Despite massive sales in the US, Grand Theft Auto IV sold like poop-flavored lollipops in Japan. It's baffling, even to a certain very experienced designer across the pond: Capcom vet Yoshiki Okamoto, best known for his work on such titles as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter (among others).

When asked by the Guardian what non-Japanese company produces the most innovative games that haven't caught on in Japan, Okamoto replied: "Rockstar Games. Rockstar is not unsuccessful in Japan, but their success here is on a much smaller scale than elsewhere in the world market. The low Japanese sales of the sandbox-style GTA series simply do not make any sense to me."

Maybe Rockstar should've made a special Japanese edition of GTA IV where Niko had spiked blonde hair (or flowing white hair) and a giant sword. In all seriousness, though, many successful western RPG's (typically more open-ended and nonlinear than Japanese RPG's) don't really do well over there, either. Some sort of sweeping statement like, "Japanese players don't like open-ended gameplay" seems extreme. There's something at work there, though, and it's vexing many Western developers besides Rockstar.