The PC is becoming a leading platform for Japanese games, a sea change confirmed again this past week when a PC version of Final Fantasy 15 was announced at Gamescom. Meanwhile, Shinji Mikami, who directed the original Resident Evil and is presently executive producer on The Evil Within 2, lent a smaller push to this current when we spoke to him yesterday at Quakecon.
"I welcome the new world of Steam and digital sales," said Mikami. "I used to put all of my games in their physical boxes on my bookshelf to look at them. Now I have a digital collection, and that's better for Japanese people anyway because our houses are so small."
Perhaps it's only a surprising statement in the sense that four to six years ago, most of us never expected to see Metal Gear or Bayonetta or just about any mainstream Japanese console exclusive come to PC. This new era came about so quickly it's easy to forget how unchangeable the PC's drought of Japanese games used to seem.
As for the prospect of seeing his older games on PC, Mikami says that God Hand is a game he'd "love to do again and bring it to Steam," though it's out of his hands. "Unfortunately you'd have to ask Capcom or Sony about all of my old games," he added.
Joe got to play The Evil Within 2 at Gamescom—read his hands-on impressions here, and look for more out of Quakecon soon.