"Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time", a game version of the Samurai action animation "Samurai Jack" which is popular in North America, will be released on January 21, 2021 from DMM.com (already released overseas August 2020 for home consoles).

"Samurai Jack" is an American TV anime directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and was broadcast on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004. Season 5 was newly released in 2017, and the story related to Season 5 is featured in the game released this time.

This game was developed by Soleil Ltd. of Japan, who specializes in 3D action games mainly for home video game consoles, and has also developed well-known games such as "NARUTO TO BORUTO: Shinobi striker" and "Ninjala".

This time, we interviewed Mr. Yoshifuru Okamoto, President and CEO of Soleil Ltd., about the corporate culture and his thoughts on game development.

Please tell us about the characteristics and climate of the company.

We are working every day like we are doing a school festival. So our company is not like an IT company in a way. It's not smart (laughs). After all, our main concern is not a system but a game, so we're trying to match each other's sensibilities within a team and coordinate some ideas and opinions on what is fun. Even if you think your idea is fun, such an idea won’t be implemented in the game if the programmer doesn't agree with you. So I always try to deliver my idea desperately, saying "This is fun because of this and that." Our company weighs heavily on face-to-face communication with passion. So I am mindful of trying to talk openly with everyone involved, not in a formal meeting.

I think it's very stupid to send a message to the person in front of you by chat or email. I feel like saying “You just want to have fun, right?” to such a person. What they are doing is just to make an established fact that I delivered my message to you. But, if you really want to deliver your idea accurately to someone, it's many times faster to talk. Many information can be missing in an email, so it doesn't convey nuances. If someone you want to communicate with is in front of you, you have to strengthen the point of your idea with all your might, using body language, facial expressions and voice tones.

I think the premise of communication is to think things from the standpoint of your counterpart. One-way traffic is not communication, is it? I think it's very important to look at the other person while talking to each other, wondering what that person is thinking, whether he or she is in a good mood or not. Our company has about 130 people on one floor, but we make it open without cutting the partition so that all the staff can be integrated without division and can share any information and atmosphere. It may be an old idea, but I don't think we can fight in the world unless we all unite. Remote work is a work style totally opposite to our policy, so current situation is quite difficult for us.

I feel that there are few companies in the same industry that place such importance on communication.

The game industry is now a common industry, but in the past it was an industry where only the ones who love games came. I think our job is not such a cool job originally, but an unsophisticated business that uses digitals. Ultimately, we have to deliver a game to our customers and make them happy with it. After all, the underlying reason is that if you are not a person who likes to entertain people, you will not be able to please customers through games. So, I believe you won’t be able to make a game unless you’re interested in people and know people well.

As such, we are intentionally doing such a training every day in an open environment to know people tend to get angry, get frustrated, get bored, or laugh under a certain condition. If you don't do such kind of training, there will be very few ingredients in the finished product that please people. It’s not just the matter of logic.

What criteria do you use to hire people to create fun things with an emphasis on communication?

Our hiring criteria are a little different between new graduate and mid-career employees. As for mid-career, we expect people who have a straightforward skill. It's a matter of course, but that's important first, and then you have to be a game lover.

Since the game industry has become a neat industry, the number of people with low motivation has increased considerably. For example, if you ask a question like “What kind of game do you like?” to someone who is originally a system engineer and saying “I came for the interview as I’m a little interested in games,” he says “I’ve tried XXX which is popular recently.” I think such a person won’t last long with us for all I know.

Having a potential to immerse yourself in what you like is quite important and it is our standard for mid-career recruitment, so only skills or only passion won’t do. If you are doing this job because you love games, you can say “I spent millions of yen for that game,” for example. I believe there are many ways to express how much you love game.

What I expect from new graduates is whether they like games, and what they have done and felt in their lives. If you have some interesting ideas in your experience or something unusual, and I'll be a little caught up in you. In a good way.

I see.

In addition, our company ... I may be told it’s xenophilia if I say this, but we are trying to hire a lot of non-Japanese people. I believe game business is a rare job where you can transmit what you have done to the world. In that sense, you can't make it without someone who knows the world. I mean someone who knows the most advanced technology known to the world and has knowledge of a certain country or market outside of Japan. In our company, I want to eliminate allergies to English at least.

Generally, Japanese people tend to get together and exchange ideas with Japan-specific values among themselves ... but, such ideas can be minor if you look around the world. I just don't want to be that way in our case. So, best of all, I want to broaden our perspectives and challenge ourselves in major markets. In many ways, it's bad if you don't know various people’s way of thinking when you make and sell games around the world.

I’m also simply thinking that you can't make a game unless you are interested in people. Japanese people don't talk much about politics, but people from South Korea, China, and the United States, for example, are very enthusiastic about politics, and that kind of thing is very inspiring and interesting. So I always want to make myself open to people I meet and stimulus I receive from those people and my surroundings. Personally, I love architectures, foods and liquors all over the world (laughs). That is because all of these things are made by local people.

If you don't put yourself in an extraordinary place, your sensibilities will quickly wane. Spending every day in a similar routine without any stimulation is the totally opposite direction we are not looking for or aiming for.

It’s a very informative corporate culture.

At the root, there is vague anxiety that the future of the game industry may be bleak, so I feel a sense of crisis. Maybe you’ll have nowhere to go if you keep doing the same thing as everyone else. The Japanese industry may be quickly shrinking now. If you do the same thing as everyone else in such a flow, your piece of pie will just shrink further. So you have to aim for a different place.

Japanese game industry was very strong in the past and I was the one who joined this industry with high aspirations. So I want to show the world the real strength of Japan once again because I want to give my juniors hope and confidence. To do that and to be stronger, we have to grow into one rather than divide.

What kind of games have you been emotionally involved with the most?

After all, it's probably all NES software, what's driving me right now. Actually, I played all the NES software then (laughs). Everyone was renting and borrowing games among friends. It’s actually difficult to pick up one ... as I have precious memories on each game I played with such as “Mappy” and “Nintendo Baseball.”

The most exciting thing for me was the environment of "playing games with friends." I wasn't doing it all by myself, but I was always visiting someone's house and exchanging conversations like "Did you buy this software?" and "Seriously? Let's go to Yamada's house!" We get together at someone’s house and eat sweets while playing games. Then we are told “It’s time to go home.” But we come back again soon after that (laughs). I really liked those series of things surrounding games.

Since I grew up, it's hard to find a game that goes beyond my intense original experience. It is because such environment was the norm for me. There are games visually impressive and created with huge amount of budget, but they are not the ones that exceed the enthusiastic level I experienced when I was a kid. Maybe, that’s why I’m making games myself. To put it coolly (laughs).

After all, the enthusiasm surrounding famicon games at that time ... I want to bring that kind of world view back to the Japanese industry. Now the main axis of the game industry has shifted to Europe and the United States and there are few game makers that stand out in Japan.

I agree. The games of NES era were very simple, and there was a tendency for everyone to cooperate and complete together.

Although I want to regain that enthusiastic environment, such enthusiasm is our experience, not the experience of young people today. So I think it’s time to throw away a thought like “This kind of thing should be fun because we were so much absorbed when we were kids or young.” I wonder if today's children can play currently available 3D action games. Most probably, they can’t. It's really difficult.

Our generation is “game elite” because we've been playing games of all generations, starting with famicon. Self-made generation. We played 2D games first, then 3D games and action games playable in 3D space after the next. As such, we’ve tracked the “elite course” of video game history as an action gamer.

However, today's children have grown up with games, more like party games than action games. We should understand that point well and try to train younger users with action gamers all over again. Otherwise, our future may be dark. I have such a sense of crisis.

Not only games, but in general, things have become more complicated due to noisy critics found here and there. It’s quite annoying. It seems entertainment has become closed off, the entry barriers for customers have become high, and the room for growth is lost.

That's why, for the future, I think we have to expand the number of gamers by providing not only complicated and profound games like mahjong, but also games like Ponjan (Donjara) that can be played casually while retaining the essence of the fun.

I agree. I feel current Japanese games are much easier than the ones overseas.

At that time, there is another issue. Now students are no longer ranked in school, you know? That's why the concept of winning and losing has become very vague among younger generations. It seems tolerability for losing is also missing. However, action games aren't fun at all unless you win or lose. The same thing applies to PvP games as well as sports. That is a very difficult theme for us. Until now, as an important theme, we were making games in the context of Japan and overseas markets ... with a thought like "this kind of thing is well received overseas" or "that kind of thing is hilarious in Japan, but …", but there is a barrier of generation now.

People who often talk about games are in their 40s, aren't they? Then, do you think those people in their 40s still play games enthusiastically 10 years later from now? Most probably, they won’t be playing games anymore. However, there are many people in their 40s and 50s in this industry including publishers. So if you don't do anything to raise younger generations, you won’t be able to make your living.

There is no such thing anymore as posting test rankings at school like they did in the past.

That's why the way games are played has changed, and game players have become more athlete-like. “E-sports” is a good example. So, people who are not good at playing games will immediately give up, saying "Oh, I don't have talent for playing games." Such people then take the position of audience instead of playing games themselves and stream game video. As such, gaming is becoming a field where you can enjoy games even if you're not a player. So we may have to take it into our consideration when designing our games. Actually, I’m wondering if there is a need of something convenient in games for such spectators to stream and attach comments.

In recent years, hardcore games have become picking up, and I and people who have been making games for a long time think "Games should be this way!", but at the same time, I wonder if there is anything beyond that. I think that there must be a game design based on the premise we cope with both players and spectators. If we can provide it to children in a very simple form, I think game community will be activated again. And it should be a Japanese game.

Your company has also developed games based on a copyrighted content (IP), but are there any difficulties?

Of course there are bindings. But if you say that, there are budget and time constraints for any game as well as technical restrictions. It’s quite ordinary for us as a professional to make games with certain restrictions.

What is very important here is to know what kind of delicious food you can make with available ingredients when you open your fridge. It’s endless if you start saying "Why isn't there any meat?" or "Why isn't it Japanese beef?" (laughs) When it comes to making famous IP games such as Naruto, Samurai Jack, and Demon Slayer, there are many fans already and you are allowed to create a game with such attractive characters. So I think it’s natural to accept restrictions to some extent.

Do you have plans to handle famous IPs continuously in the future?

After all, as a main line, I would like to make this company the one that competes with its original products. However, for now, we are given a precious chance to study what it means to use IP, what is IP, how it is created and how its value is retained while developing games with such famous IPs. In fact, it’s a great learning experience for us.

All in all, when it comes to IP, the character should be attractive. If you don't love that character as the one who makes it, the audience won't love your product either. That's why we want to learn a lot about IPs and make use of such learning and experience in original IP we make.

We have desire to have many more people play our games as a basic premise and we are not aiming to create a game known to those in the know. (laughs). Such kind of game can exist in our product lineup, though, if it is the consequence of our challenges.

Please tell us about newly developed "SAMURAI JACK: BATTLE THROUGH TIME".

This is also an IP one, a game version of very popular American cartoon anime "Samurai Jack," directed by Genndy Tarkovsky, who we admire. We received an offer to make it into a game, so we happily accepted that offer and started our development.

It's quite rare for a Japanese development company to make a game based on famous American animation, so I thought this project would be one of features of our company. We also take in having been making many ninja and samurai games.

Many ninja and samurai games are lined up on the display in this room. I see Japanese sword too!

These are the lovable games we've made so far, but most of them are ninja games. In that sense, that Japanese sword (imitation sword) is a symbol of our company.
The look is world standard, but when you try it, you feel something Japanese in it. That’s an ideal as our goal of game making. However, we are still being helped by samurai and ninjas.

How could you obtain such an offer for American IP?

We developed the game called "NINJA GAIDEN" when we were at Tecmo and it was a huge success overseas, and enthusiastic fans of our game were born. While being supported by them, we continued making action games for the world and obtained chances to develop IP titles recently. I believe such track record matched with the conditions required for the development of “Samurai Jack.”

After all, "whether the game we made was good " is quite big in all respects, and the success of "DEAD OR ALIVE" and "NINJA GAIDEN" are still helping us. I think it's a little pitiful, but at the same time I'm really grateful ...

It’s grateful, but I would like to create an action game that goes beyond those titles for younger generation.

It’s nice if you can make children of today take root in something like NES soul.

Well, that's the best, and I want to prepare festival events in our game that help them to make their own enjoyable memories. Apart from that, I also want to create a core action game for adults. We have to aim for both of them, but we need to do it properly because people tend to be unconscious of things that appeal to children.

I think we’ll be able make a good game for adults if we try our best, taking advantage of our experience and knowledge, although I know it is not that easy (laughs). However, I think it is very difficult to make an action game that cultivates future action gamers unless you consciously do it. Recently, I often say internally, "The future of action games may be bleak, so there’s no time for us to sit cross-legged" (laughs).

Think about when we were in elementary school. Could you make a 3D action game if it were available then? Could you operate camera properly with the right stick? I’m sure I couldn’t. Many buttons weren’t available on your controller, either. Only a directional pad and two buttons were there. I think it's pretty amazing that elementary school students are playing the latest action games with complicated operations while grasping game space. However, we should never take it for granted.

* This interview was provided by GAME MEDIA .