Taro Yokoo is known for his “unreasonable play” – both in his own strange self-presentation or in the weird stories he tells through the game.However, behind that weird mask and mysterious personality is an active Twitter user.Recently, he opened a question and answer box on the platform to answer a variety of questions - from restaurant recommendations, life suggestions, to inside stories in the game industry.
One of the fans asked: "Are there really many people with strange personalities in the gaming circle? If so, which one is the most?" Yokoo Taro responded: "I have been in the gaming industry for thirty years, but I think there are many 'strange people' now. I can't figure out whether this is the situation around me, the entire gaming industry has become like this, or the whole world has changed."
"Strange" actually means "freedom", and in fact, Yoko Taro himself is a weirdo.He even claimed in his speech that his game was a "strange game for weird people to play."It can be said that this "weirdness" is the foundation of his creation - he is more willing to build games around some of his niche interests rather than cater to the so-called "selling points" in the market.This mixture of talent, luck and rebellious spirit ended up unexpectedly becoming a successful formula.Yokoo Taro once revealed that the original Neil series was just regarded as an experimental project and no one expected it to become popular.
He also said that creators like Ueda Miku of "ICO" are the ones who can truly start a new era of games.He always emphasizes the importance of being "different" - to do things that no one else in the industry is doing.In a joint seminar with the directors of "Sword Star" and "Victory Goddess: NIKKE", he talked about his idea of shaping the characters in the "Neil" series: "Our concept has always been 'doing something completely different'... For example, Western science fiction is full of soldiers like Marines, so we are going to be Gothic Loli style in turn. We just like to take the opposite route."
If what he said is true - there are really fewer and fewer "weird people" who challenge routines and go against market demand now - then what does this mean for the game industry?
Yoko Taro had previously shared his predictions about the future of the game industry - he said that if AI dominates the industry, future game developers may not be able to make a living by making games, and they may even become like a bard in fifty years.But he also reminded his fans to "just listen, don't take it too seriously."
