>>1007052
For what's it's worth
Blue Protocol had a cel-shaded artstyle that rivaled
GG Xrd's in terms of translating the anime aesthetic to real-time 3D.
Also, the game I blame for all of this crap?
Little Nightmares. Bandai Namco started publishing for Westerners in the '10s, but they were mostly low-profile like
Project CARS. Little Nightmares being a sensation on Jewtube probably convinced the higher-ups they could nab the Western market, completely missing the point that their financial success was mostly predicated on them publishing Japanese multimedia games, and led to them publishing for Supermassive, Double Fine, and Dontnod. If anything their connection to the West has taken them a turn for the worse.
I did like 11-11: Memories Retold but it's so obscure that it doesn't warrant a real mention, and it fell into Babylon's Fall and its trap of using shaders to badly replicate paintings in motion.
I can briefly understand the execs' thinking since Bandai Namco had a lot of fingers in the arcade business which has taken a huge hit with the scamdemic, but their arcade franchises have transitioned well to other mediums, case in point
Idolm@ster with
Starlit Season and the recent
Gakeun gacha that has had a hugely successful launch domestically, with the
Oreimo guy involved. Their Japanese roots are keeping them afloat globally and in their home country so I don't know why Bandai Namco would piss it all away on ugly 3D graphics that bomb with aplomb. They basically won when their Western competitors placed a pistol against their heads and pulled the trigger; hell, Japan's soft power can be used to maneuver into China and Russia's good graces rather easily. Why join them in their graves?