Suzuki: Development focuses too much on visuals not creativity
Shenmue bemoans the lack of creativity in the industry
The man who created Shenmue and Virtua Fighter has been criticising the current trend in games development to favour visuals over creative innovations.
Speaking in an interview on 1UP Suzuki said that visuals have taken priority over creating new gaming experiences which is a change from back when he was working on the Virtua Fighter series.
Suzuki began: "The problem [today] is that the industry focuses too much on the extravagance of the graphics. Gorgeous graphics equal high quality, but it's expensive to make those games. So it's good that we are not being strapped down by hardware limitations, but games have rules. Shogi has its rules, Chess has chess rules, and soccer has soccer rules you play with a team of 11 members and you can't use your hands. And video games are games, as well. So there are rules. We should focus our creativity on making interesting rules in a game instead of focusing on the visuals."
He added: "The game providers have to shift their focus. And the consumers have to also not look at only the graphics. The players are actually already beginning to realize this. You can see it in social-networking games. [But] user expectations are to blame, too. If given the option of 1,000 cars and 10 cars in a game, the user will most likely take the game with 1,000 cars. Games with fewer options can't compete on the same level because the user will always choose the game with more cars."
