New interview from german 4players with Nagoshi.
I know its not really about RGG but i think here in this category are probably more
users interested in this than in any other category.
4Players: Whats your favourite game within your own software career?
Nagoshi: I'm proud of all my games, especially Daytona USA
because it was the first game that was a big success.
4Players: Nagoshi Studio is now about 6 months old, hows it going?
Nagoshi: Since february we are assembling a new team
and we already are working on a new game. But we still need more people.
Thats why i'm doing job interviews almost every day at Nagoshi Studio.
4Players: NetEase has been known primarily for mobile brands and working with Western studios
to bring their franchises to China. But now you stand for classic arcade and console games.
So what does a Toshihiro Nagoshi bring to NetEase?
Nagoshi: At the first meeting with NetEase about working together,
I made it very clear: "I'm not going to make a mobile game, it's simply impossible.
Also, you guys can do it much better than I can." Fortunately, they were completely okay with that,
because they expect me to make a console top seller.
But there's another aspect: because modern smartphones are getting better and better
and are almost as powerful as consoles, it makes it easier for NetEase and Nagoshi Studio
to exchange technology - so in this way NetEase can also benefit from our tech know-how.
That's why the timing for me to join NetEase was a very good one.
And one more important thing: NetEase has money. And quite a lot of money!
4Players: Before you were at Sega for over 30 years, a hell of a long time.
How did you finally decide to turn over a new leaf?
Nagoshi: Especially in the last few years, I had reached the top management level of Sega.
And I told the current owner, "Guys, I don't want to be the CEO of Sega here."
I'm a gamer and a game maker, I want to push my career in that direction as well.
Eventually, I came to the point that I saw better prospects for that if I started my own company
and just didn't stay with Sega. And at the same time, Sega can now develop someone into a future CEO.
So I think the interests of both sides, Sega's and mine, are best served. At the same time,
this leads to a continued very friendly relationship with Sega, even after I quit there.
4Players: You are quite a glittering, unique person in the gaming industry.
Is that why the Yakuza setting with all the colorful streets, the gambling, crimes and easy girls
was such a good match?
Nagoshi: I love the game setting of Yakuza a lot. Not just in games but in books and movies too.
But you know, people who are developing a football game, probably like football in general.
People who are developing a game about car racing, probably like cars in general
and so on. To make it short: i like alcohol and girls.
4Players: Let's get right to it: What passion of yours will we meet in Nagoshi Studio's first game?
Nagoshi: Of course I can't reveal too much about our game yet,
but I can give a rough idea: It will definitely include violence as a game element,
but I don't want to go too much in the direction of thriller or even horror.
I want my game to be more like a Quentin Tarantino movie - so there may be some humor in it.
Something that is only intimidating or only bloody and brutal doesn't suit my taste -
I want a human touch, some silliness and some seriousness, that's what I'm in the mood for at the moment.
4Players: And when will we get to see the first snippet of when the first Nagoshi Studio game will be revealed?
Nagoshi: I'll have to be vague again. But it's like this: When I have an idea
and feel like implementing it - it soon bubbles out of me.
I'm not the type who can hold something like that back for a long time.
So you probably won't have to wait too much longer.... Or rather: I think I'll go public with it
much sooner than other developers would!
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