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The article/podcast mentions how quality hardware engineering was still valued, and used Nintendo as a specific example of success. Sony was mentioned as being

The article/podcast mentions how quality hardware engineering was still valued, and used Nintendo as a specific example of success. Sony was mentioned as being outside the keiretsu system, and afaik Nintendo has never been involved with one either. This also correlates well with my personal knowledge of the industry. Japan has a great track record of game design, but they aren't exactly known for innovation in software specifically. Some examples: Teenagers from the UK where hired to write the code for Starfox, because they could and Nintendo's programmers couldn't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4Ekb0kXiE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4Ekb0kXiE Xbox spearheaded the consoles in the online space, and Nintendo is still far behind. Japan runs circles around the rest of the world when it comes to making successful fighting games. Yet western modders are also known for coming in and fixing online play by adding network rollback.

Dalewyn 4y ago
I agree, I think a lot of people here in this thread gloss over the fact that /games/ involve a lot more than just code. There's writing, graphics, music. I'm sure we all agree some of our fondest memories are from Japanese video games. Japanese video games are successful because they are great works of art. But what we're talking about here is Japan's software industry at large. The majority of software aren't artistic programs, they are programs written to enable someone's productivity. The quality of the code consequently becomes a larger or even the only factor, and Japanese programmers on average really suck at their job compared to their peers from other countries.
hcs 4y ago
The example that comes to my mind is that Square hired Iranian-American Apple II expert Nasir Gebelli to program their Famicom games.
astrange 4y ago
Nintendo does have a pretty strange corporate structure though. A lot of their games are made by separate companies part-owned by Nintendo whose headquarters is coincidentally on a floor of a Nintendo office building. It even applies to their QA department (https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Mario_Club https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Mario_Club).
- fomine3 4y ago
  Such corporate structure is very common in Japanese big company because of how salary decided. Salary was basically decided by age (but it's changing/changed now). Some division like developing (for non-software company), QA, support, are often separated from main company to make salary table different.

Dalewyn 4y ago

I agree, I think a lot of people here in this thread gloss over the fact that /games/ involve a lot more than just code. There's writing, graphics, music. I'm sure we all agree some of our fondest memories are from Japanese video games. Japanese video games are successful because they are great works of art. But what we're talking about here is Japan's software industry at large. The majority of software aren't artistic programs, they are programs written to enable someone's productivity. The quality of the code consequently becomes a larger or even the only factor, and Japanese programmers on average really suck at their job compared to their peers from other countries.

hcs 4y ago

The example that comes to my mind is that Square hired Iranian-American Apple II expert Nasir Gebelli to program their Famicom games.

astrange 4y ago

Nintendo does have a pretty strange corporate structure though. A lot of their games are made by separate companies part-owned by Nintendo whose headquarters is coincidentally on a floor of a Nintendo office building. It even applies to their QA department (https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Mario_Club https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Mario_Club).

fomine3 4y ago
Such corporate structure is very common in Japanese big company because of how salary decided. Salary was basically decided by age (but it's changing/changed now). Some division like developing (for non-software company), QA, support, are often separated from main company to make salary table different.