Tekken 8 Boss Says Younger Players Prefer Team-Based Games Because They Can Blame Losses on Others | Push Square
Outspoken Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada has made a bold claim that is unlikely to ruffle any feathers in the broader audience: younger gamers prefer team-based games because they can blame, at least partially, any losses on their teammates rather than having to take sole responsibility for losing on themselves.
Sitting down to talk games with PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida, Harada made some rather spicy comments on the latest episode of the awkwardly named Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Game Maker's Notebook podcast (thanks, VGC). Harada explained his rationale, which does make some semblance of sense to us, at least initially:
«In Japan, and probably in most of the world, my generation is a big one. It makes up a good chunk of the population. That made our society a competitive one. If you applied to a school or for a job, there was always a lot of competition. Because of this, people in my generation prefer definitive outcomes, a clear winner and loser. This applies to folks in and around their 50s.» So far, so good. Nothing explicitly singling out Millenials or Zoomers yet.
Harada continues: «But most young people nowadays are the opposite. They're rarely eager to engage in one-on-one showdowns. Plus, because fighting games pit you by yourself against a single opponent, you have to accept all the responsibility if you lose. You can't blame anyone else.»
The Tekken boss suggests that fighting games must consider this moving forward to continue appealing to a younger audience. Still, he can't resist getting one more jab in at kids these days: «In team-based shooters, when players win, they can say that they won because of their contributions, but when they lose, it's because they got matched with a lousy team. Some games even give out individual awards to each and every player.»
In other Tekken news, Harada recently asked his legions of Twitter followers why so many kept asking for a Tekken level based upon the American fast-food chain Waffle House, and
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