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[Katana_Strikes]

It would be really good for the market as a whole if both Xbox got more Japanese support and (the important thing) that they sell well on the format. More Japanese games being successful is better for everyone. Something we started to lose last gen for various reasons but a successful PS4 and possibly Switch has brought these Japanese games back to the forefront.

However, poor Japanese support for Xbox goes back a long way and the audience isn't there (of course). With MS doubling down on its homeland the audience is even less likely to buy Japanese games than they were last gen. We've seen that with the bulk of Japanese games already released and that includes key big franchises. So it's a tough one for Japanese devs to invest, certainly smaller ones. As poor sales on Xbox could negate the success of the PS4 version meaning less chance we see more games on any platform.

I don't know what MS can do to turn it around but it won't be cheap. They'll have to pay to help with development and marketing (and still end up selling poorly on the format) and actual invest in full exclusives (even more expensive/risky). None are guaranteed to be successful and could end up just being costly mistakes for both MS and the developer.

In the end MS does need to expand its userbase but I think it's an impossible task without considerable investment. And with a lacking first party, I can't see how they'll want to throw so much at Japan. If they'd continued to invest last gen, than this gen could have been easier for them and may not have found themselves in the situation they're currently in.

 

[LordRaptor]

I don't know what MS can do to turn it around but it won't be cheap. They'll have to pay to help with development and marketing (and still end up selling poorly on the format) and actual invest in full exclusives (even more expensive/risky). None are guaranteed to be successful and could end up just being costly mistakes for both MS and the developer.

Funding playable demos would help for titles which are mechanics-reliant not spectacle-reliant, because a game that feels great to play but has a much lower production budget than a western AAA that looks great will never win any comparisons other than actually being played.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Words are wind. The Xbox and the Xbox 360 had many good Japanese games. The Xbox One doesn't. I won't believe it until I see it again.

You seriously going to make out that the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Dark Souls 3 aren't good games. Given the state of the Japanese market, more and more Japanese developers need to look to the west. It's a shame that Yakuza isn't truly multi platform to help get the best sales

 

[faridmon]

I'll believe it when I see it.

If they happen to get more Japanese games, then I would be more likely to get the machine

 

[Primethius]

You seriously going to make out that the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Dark Souls 3 aren't good games. Given the state of the Japanese market, more and more Japanese developers need to look to the west. It's a shame that Yakuza isn't truly multi platform to help get the best sales

He didn't say that? Compared to the Xbox and 360, the XB1 had a compartively poor Japanese lineup.

 

[That1BlackGuy]

It's like people don't seem to know or realise that the likes of Capcom, Namco, Sega, Fromsoftwsre are Japanese developers. There's is loads of Japanese games on the one, just no exclusives.

Yep, as I said earlier the problem isn't that Xbox doesn't get Japanese support because they clearly do, the problem is that it'll never be enough. They are being held to a standard they'll never reach by virtue of market forces.

 

[mejin]

MS is doing nothing with their first party, we can't expect developers to do otherwise.

 

[Maverick-ick]

I don't see the problem. I'm no developer but the investment to port a game from PC or ps4 can't be that expensive? That investment should be payed off surely by 50-100k sold units if the game is already released on ps4 and PC. I can guarantee a high anticipated Japanese game sold ww on digital or even physical disc will sell that much on Xbox, Ww, at least.
So make the game on as many platforms as possible. Spread out the risk and sell more. Sell more and earn more.

And btw, it's not really up to the developers in Japan to decide which plattform. It's the publishers decision and it's the publishers like Sega and SE MS should make a deal with. Start with the giants and the smaller will come.
Why not start with a discount on the license to publish games on the Xbox plattform for the first 3 years? Minimal the risk even more. Or perhaps guarantee a no risk at all? Pay for the port? So many ways to continue further to make this happen.

Owners of Xbox are calling for this so there's a market for it.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

You seriously going to make out that the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Dark Souls 3 aren't good games. Given the state of the Japanese market, more and more Japanese developers need to look to the west. It's a shame that Yakuza isn't truly multi platform to help get the best sales

It says a lot that the Japanese games which does well on XB1 are the ones that can be disguised as western games on the surface.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

I don't see the problem. I'm no developer but the investment to port a game from PC or ps4 can't be that expensive? That investment should be payed off surely by 50-100k sold units if the game is already released on ps4 and PC. I can guarantee a high anticipated Japanese game sold ww on digital or even physical disc will sell that much on Xbox, Ww, at least.
So make the game on as many platforms as possible. Spread out the risk and sell more. Sell more and earn more.

And btw, it's not really up to the developers in Japan to decide which plattform. It's the publishers decision and it's the publishers like Sega and SE MS should make a deal with. Start with the giants and the smaller will come.
Why not start with a discount on the license to publish games on the Xbox plattform for the first 3 years? Minimal the risk even more. Or perhaps guarantee a no risk at all? Pay for the port? So many ways to continue further to make this happen.

Owners of Xbox are calling for this so there's a market for it.

That's not how it works.

Why would anyone put those ressources for maybe turning a profit when they could be put in better use earning more money.

For exemple let's look at Square Enix for exemple. I don't think that porting FFXII Remaster would be a huge cost for them but why would they do that when they can continue providing payed content for FFXV, payed content which will most likely earn them more then whatever they could be making with an XB1 version of FFXII?

Those publishers are working with finite ressources, they have to maximise profit on most of them. Trying to grow an Japanese friendly user base after 2 generations of failure seems pointless.

 

[Dark_castle]

Like Scalebound, oh wait

 

[Keinning]

It says a lot that the Japanese games which does well on XB1 are the ones that can be disguised as western games on the surface.

Does it? The same games do well on PS4 too and would do well on switch if they had versions

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Does it? The same games do well on PS4 too and would do well on switch if they had versions

But on those other platforms they're not the only type of Japanese games to do well.

 

[Logash]

Yeah the top Japanese developers are backing the Switch with their TOP AAA titles . If there is one system that's lacking it's the Switch for 3rd party Japanese games.

Sure but the Switch hasn't even been out for a year and there is no doubt that it will end up having more big Japanese exclusives than both Xbox One and PS4. It's obvious which is why people are including it there even though it isn't there yet.

Also, I'd like to point out that Xbox One does have Japanese games and from the big third parties too but it seems that what it's missing is more important than what it has. Big Japanese third parties will support it but it missing games like Nier, Persona, Yakuza, Tales of, Ni No Kuni, Nioh, Dragon Quest, Danganronpa, and all the other random anime based games doesn't help at all. The problem is that while you can sit here and say that Xbox has Japanese games and list some great ones, it doesn't change the fact that PS4 has all those games plus the ones I listed and that is the problem.

 

[chronic_archaic]

Hope this is true. They've been making a lot of effort into getting stuff already confirmed (MHW, SAO) that I didn't think would come to Xbox One.

The skepticism in this thread though. Christ.

I think my biggest issue is ease of porting, at least in terms of games with PC versions. You'd think XBO versions wouldn't take much effort to make given how close the platform is to Windows 10.

 

[Keinning]

But on those other platforms they're not the only type of Japanese games to do well.

But on the Xbox the others titles are not avaliable, so you can't compare anyway.

You're picking games with mass appeal as reference as to what xbox gamers "enjoy most" when the same games are successful anywhere.

 

[Guymelef]

Sure but the Switch hasn't even been out for a year and there is no doubt that it will end up having more big Japanese exclusives than both Xbox One and PS4. It's obvious which is why people are including it there even though it isn't there yet.

There is no doubt that Switch will have more big Japanese exclusives than PS4?

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Does it? The same games do well on PS4 too and would do well on switch if they had versions

Those aren't the only type of Japanese games that do well on PS

Take Tales of Vesperia, was one of the most favorite game of the series and making it a 360 exclusive produced miserable sales.

 

[BigEmil]

The amount of Japanese games on PS4 that missed a Xbox One version is insane after all this time, the people who cares about it already bought a PS4 by now

Even with MS now pushing for more Japanese games to come to Xbox One I doubt still all the upcoming ones will be on it, only few select ones mostly the most mainstream ones most likely

 

[cakely]

I personally do not expect to see more Japanese games coming to the Xbox One.

Spoiler

Other than the normal amount of multiplats, anyway.

 

[ianpm31]

Hope this is true. They've been making a lot of effort into getting stuff already confirmed (MHW, SAO) that I didn't think would come to Xbox One.

The skepticism in this thread though. Christ.

Same old song and dance. With the exception of maybe ff15 Japanese companies lose money porting to xbox. We've seen the usual sales ratio between ps4/xbox at around 85/15 for Japanese games. There's just no base for these games on that platform. Just a loud minority on the internet making a big deal about it. PS4/Switch seems like the go-to combo for most Japanese games if at all

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

There is no doubt that Switch will have more big Japanese exclusives than PS4?

Well, Nintendo first party for one. The 3DS had a load as well, but I imagine that, given the high fidelity of the Switch, there may be a fair few 3DS only franchises that end up as Switch/PS4 games. We'll see though, but the post you quoted isn't exactly crazy talk.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

But on the Xbox the others titles are not avaliable, so you can't compare anyway.

You're picking games with mass appeal as reference as to what xbox gamers "enjoy most" when the same games are successful anywhere.

Why do you think they're not available?

When 80% of the sales from Final Fantasy Type-0 are on PS4 (when the gap between the XB1 and PS4 wasn't that big) you can understand why smaller developers are wary.

 

[Logash]

There is no doubt that Switch will have more big Japanese exclusives than PS4?

Well that's relative really. If by big you only mean the big third party games that will sell massive numbers than no, PS4 will certainly have more. But I would personally agrue that the 3DS has a bigger Japanese third party presence that I care about and I think Switch will be up there too. Although, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Switch and PS4 shared a lot of exclusives like the Vita and PS4 do now.

 

[Keinning]

Why do you think they're not available?

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

 

[Primethius]

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

Yea, it's not like we have a couple of generations of sales data or anything. Or even sales ratios between PS4/XB1 this gen for big, triple AAA Japanese games that have been fairly consistent across multiple titles and genres pointing to exactly the kind of performance we'd expect to see in smaller, more niche titles.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I personally do not expect to see more Japanese games coming to the Xbox One.

Spoiler

Other than the normal amount of multiplats, anyway.

They've tried for three generations now. It just doesn't work.

 

[Logash]

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

I disagree that lack of interest isn't one of the reasons but I think that KH3 is a good point. While it is pretty clear that the PS4 version will outsell it regardless, I'm sure that not having the full collection available on Xbox One will not help it's sales. When they were releasing the KH collections on PS4 I remember thinking that it was a shame that they didn't on Xbox because while it may not have made them much money, I'm sure it would have drummed up interest in the franchise among the Xbox crowd. Even if that interest was ultimately not significant enough to generate high sales, it would have been a good gesture to the people who are interested in that sort of thing on Xbox.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

The lack of interest is absolutely one of them, I provided you with a split for Type 0 but it's far from the only exemple, Tales of Vesperia is another one. Square dropping most of their Xbox support when it comes from Japanese games is also an exemple. Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei to a lesser extend are the only Japanese publisher supporting Xbox. And even then it's not with all of their games since Gust's games and Ni No Kuni 2, Tales of and Digimon are skipping Microsoft's console.

It's been close to twenty years since the Xbox came out, Microsoft got support right at the start of it. How long should they try?

And to your last point, if that was the case, surely Oblivion, Fallout and most PC franchise which came out last year on 360 would've bombed right?

 

[ethomaz]

Greenberg strikes again

 

[Champion]

https://youtu.be/iHQxE-CNKkA

I'm dying....lmao!
I'm also confused by the anger in a lot of posts in this thread. More platforms for games to sell will only be a good thing for publishers.

 

[SmokedMeat]

You seriously going to make out that the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Dark Souls 3 aren't good games. Given the state of the Japanese market, more and more Japanese developers need to look to the west. It's a shame that Yakuza isn't truly multi platform to help get the best sales

You seriously going to respond to that comment as though Xbox One has an equal representation of Japanese games as Xbox and Xbox 360??

 

[RPGam3r]

I'm dying....lmao!
I'm also confused by the anger in a lot o posts in this thread. More platforms for games to sell will only be a good thing for publishers.

Don't be confused it is barely veiled console warring.

 

[malfcn]

Damned if they do and don't.

"We don't have any Japanese games"
Haha haha.

"We will have Japanese games"
Ha haha haha ha.

"We have Japanese games"
Ha ha haha ha.

"We no longer have Japanese games again"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

 

[stryke]

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Ps3 install base didn't lag by 50% during the whole life cycle. And if you paid attention to bf3/bf4stats.com if showed a very healthy shooter population.

 

[Crayon]

They really tried n the past but it's not a good arrangement. If you port a Japanese game to Xbox, you are doing so for an English audience. If they sold more Xboxes in Japan and the port could sell to a Japanese domestic audience it would be different.

 

[jayu26]

I'm dying....lmao!
I'm also confused by the anger in a lot o posts in this thread. More platforms for games to sell will only be a good thing for publishers.

Don't be confused it is barely veiled console warring.

Nothing about this is "console warring" it's reality of business. Let me tell you how we got Yakuza, which some of think should be on Xbox by default, back in the West.

Sega was done with Yakuza series in the west. They had tried localizing with good quality voice acting, they tried saving money with just Japanese voices, they tried saving even more money by making it digital only. None of it made money. And all this happen on PlayStation with its Japanese games loving audience.

When Gio started his build the list campaign we threw whatever names we could, often half jokingly, and Yakuza was one of them.

At the same time, PlayStation found new audience in China and Hong Kong and so did Yakuza. Hong Kong has a sizable English speaking population, so it made sense for Sega to do English subtitles for release in that region.

Both of these factors are responsible for getting Yakuza back to west. Nothing about this was default. In fact, outside of Japan, China and Hong Kong continues to be priority for Sega when it comes Yakuza games, not North America or Europe. PlayStation's global audience and actively working with Japanese devs and publishers is the reason it gets those games.

Xbox with its North American focus can't change that with Phil taking one trip to Japan.

 

[semiconscious]

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

well, in that case, ms better get started real soon, eh? ...

 

[LiquidSolid]

You seriously going to make out that the likes of Resident Evil 7 and Dark Souls 3 aren't good games. Given the state of the Japanese market, more and more Japanese developers need to look to the west. It's a shame that Yakuza isn't truly multi platform to help get the best sales

Yakuza literally only just found a little success on the PS4 with its seventh attempt and you want them to port it to a system that's far less receptive to Japanese games? It's as if people think these games will magically sell well if they just port them to Xbox.

In reality, the way to "best sales" for Yakuza should be to increase marketing and continue building up their audience on PS4. Maybe they can move to PC at some point but Xbox would be out of the question.

Why do you think they're not available?

When 80% of the sales from Final Fantasy Type-0 are on PS4 (when the gap between the XB1 and PS4 wasn't that big) you can understand why smaller developers are wary.

Nitpick: 80% of FF Type-0's sales were on PS4 in the US and UK. Take it worldwide and the gap widens even more significantly.

Several reasons, but lack of general interest is not one of them. It's ludicrous to define one entire userbase composed of millions of users like that. Shouldn't the PS3 receive any shooters back in the previous gen because they sold way better on the 360 as well?

Fanbases need to be nurtured. That takes times, and effort. No one is going to buy japanese games in droves when they're just receiving one version out of a franchise with 20 or more games. Yet i'm absolutely sure that gaf will use KH3 numbers to "prove" xbox gamers don't care about japanese games because it sold way more on the PS4

Just because there's a handful of people in this thread interested in them, doesn't mean there's wider interest. The sales numbers of the few JRPGs Xbox does get should tell you as much.

And while, yes, fanbases do need to be grown, I shouldn't need to point out that it's not third parties jobs to do that growing. It's Microsoft's console and it's Microsoft's job to build its audience and ensure third parties can be successful on their platform.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

I think they should put effort into getting ports of a few of the bigger Japanese games, even if only released digitally.

Not sure about 1st party investment though. I think money would be better spent on something that diversifies the lineup, but still primarily caters to a western market.

 

[Yukinari]

Would be surprised if any japanese devs want to work with them after Scalebound.

Didnt kamiya or someone at platinum say its not worth it?

 

[Marcel]

Cancelling a Japanese exclusive isn't a great way to ingratiate yourself with Japanese developers.

 

[shingi70]

Would be surprised if any japanese devs want to work with them after Scalebound.

Didnt kamiya or someone at platinum say its not worth it?

Scalebound did looks really rough.

Honestly if your an Xbox gamer who likes Japanese games just bite the bullet and by a PlayStation.

 

[psynergylover]

https://youtu.be/iHQxE-CNKkA

LMAO!!!

 

[NolbertoS]

Honestly if your an Xbox gamer who likes Japanese games just bite the bullet and by a PlayStation.

This.

MS still fighting to get Japanese 3rd party support every generation. And every generation, they get lacklustre sales. I think Platinum Games, the DQ series, Tales of, Yakuza, NISA, Atlus are never coming, unless the moneyhat includes potential losses in sale of not selling enough numbers. At this point, maybe CAVE can throw more SHUMPS to them too. MS should really start focusing on the 1st party eventually, just moneyhatting 3rd party Japanese support is unsustainable, no matter how many times, Phil Spencer travels.

 

[shingi70]

This.

MS still fighting to get Japanese 3rd party support every generation. And every generation, they get lacklustre sales. I think Platinum Games, the DQ series, Tales of, Yakuza, NISA, Atlus are never coming, unless the moneyhat includes potential losses in sale of not selling enough numbers. At this point, maybe CAVE can throw more SHUMPS to them too. MS should really start focusing on the 1st party eventually, just moneyhatting 3rd party Japanese support is unsustainable, no matter how many times, Phil Spencer travels.

I'm a pretty big xbox guy it's been my main system alongside my Nintendo stuff. As cool as the One X is, I can't even think about getting it when I can grab a PS4 that has a ton of exclusives.

 

[Cynn]

Xbox won't ever be big in Japan but it's still important to have Japanese software for Xbox owners. It rounds out the platform.

This is the kind d of stuff MS needs to be spending money on. I approve.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

so why are we convinced that MS burned platinum and not the other way around? As the publisher, MS can only afford to invest in projects that they believe is good enough to make them money. How are we so certain that the game wasnt turning out to be a complete disaster and MS pulled the plug before it became a waste of money?

Doesn't matter, even if that was the case it still left Platinum in a very bad spot. Microsoft is probably the last company Platinum wants to be making games for now. From what I hear about Japanese devs your reputation is very important, once you burn a bridge like that its very hard to get back in.

 

[David___]

so why are we convinced that MS burned platinum and not the other way around? As the publisher, MS can only afford to invest in projects that they believe is good enough to make them money. How are we so certain that the game wasnt turning out to be a complete disaster and MS pulled the plug before it became a waste of money?

We already have an example of MS of screwing over a dev with Darkside/Phantom Dust. Plus at the time of cancellation journalists came out saying they've heard the same thing happened with Platinum and Scalebound

 

[Mikey Jr.]

How do Japanese games sell on Xbox ?

Is there a point for the devs to even trying ?

I'm gonna go ahead and say poorly.

Look at SE support and other Japanese devs support.

Their actions speak louder than words. They are in the business of making money. They have better data than anyone here on GAF. So thats really all the proof you need.