Yakuza Producer Amazed by GTA 5, Even Though He Hates It

Yakuza series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi isn’t a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series. In fact, the designer hates how the games push killing and committing crimes as some sort of fun activity. However, that doesn’t mean he fails to see how impressive a feat GTA 5 was last year. Japanese gaming blog 4Gamer (via Kotaku) recently asked 151 game developers which game impressed or amazed them the most in 2013, and Nagoshi went with the hyper-violent GTA 5.

“There are many games [in 2013] that caught my eye, however, I tend to be drawn to ones that are voluminous and have an edge to their uniqueness, and so [GTAV] was my choice,” he wrote. “Not only that, but I have to admit that I was impressed by the fact that, among all forms of entertainment throughout history, including movies and comics, [GTAV] was able to make record sales in record time. Behind the massive investment [by Rockstar] was a sure-fire strategy – and looking at the whole, content-wise, technology-wise, and business-wise, I can only call it 'perfect.’”

The man likes a good open-world game, and even if he still thinks the perception of violence in the title’s world is wrong, that doesn’t stop him from appreciating what Rockstar has done.