I make games in Japan

We interviewed students majoring in games in Japan, game practitioners who have been working in game companies for more than 10 years, and entrepreneurs who started their own companies to make indie games.

A three-dimensional introduction to the Japanese game and work environment.

On November 15, 2020, Kisaru KK set foot on Japanese soil.

At this time, there was still a two-week quarantine period before she entered Takarazuka University's game major.

There are only three weeks left before her exam.

"High School Escape" and "The Pitting of Intermediaries"

Ruyue KK is from the best high school in Wuxi, and the score line of the high school entrance examination is extremely high. "The requirements and expectations of the teachers, including the requirements of the parents, are also the corresponding standards of the best schools."

Seeing her sister in her second year struggling with the art of the college entrance examination, she decided to choose another path. "She had a very painful time taking the college entrance examination, and I was afraid that I would not be able to bear it."

However, the first hurdle when coming to Japan is an intermediary. "I went to Japan on November 15 and was quarantined for two weeks, 14 days in a hotel. Then my school had exams in the first week of December. Ruyue said.

Agency fees and course introductions are the biggest pitfalls. "When the contract is signed, each student talks in a small room alone, and after paying the money, everyone goes to class, and there is no special mention of tuition fees. When I graduated, I found out that I had paid a variety of money, and the amount was much different. "

However, Ruyue's study abroad life was quite smooth.

She lives in a new apartment that only began to accept tenants at the beginning of 2021, with a monthly rent of 110,000 yen, "which is quite expensive, and the average international student does not live in such a good house." I am very grateful to my parents for giving me a very good life. "

Survival and dreams

In contrast, the experience of early international students was much tougher.

Chen Hao came to Japan in March 2009 and worked overnight at McDonald's for more than three years. "When I was poorest in Yamanashi Prefecture, it was 5,000 yen and 3,000 yen a month, and it took two months. Buy a bag of rice, then go grocery or dry grocery shopping, maybe eat one meal a day. "

A and C came to Japan to study economics and animation, respectively.

I went to language school for two years and went to graduate school for two years, but I didn't learn anything but Japanese, and I wasted two years of graduate school tuition, which is more than one million yuan a year. "

Choosing a vocational school seems to be a better choice, but for international students who already have a bachelor's degree, "Vocational school means that you are downgraded, and it doesn't make sense to come to Japan to study for a junior college after completing a domestic bachelor's degree?" The family disagreed. "

Game education

After entering the university, Kirizuki KK found himself facing a huge gap. "Everyone has a foundation, and teachers will not teach from scratch as they do in China. Some classmates have made games in high school and won prizes. The teacher would like you to draw a cartoon based on what you have learned, or make an animation or game, rather than answering a test. "

She shared a coursework: "The teacher asked to make a game with only one action. I made a mountaineering game, but the teacher said that although it was easy for me to play by myself, beginners would find it too difficult, and it was not a casual game that could be played with two handfuls when I was idle. "

"The teacher said that many games, such as Tetris or Snake, are already happy to start playing before they buy their mobile phones. He wanted us to make games that people would want to play when they saw them, rather than just focusing on how beautiful the art was. There are many people who can draw, but there are few who can design good games. "

Vocational school

When Xiao Cai was studying at a vocational school in Tokyo from 2015 to 2016, he found that "I didn't teach mobile game development at all. Even by that time it was already good to do Android, and it was not taught. Students don't play console games, and many people in their 19s and 20s have never been exposed to console games and only play mobile games, but schools don't teach this. By 2023, the graduates of vocational schools who are interviewed every year will basically not see that their graduation work is a mobile game. "

Chen Hao believes that vocational schools are still valuable: "I started to learn programs from scratch, and after two years of study, I successfully found a mobile game company. But it depends on how hard you work to find a job and how you express yourself. You have to express what you want to do, how you do it, why you do it, what experience you have, and what you can do for the company. "

Gaming industry

Xiao A, who works in the overseas working group of a major Chinese game company, shared a case.

There is a game in the listed company where he used to work, "From 400 yen, it takes a year to 6,000, and the daily turnover reaches 1 billion yen, which is basically the first and second on the list." At that time, because there were no other types of games, it was 3D action games. "

But after visiting Tencent, the company's boss came back and said, "We probably won't be able to go overseas, and the Chinese market will not be considered." Seeing Tencent's 15-day demo, a game launched in 45 days, he visited all 12 studios, and when he came back, he said we couldn't do it, and he was stupid. "

After that, they developed a new game, "After five years of development, the whole team consumed about 100 manpower, and a team of 100 people developed it for five years, and the service was stopped after 45 days of launch. Because the leadership team of those who succeeded was destined to die, there would be no new blood coming up, and the games that were made later were all copies of the first one. "

This reflects the deep-seated problems of the Japanese game industry.

On the one hand, there is the technological disconnect. "If a Japanese developer wants to port a console game to a mobile platform, there is simply no way. Apple is okay to be unified, and you can't even find a few reliable engineers for Android. "

On the other hand, there is the issue of the talent training system. "The best high school students in Japan are the first choice for medicine, which is very similar to the United States. The best people don't take the computer test first. So in the Internet industry, the talent shortage is even more serious. "

Cultural differences are also a major obstacle.

"The biggest cost of recruiting people is that it is difficult to recruit Japanese people, and their communication costs are too high. Especially when working on Internet projects or projects with an international perspective, Japanese people can only do the mechanical work that you have assigned. If you hire Japanese, I'll be happy to hire some artists, and you just have to paint every day. "

The rise of Chinese gaming

In contrast, the growth of Chinese game companies in Japan has been remarkable.

"Chinese game companies entered Japan as early as about 15 years ago, for example, Happy Elements directly acquired studios in Kyoto and let Japanese employees develop games for the Japanese market. Later, Youzu and Tencent first found Japanese agents, and then Onmyoji began to directly set up offices or remote distribution in Japan. "

In Akihabara, the presence of Chinese games is getting stronger and stronger. "miHoYo and Yostar occupy the main advertising space, Genshin Impact occupies the largest position, and below is Ark of Tomorrow. The advertising space on the side is monopolized by the placement girl.,This is a domestic mobile game that is particularly popular in Japan.。 "

The gap in technological strength is also becoming more and more obvious. "When Honkai Impact III was released in Japan in 2017, no Japanese mobile game company could match this level of production. Japan's IT industry, especially the mobile Internet, is faulty. You can't even name a well-known Japanese Internet company, and all mobile apps have been crushed by the United States and China. "

The challenge of indie games

Faced with such an environment, many people have chosen the path of indie games.

Chen Hao founded Moke Game Studio in 2016, but he admits: "Recruitment is the biggest problem. We need the main beauty, and there is only one person in the main program, and he is very hard. The requirements are relatively high, and there is no money. "

Xiao Cai believes: "The success rate of indie games is not high, and the development time is uncontrollable. To make an indie game in Japan, you need a visa, a company, and you have to ask the tax office and finance every month to prepare various documents, which is very laborious and expensive. "

Still, these dreamers persisted.

When asked if he regretted it, Chen said, "I never regret it because I'm doing what I want to do. Xiao Cai said: "Although it is very bitter, it is so bitter that I will wonder when I will not be able to persevere." But I don't regret it after asking me, and I don't seem to regret it. It's also an experience, and I don't know if it would have been better if I had made another choice. "

Looking to the future, Xiao C is full of confidence: "Chinese games are gradually surpassing Japanese games, which is completely different from more than ten years ago. Chinese game peers should have the confidence to do the Japanese market and form a win-win situation with their Japanese counterparts. We can make up for each other's lack of resources and make the Chinese game industry even better in Japan. "

Directed by BK

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