GungHo: Japanese developers need to go back to basics

GungHo president Kazuki Morishita, the man whose Puzzle & Dragons title is currently earning around $3.75m a day, has suggested that Japanese developers need to focus on making quality games above all else.

"Let's say that Japanese games are in their darkest times right now," Morishita told Gamasutra.

"There's no way to go but up, if that's the case. In terms of making games, I think Japanese developers need to go back to basics about why they make games in the first place, which is to make good games. At GungHo, that's what we do. We think about games and come up with good ideas and do our best to make it as best as possible, and all we'll do is keep doing that. Sooner or later, that'll pay off."

It's simple advice perhaps, but advice that's working for GungHo Entertainment. In April alone the company saw revenue of $118m, a year-on-year increase of 1,142 per cent. Its portfolio includes Puzzle & Dragons on mobile, Ragnarok Odyssey for Vita and Dragon Saga on PC.

"We would like in the future, worldwide-wise, we want people from all over the world to play our games and enjoy our games, and that's pretty much our main goal moving forward. In terms of how to do that -- in terms of strategy? We go back to the basic principle, which is just, make the game fun for everybody. Honestly, that's the only thing I think about: how to make games that are fun."

GungHo also recently acquired Goichi "Suda51" Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture.