On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board, a thread titled “Why don’t Japanese game companies seriously make anime-style games?” went up. Citing the momentum of miHoYo (now HoYoverse), the studio behind Genshin Impact, and Bandai Namco’s now-shuttered Blue Protocol as examples, posters debated why Japanese publishers don’t make big-budget anime-style titles. Replies pointed out that Japanese developers tend to chase photorealistic, Western-style visuals and see anime art as something only smaller studios bother with, while others blamed a lack of open-world development know-how. Opinions were split on whether anime-style games actually require less technical skill.</parameter>
<parameter name="analysis">miHoYo, the studio behind Genshin Impact, has since unified its branding under the name “HoYoverse” — the thread’s use of the old nickname “Mihoyo” refers to the former name. Japanese companies’ reluctance to pursue big-budget anime-style titles partly stems from a domestic console market long pulled toward photorealistic, Western-style evaluation standards, and partly from an industry structure that favors low-risk bets built around long-term management of flagship IP. Where the thread split was over whether the claim “anime-style games don’t take technical skill” actually holds up — the discussion blurred together two very different things without much care: high-end anime-style production work like Arc System Works does, versus massive live-service development on the scale of Genshin Impact, which demand completely different team sizes and budgets. The thread also raised the possibility — unsupported by any data presented — that evaluation standards differ between the West and the Japan/China region, as suggested by the comment that “mass-produced Chinese anime games are only popular in the Far East.”</parameter>
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What people said
1AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:27
Now that miHoYo's on the decline, this is our chance!
3AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:28
If only Blue Protocol had succeeded…
4AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:30
Who was the character design in CODE VEIN 2 even supposed to appeal to?
5AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:31
Japanese developers have a deep longing for Western-style photorealism, and there's a strong mindset that anime-style games are just what small, weaker studios make.
6AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:31
I can't think of a single domestically-made anime-style open-world game. Was Atelier Yumia one? It's 2026 — how can they not even manage something on the level of Far Cry 5 (2018)?
28AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:25
Re: #6
Dragon Ball
8AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:34
Sony's got its own anime business — you'd think they'd go all-in on anime games.
91AnonymousNov 7, 2026 22:00
Re: #8
The moment you realize licensed anime games are nothing but garbage, you realize anime-style games just don't sell. Even Genshin wouldn't sell nearly as well if it were a paid game.
9AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:35
I was impressed the RE Engine could pull off Monster Hunter Stories 3, but it sold shockingly badly.
10AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:35
They did make Blue Protocol, you know. Don't forget that.
12AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:37
I wish a new Breath of Fire would come out.
13AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:38
The whole 'it's declining' thing is a myth to begin with — it's at its peak right now. And it hasn't been 'miHoYo' for a while now, it's HoYoverse.
35AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:36
Re: #13
There's no way it's the peak — the Fontaine trailer pulled 250k concurrent viewers, and now a good showing is only 110k.
14AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:41
Blue Protocol's failure killed Bandai Namco's motivation.
15AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:43
I think they could manage something passable if it's a single-player offline game, but they're nowhere close to having the manpower for a high-end live-service game like Genshin. If a Japanese company's going to assemble a dev team of several hundred people, they'd rather pour it into their flagship franchise than some anime game.
16AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:43
Mass-produced Chinese anime-style games are only popular in the Far East — they're not popular at all in the West.
17AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:47
It doesn't even have to be PvE — what's surprising is that even a solo-only version never gets greenlit. Judging from interviews about Momotetsu (Momotaro Dentetsu), it seems game companies, wanting to grow their IP long-term, tend to avoid anime styles (especially the late-night-anime look) because it narrows the potential player base. Pokémon and Zelda: Breath of the Wild didn't sell because they're anime-styled — they sold because the gameplay was fun. The anime art is just seasoning, nothing more.
18AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:49
Nintendo's Xenoblade and Fire Emblem are turning into the last holdouts of domestically-made [anime-style] games.
19AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:55
Re: #18
If we're talking 'last holdout,' that'd be Persona.
20AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:58
As a certain long-running series makes clear, Japanese creators look down on homegrown ('wagē') games. That's why they treat it as embarrassing to spend real money on a distinctly Japanese anime-style game — every passion project ends up going 'photorealistic! action! dark!' and lands with a mediocre reception. But in reality, Western audiences are getting sick of that, which is exactly why something like Expedition 33 becomes a massive hit — and even in the recent [RPG discourse], it's the command-based RPG that's getting the praise.
21AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:59
With AI making people too wary to touch Chinese and Korean games these days, this might be a chance to scoop up those users.
22AnonymousNov 7, 2026 15:59
Re: #1
The West already did this with Dragon's Lair, and Japan already did it too with Time Gal.
23AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:00
This genre's always been heavily shaped by Western films — Ikari Warriors, Contra, Metal Gear, all of it. Anime's influence is actually stronger in the PC eroge scene, if anything. I'd put miHoYo in the eroge lineage myself.
24AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:07
Western films used to be the prestige thing, while anime was seen as something embarrassing that only otaku watched. These days anime's gone mainstream worldwide, but games still haven't shaken that old attitude.
26AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:13
Re: #24
That's probably it. The older creators calling the shots these days probably have a complex about measuring up to live-action work.
27AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:13
In Japan, character art is solidly anime-style, but once it becomes a game, it's almost like they deliberately steer away from that anime look and end up with that generic 'video-game CG' appearance instead.
29AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:30
Re: #27
But it's directed and acted like a serious anime, so the disconnect is jarring.
31AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:31
Arc System Works does anime-style with great production values, but apparently on Geha the word is that they don't sell well. If Geha's info is right, maybe a different direction is the way to go.
32AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:31
It's been no good this whole time — I can't picture it suddenly getting better from here.
34AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:35
Even calling them 'anime games,' every JRPG out right now is going for some watered-down Disney-CG-animation look. It's cheap-looking, over-the-top, and hard to sit through. I mean, something like Arc's fighting games mentioned above would be fine, but doing that for an RPG would be an absolute nightmare of work.
36AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:41
Blue Protocol's basic direction wasn't wrong. I'd guess the real reason for the service shutdown was blowing extra budget on stuff like male costume gacha nobody ever rolled, squeezing their profits.
40AnonymousNov 7, 2026 16:57
So why, conversely, do Chinese players love anime-style open-world games so much? Just a difference in taste from Japanese developers?
43AnonymousNov 7, 2026 17:07
Re: #40
It's a genre Japanese developers alone still struggle with. Whenever a Japanese game attempts open world, it turns into an empty, barren field that's basically just junk-collecting.
79AnonymousNov 7, 2026 20:23
This is what happens because none of you buy Orbitals.
80AnonymousNov 7, 2026 20:31
Re: #79
That game's ridiculously fun. That said, it's 2-player only, so it's not something you can force on the Geha crowd.
88AnonymousNov 7, 2026 21:44
Might as well just watch anime at that point, honestly.
92AnonymousNov 7, 2026 22:02
Re: #88
Leaning into an anime look just makes a game's weak points stand out more. Game studio staff simply can't compete with animators.
94AnonymousNov 7, 2026 22:12
There are plenty of anime and manga titles seen by millions of people, but there's almost no anime-style game played by that many. Japanese audiences have a sharp eye for anime, so if you put out something half-baked, they'll give it one glance and move on.
95AnonymousNov 7, 2026 22:54
Re: #94
Romancing SaGa [Minstrel Song Remake] sold over a million copies, and I've got a feeling Fire Emblem: Banshi Senkō will sell over two million.
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