After several years and much anticipation, Earth Defense Force 6 is finally available worldwide on PlayStation and Steam. The series is famous for its cooperative third-person shooting, unique B-movie atmosphere, and vast assortment of missions. We jumped at the chance to interview Nobuyuki Okajima, who is a Producer at D3 PUBLISHER Inc. about this latest game and the EDF series as a whole.
Co-Optimus: Thanks for taking the time to communicate with us for this interview. First, could you tell us a little about your experience in game development and some of your favorite games?
Okajima: I started working in the game industry as a graphic designer in the mid-1990s (the hardware at the time included the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and PC Engine). After working as a sales assistant and director, I switched careers and worked in public relations. In 1999, I joined D3 Publisher at its inception and worked in advertising and public relations before becoming a producer.
I have a long list of games I like; for RPGs, I like the Dragon Quest series. On smartphone, I've been playing Clash of Clans for the last 10 years. And of course, for third-person shooters, I love the EDF series the most.
Noboyuki Okajima of D3 PUBLISHER, INC.
Co-Optimus: Earth Defense Force and Dragon Quest are my two all-time favorite series as well! The EDF series has been around since 2003 in Japan, although the first North American release was Earth Defense Force 2017, the third game in the series. How long have you been personally involved with the series, and what has your contribution been as the series producer?
Okajima: I have been working on this series since the first title "SIMPLE 2000 Series Vol. 31 THE Earth Defense Force" (the title in [Europe] was "Monster Attack"). I had no idea at the time that this series would last 20 years.
My job is Production Producer for all the titles. My job is mainly a coordinating role. As a production producer, my priority is to strike a good balance between investment and returns. Then, I give the creators the financial environment and time to do their work with as much confidence as possible. Lastly, I communicate the contents to as many users as possible while sharing the best and most important details.
Co-Optimus: I’d like to ask a few questions about the story and writing of the EDF series. Earth Defense Force 2017 began a storyline that concluded with EDF 4.1. Earth Defense Force 5 reset/rebooted the story, beginning a new arc that continues in Earth Defense Force 6. How would you compare these story arcs?
Okajima: The mainline EDF series is connected in pairs respectively; 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. (The titles for these in the western market were in order: Monster Attack, Global Defense Force, Earth Defense Force 2017, Earth Defense Force 2025, Earth Defense Force 5 and Earth Defense Force 6.
The worlds are reset for each pair, and a new and different Earth story begins. Therefore, EDF1, EDF3, and EDF5 always depict humanity's first encounter with invaders from outer space and the world being in a state of panic. In EDF2 and EDF4, the invaders, once repelled and driven back, are always depicted as reappearing several years later on a restored Earth.
EDF6 is a major change in these terms. While the same world is depicted several years after EDF5, the situation on Earth is very different from that of the previous titles. Although the invaders have been repelled, the aliens and monsters remaining on Earth continue to multiply. The devastated earth is unable to recover, and a distressed and suffering human race is depicted.
Co-Optimus: Thinking of the tone of the English writing and dialog of the EDF games, the stories themselves tend to be serious and even grim (large portions of humanity get wiped out by the aliens), but the in-game radio chatter is sometimes humorous (such as the soldier exclaiming, “They look just like us!” about the frog-like Colonists). Do the Japanese versions of the games have the same balance of serious storylines with occasionally silly dialog?
Okajima: I think people do silly things when they are going through hard times. It is somewhat upsetting for these things to be called "silly," but I am glad that you are enjoying it. The Japanese version was completed first, and then translated into English, so the dialogue is the same.
Co-Optimus: Many of the enemies in the EDF series resemble gigantic insects, such as ants, spiders, and hornets. In the world of EDF, do insects such as ants and spiders naturally exist on Earth like they do in the real world?
Okajima: In EDF3, the giant creature that the EDF team encountered for the first time is described as a "large insect," so at least in the world of EDF3 and EDF4, I think they recognize that they resemble [Earth] insects. In EDF5, the giant creatures are referred to as monsters, so maybe in the worlds of EDF5 and EDF6, they are not recognized as resembling insects.
Co-Optimus: Vehicles are a fun part of the EDF series. In the games with helicopters, however, I’ve always found the helicopters to be difficult to control. Are they intended to be challenging vehicles to pilot?
Okajima: The movement maneuvers of EDF infantrymen need to be easy to operate because they are basic movements, such as walking and running. A helicopter is a vehicle that requires special training and a license to operate. It is natural that it is more difficult to operate than walking or running.
Earth Defense Force 2025 combo co-op
Co-Optimus: Earth Defense Force 2025 on Xbox 360 had the unique feature of allowing split-screen players to join online games, a feature we call “combo co-op.” Is there any particular reason that the combo co-op feature hasn’t returned in subsequent games?
Okajima: That was in 2006. Now that online game play has become commonplace, there is no need to go to the trouble of splitting the screen for online play. It is commonplace for one person to use one monitor, so users probably don't want to do that.
Co-Optimus: Many EDF games have weapons and equipment that are offered as preorder bonuses or sold as DLC. These weapons are usually balanced for low difficulty levels, preventing them from being useful when playing the game on higher difficulties. Have you ever considered allowing the DLC equipment to scale with the mission/difficulty so that players can get more use from them?
Okajima: We have never considered this. These DLC weapons are planned and designed as items that will give you an advantage in the early stages of gameplay. The stronger weapons are worth playing for because they are acquired within the main game and acquiring them gives the users happiness and sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, the additional DLC missions are devilishly difficult. They are designed for elite EDF members who have acquired strong weapons to test their gear and skills.
Co-Optimus: Recent EDF games feature four playable classes, including the Fencer, the “tank” class. Depending on the weapons equipped, Fencers can dash, boost jump, and deflect damage. Since weapon abilities have such a major impact on how the Fencer plays, would it be possible to display the weapon abilities so that players don’t have to memorize them or look them up?
Okajima: Oh, that might be a good idea... Wait, no. I think it is irresponsible to go to the battlefield to fight unknown aliens without knowing the function and performance of the weapons you have equipped.
Co-Optimus: Now then, let’s focus on Earth Defense Force 6. How long was the game’s development time, and did you experience any big challenges during development?
Okajima: The game was in production for about 5 years. There was a period during which a global pandemic affected our scheduling. I am sure many of us can agree that we were no longer able to work the same way we did before.
Co-Optimus: What are a few of the improvements and/or new features of EDF 6?
Okajima: There is a wide range of improvements regarding gameplay. I will only mention a few regarding the evolution of the playable characters. Since they are fighting in a city of rubble in a devastated world, the playable characters have more actions and features that allow them to fight without worrying about obstacles.
Also, since it is impossible to request air support in a devastated world, Air Raiders fight using combat drones instead of air strikes, and the number of weapons they can equip has increased. Rangers and Wing Divers now have more secondary equipment and sub-weapon slots, and more options for fighting with a full complement of equipment. Fencers, who have seen the fewest changes, can also look forward to more new weapons.
Co-Optimus: Earth Defense Force 6 includes several strange new enemies to battle against. Do you have a favorite among the new enemies, and which one do you find the most challenging to encounter?
Okajima: The new enemy I recommend is the Android. I think the introduction of this enemy has improved the enjoyment of combat with ants, spiders, and other enemies that appear in large numbers. It is difficult to decide which enemy is the most difficult to defeat, but the most feared by Japanese EDF members who have already played the game is the Excavator [(a flying mechanical drone that resembles a clam and shoots flames, also called Naker)]. Be especially careful with the Red Excavators.
Co-Optimus: Whereas EDF 5 and several previous games kept player’s offline and online mission progression separate, Earth Defense Force 6 shares the same mission progression between offline and online play. What influenced this (very welcome) change in how progression is handled?
Okajima: EDF6 contains the largest number of missions in the series ever. This is what many users want, and when the number of missions is this large, it would not be trendy to separate the game progression between online and offline.
Co-Optimus: Back in April, Epic Games published an article that claimed that Earth Defense Force 6 has “added crossplay by adopting Epic Online Services.” Does EDF 6 actually have crossplay between different platforms? If so, which platforms can play with each other?
Okajima: While maintaining the online play features that were well received in the previous version, EOS has been introduced to enable cross-play between the PS5 and PS4 versions. Cross-play between PS5 and PS4 is now possible.
Co-Optimus: The time between the Japanese release of EDF 6 and the worldwide version has been about two years. Why did it take longer to release the worldwide version than it did for previous installments?
Okajima: After finishing the main Japanese version of the game, the creators began working on updates and creating additional missions. We did not wait to start localization of the game until after the release of the game, as the worldwide version production began after that. Also, compared to a standard third-person shooter game, this game requires a large amount of spoken dialogue. Recording all the different languages takes a good amount of time. We apologize to those who have been waiting for the worldwide release, but it's not all bad news. Since the Japanese version has been released earlier, you can play the game in the latest state with many updates. Also, last year we won the Excellence Award at the Japan Game Awards 2023. Although it was not our goal to win this award, we believe that the western users will have more confidence in the game content and purchase it.
Co-Optimus: It has been great discussing Earth Defense Force with you! Do you have any final messages for international EDF fans?
Okajima: Thank you for waiting. EDF6 is now available worldwide. The invaders will try to eliminate humanity by all means and by all quantities. As you know, there are not enough EDF members to keep the peace on earth. We need your help. EDF6 is waiting for you to join us. EDF! EDF!
Don't miss our full EDF 6 co-op review!
Earth Defense Force 6 is now available on PlayStation and Steam for $59.99. On PlayStation, a deluxe edition is also available for $89.99 that bundles the game with DLC. The Steam version of EDF 6 is fully Steam Deck compatible.