Wada: Japanese retailers are prejudiced against Western games

Square bossman Yoichi Wada has told Edge that western games don't do well in Japan, and it has less to do with the consumer and more to do with retail outlets that are prejudiced towards "overseas titles".

"Well, actually, I’ve found the person that is prejudiced is actually the retailer and not the actual players," he said. "The retailers have a prejudice against overseas titles, and they won’t procure them. But something like Batman: Arkham Asylum, for example, is something that is very like the Japanese taste in games, in fact it caters to very much the Japanese taste.

"Arkham Asylum is like the best aspects of Metal Gear Solid, but evolved".

According to an interview Wada did with Japanese media in 2009 (via Kotaku), "Even now, there have been people in Japan using the label 'youge' (derogatory term for Western games) with a terribly discriminatory meaning," he said.

"I'd like them to try it once. If they play it once, they'd realize how incorrect that label is."

In the same Edge interview, Wada hinted that Square may rely less on Final Fantasy in the future and look more closely at internal western games development.