"It's hard to say if the anti-copyright crowd is a small group or actually the majority, but let's say they compose about 20 percent of users, and another 20 percent completely and fully support copyright. " opinions don't make me angry - they inspire me to try harder," the composer responded in the Famitsu interview. Sugiyama's reputation for being outspoken has made him an easy target for criticism among Japanese gamers, similar to litigious anti-violence activist Jack Thompson over here. The more advanced a nation, generally the more respectful of copyright they are, but I would not call Japan at all advanced in this regard." "Looking at how aware the world's nations are of copyright, I'm sad to say that I have the impression Japan is lagging behind. "I'd like them to see this property the same way they'd see physical property," he said. Going into people's houses unannounced and rifling through all their possessions in search of herbs and gold is one of Dragon Quest's more amusing hallmarks, but Sugiyama doesn't have much respect for people who have no problem emulating that in real life.
Everyone is conscious of the fact that stealing what's in front of you is a crime, but with something that's not in plain sight, like intellectual property, a lot of people fail to understand what the issue is." If you stole an apple from a fruit stand, then you're plainly committing the crime of shoplifting going into someone's house and taking their jewelry is robbery. "If you make off with a physical item, everybody knows that's a crime. "The way I see it, it's like selling a set of thieves' tools," he commented to Famitsu magazine this week. (These often don't get reported on as much as his more conservative, nationalistic comments, such as that time in 2007 when he spearheaded a full-page ad in the Washington Post disputing Japan's involvement with "comfort women" during World War II.)ĭragon Quest IX may have sold 3 million copies in Japan within two days of launching, but that hasn't kept Sugiyama from getting steaming mad over gamers using flash-RAM carts to play the RPG for free. Lesser known is the fact that he's a boardmember on JASRAC, a copyright collection agency that's the equivalent of the RIAA in Japan, and he frequently comments to the media about copyright and piracy issues. Koichi Sugiyama is renowned across the world for the expansive orchestral work he's contributed to the Dragon Quest series.