GameArts Pres Tells All

TOKYO - On Friday morning of the Tokyo Game Show, GS News sat down with the President and CEO of both GameArts and ESP (Entertainment Software Publishers).

GameArts is a developer of popular RPGs, as well as the occasional action game. ESP is a coalition of developers devoted to helping member companies publish the games they want to make, at a time when it's arguably easier to lose money than make it.

The interview sheds light on ESP's top titles, Grandia and Lunar 3, and even makes hints to Sega's new hardware.

Mr. Miyaji's dialogue was translated for us by Keitaro Numata, the Manager of ESP.

GS News: Mr. Miyaji, does GameArts have plans for systems other than the Saturn? Currently, there is much speculation surrounding the possibilities of Lunar being ported to the PlayStation. Can you shed some light on this matter?Miyaji: The purpose of ESP is to support the game creators. Once the creators choose the platform, ESP will support it. So far, all of our games are on the Saturn format only. All of our developers have strong ties to Sega and wanted to develop for their hardware.

GS News: So the PlayStation is a possibility?Miyaji: Yes, definitely. We are currently most interested, however, in making networkable games.

GS News: On the PC?Miyaji: Not only on the PC, but other formats as well. There is rumor that the next generation system will have Internet capability right out of the box, and GameArts wants to take full advantage of that.

GS News: You mentioned Sega's next system. I'm sure you can't say anything about it, but has either GameArts or ESP begun work on games for the new machine?Miyaji: (laughing) That is a difficult question. ESP is not focused on developing for systems, but giving our developers as broad a range of possibilities as possible. The thing we are most interested in is what we want to make, not the platform or the marketability. If we have an idea and a particular platform gives us the ability to do what we want, then we will develop for it. Many companies chase the successful systems just to sell games, rather than focusing on the quality of the games themselves. The market has too much of an eye for marketability and merchandising right now, as shown by the lop-sided development efforts towards the PlayStation.

GS News: Grandia looks terrific. What lies in GameArts' future after Grandia?Miyaji: We have no idea what lies beyond Grandia, so if you have any ideas for the next step up, please tell us. (laughs) It is actually our main focus to constantly innovate and step into areas that have been previously unexplored. Grandia was very much a technically driven game in this sense.

GS News: Are there any official statements on Lunar 3?Miyaji: We have already designed the concept behind the game. As Grandia was a technically-driven game, Lunar 3 will once again be a story and scenario driven game. We are in no hurry to finish it, though. We want the story and scenario to have serious impact on the players and reflect the tone of time, so the developers are still evolving the concept now so that it will fit the general mindset of the time it is released. Many Japanese and Americans have apprehension about the future with the end of the millennium approaching, and that is something that we will likely work into the story as well.

GS News: Many gamers in the US are concerned that they will never be able to play Grandia or other ESP titles in English, now that Working Designs has discontinued future Saturn support. Have there been talks with Sega or other developers to bring Grandia to the states?Miyaji: As you know, the Sega Saturn is not doing very well in the US. This is a problem for companies, especially when it comes to undertaking a translation project like Grandia. We want to release the game there, but we do not know if we can find a publisher in America. We have been talking to a few publishers, but I can not tell you their names.

GS News: Are there plans to port Grandia to the PlayStation, given its heavy 3-D nature?Miyaji: Porting the game to the PlayStation would be almost impossible. The PlayStation can not handle the amount of textures that Grandia uses due to the hardware's design. The PlayStation can push more polygons in general, but the Saturn handles textures better in cases like Grandia.

GS News: Is ESP recruiting new development teams? If so, can you tell us who?Miyaji: We always want to expand. ESP's developers are all in Japan right now, but we want it to be truly borderless and reach across borders to developers around the world, if possible.

GS News: Thank you very much for your time.Miyaji: It was my pleasure.