Toshimichi Mori

Toshimichi Mori was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of the city of Kawasaki in Japan. Growing up, Mr. Mori played a lot of games, but it wasn’t until he played a particular “amazing” RPG that he realized, “I want to make a game like THIS!” Unfortunately, as time went on, he lost interest in making RPGs.

Toshimichi Mori went to a vocational school for Entertainment and Media, where he learned about making games. However, the most important lesson he walked away with was how to interact and network with people. As Mr. Mori himself says, “I am very thankful to all my instructors.” Mr. Mori started out by taking part-time jobs testing or debugging games. Eventually, at the age of 22, he finally caught his break, and broke into the gaming industry with his first “major” game. The objective of the game was to run around a large plot of land, but unfortunately the game never made it to store shelves.

When asked how about what inspires him, Mr. Mori states, “A lot of my ideas came from anime and movies, or ideas that I had from when I was in high school. In retrospect, a lot of the ideas I’ve come up with are kind of embarrassing.”

Throughout his career, Toshimichi Mori has been influenced by many individuals, but only a few have earned his respect. “The person I respect the most would have to be Kojima Yoshio. He has done amazing things for this industry…” states Mr. Mori. However, on a more personal level, there are three people he respects: manga creator Hiroi Ooji, Shinkawa Youji, and lastly, Daisuke Ishiwatari.

People in Japan often say the video game industry is tough, and to a certain extent, Mr. Mori agrees, but as the saying goes, “high risk, high reward”, so he invites anyone who’s looking for a thrill to try their had at the gaming industry.