'The Development Speed Is Amazing': Shuhei Yoshida Says Japanese Studios Can't Keep Pace with China

China has entered the video game space in a massive way over the last few years, and Shuhei Yoshida, formerly one of PlayStation's most beloved executives, reckons studios in the country have a big advantage over those in Japan.

Speaking in an interview with 4Gamer (translated by Automaton), Yoshida says the speed at which Chinese studios are able to produce games is much faster than the norm:

"The development speed in China is amazing [and] they’re also quick at changing personnel, and all of the game development work itself unfolds rapidly," Yoshida says.

He mentions MiHoYo, the massively successful Chinese studio behind free-to-play gacha juggernauts Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero.

"Back when I talked to representatives of MiHoYo, we discussed how it would be quite difficult for Japanese developers to make games in the same way MiHoYo does. Not to mention the legal problems that would come with it," he says.

"I wonder if there are some aspects [of the development process] that Japanese game developers just can't replicate. One reason why games in China are so strong is because they are made in an environment which allows for hiring a large number of personnel who can work long hours. Of course, you never know what might happen in the near future, but looking at the current state of things, I think that's the biggest factor."

While MiHoYo is a perfect example of China's success in games, there are others; Game Science landed a hit with Black Myth: Wukong, and Sony's China Hero Project has highlighted lots of great titles from devs big and small.

In future we'll see the release of Phantom Blade Zero, Loulan: The Cursed Sand, Black Myth: Zhong Kui, and plenty more.

Yoshida does make a good observation here — many of the games coming out of China rival those from more well-established game dev hotspots like Japan or North America. If he's right about the speed at which Chinese teams can work, it might not just be Japan that struggles to keep up.

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