These days, he is increasingly often invited to lecture students at technical schools and young people who aim to enter the gaming industry. There is something he always tells them.
"I'm sure there are many people who think that the job of creating games is about making the kind of game you think will be fun, but that's not the case. Our job is to make games that the customers will enjoy."
As Nagoshi began to talk, the students listened intently.
"However hard you work on a game, if people say it's not fun you won't make any money. It's simple. This applies not only to games, but restaurants and shops, too. By offering food or products that will make other people happy, you start to earn money. Continuing to do this and creating lots of things that will make people happy is the reason we're alive."
People won't always find the same games fun that you think will be. A passion to make fun games is definitely required, but you must never forget that the players' feelings are most important. This is what Nagoshi told the kids.
When speaking on the subject, sometimes he receives questions like: "If there's an idea you think sounds fun but you don't think players would take well to it, do you have to twist it around with the general public in mind?"
Nagoshi says that this is the biggest dilemma for people who make games, and is also the starting point.
"Everyone thinks the game they've come up with sounds better than anything else. But when they submit it at a planning meeting, no one finds it interesting. Even the proposal for Ryu ga Gotoku was knocked from all directions at first. I thought that maybe the game I thought was fun was boring to everyone else, and it really bothered me. It's tough. But that's where you start.
"If everyone says it's boring, you have to make it so that they all say it's fun. You have to think up an idea that they will like, and rework it over and over. But if there's something you feel you absolutely can't compromise on, you need to be prepared to take it all the way. Perhaps foreign players won't find Ryu ga Gotoku fun, but I still pushed on with it, and today it's a hit. You won't always be right with this kind of decision, though. Creators are always troubled, and must always keep fighting."
Making a game that will make people happy is a tough road. Those who want to become creators despite this should go on fighting and not run away. People who overcome their hardships are the ones who are able to create games that will truly strike a chord with people.
"We used only to have home consoles and game centres. Now there are online games as well, and mobile phone apps, not to mention portable games for things like the PSP and Nintendo DS, and I think we'll see more and more of these. It's tricky. Also, in the past you would release some things in Japan and they would sell overseas too, but now they don't sell at all. Ryu ga Gotoku was targeted at Japan, but that doesn't mean we totally abandoned foreigners. I think we need to seriously consider where we're going to take the methodology of taking things overseas as Japanese people." (Nagoshi)