Koei Tecmo's Integrated Report 2023 published this morning alongside the company's financial results includes interesting insight from a veteran developer who may sound familiar for many fans, Yosuke Hayashi.
Hayashi-san is now director and executive vice-president of Koei Tecmo Games and his piece in the extensive document discusses the importance of being a gamer for a manager of a gaming company like Koei Tecmo.
Essentially, he argues that a gamer's perspective is "essential for successful management"
Hayashi-san explains that transitioning developers into managers is an ideal career path at Koei Tecmo, and he believes that continuing to be a gamer is crucial in order to achieve that.
To successfully navigate the future gaming market and to continue delivering results by harnessing our development capabilities, which could be seen as the source of our competitiveness, we must manage projects while refining our skills as creators.
Moreover, by instilling management qualities into our creators, they are able to transition into managers. While this is the ideal career path that the Company envisions, I firmly believe that, above all else, continuing to be a gamer is crucial for me to walk this path.
He continues by discussing the fact that gamers have the ability to intuitively understand what customers find entertaining. Due to that, even in the role of manager, one should preserve their identity as a gamer.
Games are created to be enjoyed by our customers. To excel in management, one important thing usually found with gamers is the ability to have an intuitive understanding of what our customers find entertaining. This is precisely why, even in the role of a manager, one should maintain their identity as a gamer.
I, too, have aspired to be a creator who pursues what our customers find captivating while having faith in what I personally find engaging. In doing so, I have integrated development and management into crafting games.
Interestingly, Hayashi-san explains that when he began focusing on management, he had no experience, and he was uncertain about what to do. At that time, he used the Nobunaga's Ambition games as his textbook.
In “Nobunaga's Ambition,” every subordinate general possesses unique skills and talents, requiring strategic placement in the right positions for them to excel. To achieve success, one must multitask in the game, allocating limited resources while considering the balance between the development of oneʼs own country and the conflicts with the rivalʼs. T
o accomplish this, one must also consider how to position and move effectively. When I played the game with a managerial and business perspective, everything seemed to make sense, and putting those principles and methodologies into practice yielded positive results.
He also describes what he calls the "cycle of joy" between developers and customers, mentioning that games created passionately bring joy to gamers, which in turn delights developers.
Developers who have this kind of successful experience collaborate and complement each other better and approach development with confidence, which leads them to create more successful games that bring more joy to the customers, completing the cycle.
As a director, he pledges to ensure that Koei Tecmo remains a place where employees, both as creators and gamers, "Can always carry on projects that bring joy and excitement."
If you're not familiar with Hayashi-san, he joined Tecmo in 2001 and worked on many beloved games both before and after the merger with Koei. He covered producer and directorial roles on the Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, and Nioh franchises, on top of many Warriors crossover games like Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors and Three Hopes, and Persona 5: Strikers.
Recent titles include Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Wild Hearts.
Born in 1979, he's part of the new generation of Koei Tecmo managers executive COO Hisashi Koinuma, who are currently paving the way for the transition that will happen when CEO Yoichi Erikawa retires.
