{"id":55944,"date":"2026-01-20T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55944"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:58:46","slug":"the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Veteran author and game developer Oji Hiroi<\/strong>, known for creating the Sakura Wars and Far East of Eden franchises, recently talked to Business Hit<\/a> about his views on Japan\u2019s anime and game industries. Aside from producing several hit IPs, Hiroi has also worked with Lucasfilm (the studio behind Star Wars) and Pixar, giving him experience in both the domestic and US entertainment scenes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reminiscing on the mid-90s, Hiroi says he felt Japan had a clear upper hand over its global competition. \u201cBack then, both Japan as a whole and I myself were riding a wave of momentum. I genuinely believed Japan was number one in the world for both games and anime, and to be honest, I think part of me that looked down on America to some extent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sakura<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He goes on to comment that, \u201cWhen I actually went to America, I thought, Wait, what do you guys even plan to make in this kind of environment?<\/em> After all, Hudson was the first to make CD-ROM technology a reality, and even Michael Jackson was involved with Sega in the 90s. Japan back then was undoubtedly at the forefront of global creativity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, decades later, Japan has managed to ride that momentum and become a global powerhouse when it comes to anime. Hiroi says he\u2019d always known that hand-drawn 2D animation would be the path to success, even when his peers in the 90s and 00s were convinced 3D CG animation would become the next huge thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, when it comes to the games industry, Hiroi thinks Japan is holding itself back. When asked about the relatively stagnant state of domestic games (compared to anime) in the 21st century, he comments, \u201cThe typical trend became to immediately churn out sequels like \u201c2\u201d and \u20183\u2019 whenever a hit title emerged. Do you know why that happened? The underlying mindset was, Since it’s a sequel, we should be able to make it cheaper.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiroi considers this practice to be the complete opposite of how IP business is supposed to work. \u201cWhen a title sells well, your next step should be to invest even more in it and enhance its value. Instead, the industry rushed toward the mindset of It already sold, so next time let’s cut costs and make efficient profits<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sakura<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Hiroi suggests that Japan\u2019s dominance of the game market in the 90s was part of what subsequently led it to plateau. \u201cBecause Japan\u2019s game market itself was the world leader, there wasn\u2019t much incentive to think about how to compete overseas or how to expand globally. As long as things kept circulating within Japan, the business model worked.\u201d This, according to Sakura Wars\u2019s creator, became a \u201cmajor challenge\u201d that the Japanese industry now faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune criticizes game industry\u2019s growing reliance on IP fame and <\/a>trendy genres. \u201cWe need developers with a clear message\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should developers be making the games they want or the games the industry needs? Masahiro Sakurai shares insight<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan’s dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":55947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-55944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan's dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan's dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"759\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan's dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan's dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-01-20T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1352,"height":759,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-01-20T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/"},"wordCount":625,"commentCount":9,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/","name":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-20T13:00:00+00:00","description":"Sakura Wars original creator Oji Hiroi looks back on Japan's dominance of the global game market in the mid-90s and subsequent plateau.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260120-55944-header.jpg","width":1352,"height":759,"caption":"Sakura Wars 2"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-trend-became-to-churn-out-cheap-sequels-sakura-wars-creator-on-why-japans-game-industry-stalled-in-the-21st-century\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cThe trend became to churn out cheap sequels.\u201d Sakura Wars creator on why Japan\u2019s game industry stalled in the 21st\u00a0century\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55944"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55951,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55944\/revisions\/55951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}