There has been some controversy around the term Japanese Role Playing Games or JRPG. The term has been criticized as being a discriminatory label to Japanese developers.
The term JRPG became popular in the 90s as a way for the press and gamers to differentiate between the Role Playing Games released by Western developers on the PC and consoles. Most of the early JRPGs, like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, were heavily influenced by visual novel adventure games.
However, Japanese-made RPGs have declined since then and there have been instances that the term being used in a discriminatory manner by critics and developers. Some Japanese creators have spoken out against the use of the term.
Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida recently said that he wasn't a fan of the term JRPG. In an interview with YouTuber Skill Up, Yoshi-P said the term felt discriminator and had negative connotations.
"For us as Japanese developers, the first time we heard it, it was like a discriminatory term, as though we were being made fun of for creating these games, and so for some developers, the term can be something that will maybe trigger bad feelings because of what it was in the past," Yoshida said.