Japanese Indie Dev Explains Why Japanese Studios Struggle with FPS Games

The creator of Beyond Citadel, one of Japan’s few successful first-person shooters, has shared their thoughts on why big Japanese game companies keep failing when they try to make FPS games.

Doekuramori, the indie developer behind Beyond Citadel, posted their theory on social media after noticing a pattern. They believe that major Japanese studios have been trying too hard to copy Western hits like Call of Duty instead of playing to their own strengths.

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AAA国産FPSがパッとしなかった理由、ランドマークとしていたものが当時イケイケだったCoDだったわけですが、CoDライクを作るには日本人には圧倒的にミリタリの知識が欠けていた。はっきり言って日本人にCoDを作る才能はなかったし、日本人の不得意とする土俵で戦おうとして失敗した。

— doekuramori_citadeldev (@citadeldev) July 2, 2025
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According to Doekuramori, the main issue is that Japanese developers don’t have enough knowledge about military history and culture to make convincing Call of Duty-style games. “Japanese developers tried playing in a field that they were inherently not great at, and they failed,” they explained.

The developer points out that even Western studios struggle to copy Call of Duty successfully. They mention Medal of Honor: Warfighter as an example of how hard it is to replicate that formula – and that game was made by Western developers who should have understood the market better.

What makes Call of Duty special, according to Doekuramori, is how “effortlessly cool” it feels. The game’s production value is so strong that it covers up any gameplay flaws. But Japanese developers couldn’t recreate that cool factor, and when they tried, they ended up abandoning what they’re actually good at – making great gameplay.

Japanese FPS — Image Credit: doekuramori

Doekuramori argues that Japanese developers should stop trying to make Call of Duty clones and focus on what they do best. The indie developer’s advice to major Japanese studios is simple: stop trying to copy what’s popular and start making games that use your natural talents. Japanese developers are “overwhelmingly strong” when it comes to gameplay, so they should build on that instead of chasing trends.