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Phil Spencer interview about Xbox in Japan

Castef

Castef

Banned
Interesting reading here on Play-Asia. Phil Spencer is asking about the Xbox brand in Japan and provides some nice answers - along with some quite useless ones.

Highlights:
- They (MS) are still looking to achieve some sort of success in Japan
- Japanese developers seem interested in Xbox One S
- Microsoft is securing more collaborations with japanese developers after working with Inafune and Kamiya, cites Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey as examples on Xbox 360
- Cites Final Fantasy XV as an important title coming to Xbox One from japanese devs
- Cites Persona 5 and Nioh as examples of games japanese gamers are looking for

Overall interesting interview, quite on-spot.
 
I hope he or someone else from MS can read this.

They need to sort our their store presence. There's no reason why a BIC CAMERA in Ikebukuro has nothing for the Xbox.

And yeah, bring back the Gooch, please
 
They can offer bucket loads of money for the likes of Persona and Nioh, but it just won't be worth it for them - atleast in Japan.
 
Phil...

200.gif
 
Cobalt Izuna said:
I hope he or someone else from MS can read this.

They need to sort our their store presence. There's no reason why a BIG CAMERA in Ikebukuro has nothing for the Xbox.

And yeah, bring back the Gooch, please
Click to expand...

The reason is simple.

Consumers do not give a shit about Xbox in Japan, so why would it get shelf space at retailers?
 
I feel like they tried pretty hard to get 360 popular in Japan and nothing worked, so I'm not sure why they want to keep trying. Japan is becoming less and less of a console gaming country anyways. But I guess if this means more games funded from Japanese devs then I'm all for it.
 
They seem interested? Or were they being polite?

They've seem to have done so little all these years to win Japan, that I don't blame people there for not caring. Itd help if they had a mobile platform.
 
Kyoufu said:
The reason is simple.

Consumers do not give a shit about Xbox in Japan, so why would it get shelf space at retailers?
Click to expand...

Around when Xbone was released, it had a shit ton of Titanfall shelf space and it all looked like it was for the 360.

MS has good presence for the Surface.

But for real, the Xbox One S is sexy. I feel like it has a small chance to build some brand recognition if they were a little more aggressive.
 
- Microsoft is securing more collaborations with japanese developers after working with Inafune and Kamiya, cites Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey as examples on Xbox 360
Click to expand...

Yeah... I have hard time believing that.
 
KingBroly said:
Pay for Dragon Quest. If they pay for Dragon Quest, they'll probably succeed.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. They need consistent attention from JP devs instead of just one or two hits. Dragon Quest is not Splatoon or Miinecraft that people can just play one game on the console forever. MS spent all those money for (timed) exclusive JP games like Last Odyssey, ToV, or SOIV. It's stupid. They should have spent the money to insure 3rd party devs release all their games on X360 instead of just buying out one or two (not so successful) titles. PS3 was shit for a long period of time and with the right push MS could have made XBOX a thing.
 
What can he say. He knows they can't and won't turn it around in Japan, but it's not like he's just going to come out and say it.
 
Is winning the Japanese market mostly symbolic now? I don't know how big console sales numbers are over there but I've heard they're on the decline. A large effort to unseat Sony doesn't seem worth it
 
I guess they should:
- fund Lots Odyssey 2 and/or Blue Dragon 2, on Play Anywhere
- get-that-damn The Last Remnant 2 from Square Enix
- try to get some PS4 exclusives, such as Nioh or Persona 5
- launch some baits to small japanese devs and to japanese indie developers to get a continuous flux of AA japanese games on Xbox One or Xbox Play Anywhere
 
I don't care how it does or doesn't work out for MS financially, I would love to see the level of Japanese game funding that the original Xbox and 360 triggered make a return.
 
they gave it the good college try with the 360 and it ended with just a blip on the radar. xbox will always be the niche of niches in japan.
 
Start by removing the print requirement, let devs offer digital only games and work with them to bring games onto the Xbox One, too.
 
they try get clowned and nobody buys the Japanese games on Xbox

They don't try and say fuck em then they get clowned for lack of diversity.

Unwinnable situation
 
Cobalt Izuna said:
Around when Xbone was released, it had a shit ton of Titanfall shelf space and it all looked like it was for the 360.

MS has good presence for the Surface.

But for real, the Xbox One S is sexy. I feel like it has a small chance to build some brand recognition if they were a little more aggressive.
Click to expand...

Hardly. Microsoft as a whole has very weak presence in Japan, Surface included.

Xbox One S can be as sexy as it wants, but the platform was dead on arrival in Japan and is a non-entity ever since. They were aggressive with the 360 and it didn't get them anywhere.
 
120v said:
they gave it the good college try with the 360 and it ended with just a blip on the radar. xbox will always be the niche of niches in japan.
Click to expand...

blip on the radar with the best Japanese action game library of that gen tho
 
Chobel said:
Yeah... I have hard time believing that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I mean we're 3 years into the generation and the only hint of this I've seen is Scalebound, announced in 2014 and still not out. Phil isn't going to lie about something like this though so I'm curious to see what's in the works.
 
Cobalt Izuna said:
I hope he or someone else from MS can read this.

They need to sort our their store presence. There's no reason why a BIC CAMERA in Ikebukuro has nothing for the Xbox.

And yeah, bring back the Gooch, please
Click to expand...

Why dedicate shelfspace to hardware that sells barely more than 100 units a week across the entire country?

You'd have so many stores just sitting on stock. Why would they do that?
 
Kyoufu said:
Hardly. Microsoft as a whole has very weak presence in Japan, Surface included.

Xbox One S can be as sexy as it wants, but the platform was dead on arrival in Japan and is a non-entity ever since. They were aggressive with the 360 and it didn't get them anywhere.
Click to expand...

Surface does very well in Japan, what are you on about?

Though let's be real, I have heard many times that Japanese people don't see Microsoft (and its logos) and premium. Perhaps it'll take something like Scorpio to change that around.

Do work with retailers, create bundles etc.

But you see, there's this whole nationalistic pride thing going on among Japanese companies.

makingmusic476 said:
Why dedicate shelfspace to hardware that sells barely more than 100 units a week across the entire country?

You'd have so many stores just sitting on stock. Why would they do that?
Click to expand...

Yeah, see I don't think you realise how extremely large a Bic Camera is. They have Xbone stuff there, it's just always old stock or no space for extra controllers, certain games are never there etc. It's like walking into a Sainsbury's, and having that sort of gaming space when you're next to the Sony stuff which is stocked like GAME.

Xbox Japan probably needs to be a little more "Japanese" in this sense. Tether the brand a little, work with a big phone company or something and get some deals in.

My point is, just having the "Japanese developed" games isn't enough. A lot of people here probably see the value in Nintendo games but can't be bothered getting the whole system for it, etc.

Just Japanese games won't do anything. The passionate devs don't care if they make money overseas, they want other Japanese people to know it exists.

Marketing deals like cross-platform games having the Xbox logo at the end is very important too. If you live in Tokyo and see the ads, it looks like Xbox doesn't have any of these games (and sometimes, some games are exclusive in Japan).

I hope they bring it back in full force with Scorpio.
 
Microsoft need to give up on Japan, games companies over there are very unlikely to sign deals with them when there fan Base is on Sony machines.
 
MatrixMan.EXE said:
Yeah, I mean we're 3 years into the generation and the only hint of this I've seen is Scalebound, announced in 2014 and still not out. Phil isn't going to lie about something like this though so I'm curious to see what's in the works.
Click to expand...

It's not like he's going to come out and say Japan is an afterthought though is he ?
 
Phil, make Blue Dragon backwads compatible, release Phantom Dust port-remake, get some deals to develop LO2 and BD2 and you will get at least a 200% raise in sales for several months in Japan (which is frankly easy to achieve now)
 
SE doesn't even have any JRPG's coming to XB1 outside Japan after XV and KH3 which were announced before the gen really started.


intheinbetween said:
Phil, make Blue Dragon backwads compatible, release Phantom Dust port-remake, get some deals to develop LO2 and BD2 and you will get at least a 200% raise in sales for several months in Japan (which is frankly easy to achieve now)
Click to expand...

So they would sell like 150 consoles a week instead of barely 50.
 
EBE said:
Is winning the Japanese market mostly symbolic now? I don't know how big console sales numbers are over there but I've heard they're on the decline. A large effort to unseat Sony doesn't seem worth it
Click to expand...

Yup. Microsoft would have a better shot at success with a new Windows Phone that was designed around gaming ie. Sony Xperia Play rather than a new console or making sure it sells. I always bring it up and people get super defensive for some reason, but Microsoft is also an outsider company. When they have PC's, Mobile gaming and 2 homegrown companies like Sony and Nintendo, they don't really need or want an Xbox.

Microsoft would do better to instead capture a larger slice of the rapidly growing non-JP Asian market. The sales they could potentially get from Singapore, South Korea, China, India, Indonesia and other places will offset the declining Japanese console market. Similar to how many other countries in Europe helped Sony last gen with PS3 and helped it stay competitive outside of UK.
 
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