, which is a good thing for the Japanese market.

GamesIndustry.biz Yet while the market is growing, sales are quiet - is the market in Japan in decline, or is it a blip?
Suda 51

Well, there are a lot of core gamers, and a lot of lighter users playing on platforms such as the DS - but there's nothing in-between. I think it's going to be very important for games to be created for that middle audience, and that will help bring the market back on-track.

GamesIndustry.biz Your games have a very particular style to them - how important is it to create a specific style, with the sheer number of games on the market today?
Suda 51

The first thing I'd say is that Grasshopper's vision is about creative ideas - it's not just about me, there are a number of core members from the company that input the main ideas. We try to create games that don't yet exist in the market, and that's what we're thinking about when we're making a game.

I play a lot of games that sell really well, and I realise that each different game has its own style and core elements. Sometimes you can't really see that, but when you play the game you can feel it.

For example, Call of Duty, LittleBigPlanet or BioShock - you can feel different core elements in each of those games. Burnout Paradise is my favourite [smiles]

GamesIndustry.biz There's a very rich mix of hardware platforms in the market now, particularly the next-generation consoles. What are your thoughts on that mix?
Suda 51

Until now there was really only one kind of console, so there was only one real direction for making games. But now there are different kinds of games, which is great because different types of people can try different things.

Culture probably reflects on sales - for example, in Japan a lot of people use trains for their commute, and you see a lot of people using their DS handhelds there. Then there are people using their PSPs in bars, and places like that, to play games against friends. It depends on what kind of life they have.

Maybe in the future people's lives will be influenced more by what kind of console you have.

Suda 51 is CEO of Grasshopper. Interview by Phil Elliott.