EXCLUSIVE: Silent Hill Composer - Japanese Developers Have Become Big-Headed

Akira Yamaoka, sound director of the Silent Hill series and the recently-released Sine Mora, has said that collaborations between East and West are necessary for the Japanese industry to evolve.

In an interview with the charismatic Grasshopper Manufacture composer, which will be published on SPOnG later today, Yamaoka said that he felt that Japanese developers became somewhat complacent, which allowed Western studios to overtake them. Many Japanese developers have previously lamented the industry focus on the West.

"I don’t think it’s about fear [of the West overtaking them], but I do think that Japanese developers have got things to learn, indeed," Yamaoka said. "Obviously we were winning at one point, and I think we may have become kind of big headed about that.

"So we have to know where we stand now, and realise that we have so much to learn from European and American developers. If we don’t, we will never be able to grow as an industry."

As for Yamaoka's time working with Hungarian studio Digital Reality, things were very positive. "It was exciting, I loved working in collaboration with Digital Reality. I had previously worked with a US developer on Silent Hill, so I had experience working with Western studios. But European developers have a different way of doing things. I found it really interesting and stimulating - I learned quite a lot."

Be sure to read the full interview on SPOnG later today.