The creator of the Katamari Damacy games says he left Bandai Namco to work with people from other countries.
Keita Takahashi joined Namco (as it was then known) in 1999 and directed Katamari Damacy, We Love Katamari, and Noby Noby Boy. However, he left Namco in 2010, saying in one interview that he didn’t feel like he belonged there anymore.
Now, in an interview with GameSpark, Keita Takahashi says he left the company to broaden his horizons and work with developers outside of Japan.
“I left the company because I didn’t want to be limited to only working with the people there,” Takahashi explained (as translated by Automaton).
“I wondered why I was only making games with Japanese people. I thought if I could develop games with more people from other countries, I would be able to get ideas from different perspectives. I’m currently developing games with a range of people from all over the world.”
Takahashi’s latest game is To a T, a 3D narrative adventure developed by his studio, Uvula, and published by Annapurna Interactive. It will be released on May 28 on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC and will also be available on Xbox Game Pass.
The game focuses on a teenager, whose name is simply Teen, who is always stuck in a T-pose. Although the game has a comedy theme, it’s also designed to highlight the difficulties people with physical disabilities sometimes face. Takahashi and Annapurna worked with charity AbleGamers for feedback on the game’s design.
Elsewhere in the interview, Takahashi explains that even though he now lives in America, his games still have Japanese elements to them. When Teen goes to school, for example, Takahashi noted: “I don’t know what school culture is like in the US, so I had no choice but to use Japanese elements.”
Takahashi answered that he was when asked who his target audience for his games was. “I make games that I feel satisfied with, so I’d like people to play them if they want to,” he replied. “I guess I probably should make games while thinking about the target audience, but I’ll work on that in my next life.
