At the Sony PlayFest earlier this month, we had a chance to talk to the creative director of SCE Japan Studios, and the writer/director of Puppeteer, Gavin Moore.
During the interview, which will be published on PSLS later today, he explained what makes SCE Japan unique – the fact that they’re meant to make unique games:
As a developer, Naughty Dog’s mandate is to make AAA blockbusting Hollywood crushing titles, and it’s the same for Santa Monica – whereas our mandate at Japan Studios is to make games that nobody else can see on another console. So it’s kind of crazy in our studio because it’s a bunch of insane people coming up with strange ideas. We’re kind of left alone to come up with what we want. We’re obviously tracked, we do have green light meetings and stuff like that, but because we have smaller teams and smaller budgets to work with there’s less risk, so they allow us to be more creative.
He also explained why the PS3 is still getting so much support from Sony:
It’s important for us that we don’t just drop the console and leave it for dead just because we’ve made another one. There are a lot of people that can’t afford a PlayStation 4 yet, or can’t even get their hands on one because Sony can only make so many. It’s important that we keep supporting those PlayStation fans, there’s something like 80 million PS3s – that’s a lot of fans out there that need games. Puppeteer is exactly the sort of game we should be making in my opinion.
The full interview will be available soon, where you’ll be able to find out all about how Gavin writes his games, everything there is to know about Puppeteer and flying cats as well as discover the six words that describe his next game.
What do you think of SCE Japan’s mandate? Do you prefer blockbusters or innovation? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
