You read that right. Video games are evil. At least from the perspective of the creator of the much loved anime, Mobile Suit Gundam.
Yoshiyuki Tomino dropped a bomb at the 2009 CESA Developers Conference when he unequivocally made his stance against one of the most popular past times of modern times: video gaming. He delivered a keynote speech, wherein he said:
“I think that video games are evil. [Gaming] is not a type of activity that provides any support to our daily lives, and all these consoles are just consuming electricity! Let’s say we have about three billion people on this planet wasting their time, bringing no productivity at all. Add 10 billion more people, and what would happen to our planet? Video games are assisting the death of our planet!”
I do get his point, especially about the part about using up electricity. However, I find it totally ironic that he said something about providing any support to our daily lives. Come on now, we all love Gundam but does it provide any support to our daily lives? More so, it is beyond irony – Gundam has been involved in countless video games over the years. Where was Tomino when these were being made and he was making money? In addition to this, do not forget the thousands (or is it millions?) of Gundam kits and toys that have been produced and sold in the past decade? Where they all environment-friendly?
What do you think of his statement?