Matsuura: ‘East and West must not be divided’

Speaking at the Develop Conference 2009 in Brighton today, PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura suggested that the international game development community must avoid letting an East-West divide separate the industry.

"Developers in the East and West should not be too separate," said Matsuura. "It should me international, and we need to work with more international artists. 

"I’m very concerned about this point, and perhaps it could be bad for the industry. I hope things change very soon."

Responding to Matsuura’s comments, thatgamecompany creative director Jenova Chen, who worked on PSN title Flower, added:"That’s why we need to work with international messages in games, and international themes like love and freedom and and nature and flight."

The two visionary developers came together in a session titled ‘Designer mash-up: Masaya Matsuura and Jenova Chen play PaRappa the Rapper and Flower’, which saw them talk to one other about their careers in a relaxed setting.