{"id":73465,"date":"2026-10-07T13:52:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=73465"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T06:17:10","slug":"former-capcom-developer-says-years-of-extreme-crunch-culture-are-part-of-why-japans-game-industry-has-so-few-female-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-capcom-developer-says-years-of-extreme-crunch-culture-are-part-of-why-japans-game-industry-has-so-few-female-directors\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Capcom developer says years of extreme crunch culture are part of why Japan\u2019s game industry has so few female directors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Masakazu Sugimori, a former Capcom developer best known for composing music for early Ace Attorney and Viewtiful Joe entries, recently took to X <\/a>to talk about women in the Japanese game industry and why, based on his experience, prominent or directorial positions are currently predominantly occupied by men. Sugimori proposes that the grueling working conditions and crunch culture that used to be the norm in the domestic industry have played a big role in shaping things this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up until around 20 years ago (before Japan saw major labor law reforms), Sugimori says that living at the office for a month straight, working for a week on almost no sleep, and barely even taking baths used to be common at game companies (though, apropos the last point, he mentions Capcom at least had showers in its offices). Sugimori considers this \u201cinsane\u201d environment to be a big part of what created a gap between male and female developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Capcom had a \u201cparticularly strong presence of female creators for a long time,\u201d Sugimori thinks very few women were able to physically endure such long continuous working hours, making them less likely to be promoted to director positions. On the other hand, male creators were more willing to \u201cthrow away their personal lives and appearance\u201d to prioritize work, and were thus more likely to thrive at the workplace. Sugimori gives the example of Viewtiful Joe director Hideki Kamiya, whom he says would remain at the office until 5:30 in the morning every day fine-tuning the game\u2019s balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u6562\u3048\u3066\u8a00\u3046\u306a\u3089\u3001
\u3064\u304420\u5e74\u524d\u304f\u3089\u3044\u307e\u3067\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u696d\u754c\u306f
\u300c1\u30f6\u6708\u4f1a\u793e\u306b\u6cca\u307e\u308a\u8fbc\u307f\u300d
\u300c1\u9031\u9593\u306f\u307b\u307c\u5bdd\u305a\u306b\u4ed5\u4e8b\u300d
\u300c\u98a8\u5442\uff1f\u4f55\u305d\u308c\u300d\uff08\u30ab\u30d7\u30b3\u30f3\u306f\u30b7\u30e3\u30ef\u30fc\u5ba4\u304c\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305fw\uff09
\u307f\u305f\u3044\u306a\u696d\u754c\u3067\u3057\u305f\u3002
\u305d\u3093\u306a\u72c2\u3063\u305f\u4e16\u754c\u306b\u307e\u3068\u3082\u306b\u4ed8\u3044\u3066\u6765\u308c\u308b\u5973\u6027\u304c\u307b\u307c\u5c45\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u306a\u3044\u304b\u306a\uff1f\u3068\u3002\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/rK9hLx5FJz<\/a><\/p>— \u6749\u68ee \u96c5\u548c (Masakazu Sugimori) (@m_sugimori) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>