I think this is funny and sad at the same time. I just hope the Japanese industry doesn't listen to them.
To be honest, some things just work. Turn based combat/RPGs are one of them. They have not changed because they are perfect as they are, do what they are supposed to, and are endlessly entertaining. People play them by the millions and love the genere, and no it's not "little emo kids". To be honest it's mostly an older crowd who can't "twitch" or prefer the intellectual exercise of stat management and such. It's not for everyone mind you, but a lot of people love it which is why they keep being made. People have been screaming about JRPGs for well... over a decade now. For all of the screaming they keep being made, and keep selling well enough to justify production.
What's more, I'll be honest in saying that what is generally called innovative seems pretty repetitive to me as well. I mean First Person and Third Person shooters haven't changed all that much since their inception, or at least no more so than turn based RPGs and such have within their own genere (things are always tweaked, added in, etc... in all generes). It seems to me that if something isn't a first or third person game that on some level relies on active, reflex-based input from the player, it's not considered to be innovative.
Now yes, there are good and bad games of all generes. Overall I think it can be said that "Final Fantasy XIII" was something of a failure despite some decent sales. Generally speaking though I think the problem was largely that they tried to dumb it down too much by focusing on criticism of people in the industry trying to tell them what they should be doing, and not listening to the people they were actually making the game for.
I expect "OMG, the Japanese game industry needs to change" to ultimatly mean nothing, as it will still remain one of the major pillars of gaming. I'll give Capcom's "Dead Rising" game(s) some points for being fairly innovative, however things like "Resident Evil 5" didn't impress me all that much, I mean basically what they did with RE 5 was kiddify the series by turning it from a survival horror game, into a twitch-based third person shooter. "Gears Of Zombies" or whatever. I didn't consider this really an "evolution" as much as imitation and jumping on an existing bandwagon.... Though I suppose that did help financially since it did appeal to the twitchy fingered kids of the world.
I am hoping Japanese developers will continue to stick with established, and loyal niche markets, make a decent profit, but not jump on the same bandwagon that every western developer is pigpiling on. I also suspect that by sticking to their guns, you'll probably see Japan's game industry survive the inevitable market burst.
