The creator of Katamari Damacy discusses his departure from Bandai Namco and his audience: “I’ll tackle that in my next life.”

Keita Takahashi is probably one of the most recognizable names in games, in no small part thanks to a game that needs no introduction, Katamari Damacy. That game was made at Namco, before it became the Bandai Namco we know today, and Takahashi actually left the studio back in 2006 around the time they merged, and in a recent interview with GameSpark (as translated by Automaton), the developer has shared the reason behind his departure.

“I left the company because I didn’t want to be limited to only working with the people there,” Takahashi quite plainly put it. “I wondered why I was only making games with Japanese people. I thought if I could develop games with more people from other countries, I would be able to get ideas from different perspectives. I’m currently developing games with a range of people from all over the world.”

Takahashi is currently working on to a T at his studio Uvula, a quite lovely looking game that looks to explore disability and the small difficulties that come in daily life in his usual, quirky way. Despite working with a more global team these days, he did admit that he doesn’t know “what school culture is like in the US, so I had no choice but to use Japanese elements” in to a T.

He still thinks that there’ll be something for everyone in the game though, as the main character doesn’t want to go to school because they’re being bullied, and Takahashi thinks that “this is something that happens worldwide, not just in Japan. I was actually bullied myself, and never felt like going to school.”

I enjoy Takahashi’s work a lot, Katamari is a game I’d recommend to probably anyone, and Wattam was a delight too, weirdness and all. Whether I’m the target audience or not doesn’t seem to matter much to Takahashi either as he said: “I make games that I feel satisfied with, so I’d like people to play them if they want to. I guess I probably should make games while thinking about the target audience, but I’ll work on that in my next life.” Quite happy that he’s making the games he is in this one myself.

To a T is due out May 28th.