Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada says "the games industry worldwide is in danger if we keep making sequels," just weeks before the 19th installment of Harvest Moon hits PSPs in Japan.
Speaking to Eurogamer Italy, Wada went on to say that consumers are bored by sequels and excited by variety. That may or may not have been the inspiration behind developer Natsume creating Puzzle de Harvest Moon and severing Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon from the franchise to stand as its own series.
Either way, his quotes still smack of hypocrisy. Wada's newest IP – Little King's Story – is a single player life sim where you take care of townspeople instead of cows with the power of a magic crown instead of a magic tree.
Wada gets a ten out of ten for idealism, though.
"I think new IPs must keep coming, not only to give more variety to the gamer but also to keep the creative people creative," Wada said.
"What is the point of having creative developers if they are just making existing games better and not thinking of new ideas?"
Hear, hear! Bring me the collective head of Namco-Bandai!
Stop relying on sequels - Yasuhiro Wada [Eurogamer]