Despite "Phil's trip to Japan" things are looking pretty dry for Xbox, especially from Square-Enix

[Raide]

Is some ways it can be a little bit annoying to see smaller Japanese titles completely bypass the XB1 but at least we get PSO2!!!! Wooooo! Oh, and that Final Fantasy one.

MS need to make some publishers deals and get some titles on Game Pass, just to test the waters.

 

[Deleted member 45130]

I've never really understood the reasoning behind not making games like FFVII remake for Xbox when all of the other games minus XIV have made their way to the Xbox. How can this hurt anyone but the publisher?

Don't want to release FFVII Remake for Xbox? Cool, I won't buy it then. Only SE lose here.

 

[UltraMagnus]

To be honest, given that the XBox has virtually no foothold in Japan, and is no.2 (soon to be 3 after Switch) to the PS4 in the US and Europe ... I think it actually gets a disportionate amount of Japanese support if anything, lol.

Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts 3, Resident Evil 7, Monster Hunter World, Tales RPG, Soul Calibur VI, Tekken 7 ... I mean shit it's basically all the same major 3rd party support the PS4 gets minus one major IP (Dragon Quest) and better than what Nintendo has had in ages, lol.

 

[UltraMagnus]

I've never really understood the reasoning behind not making games like FFVII remake for Xbox when all of the other games minus XIV have made their way to the Xbox. How can this hurt anyone but the publisher?

Don't want to release FFVII Remake for Xbox? Cool, I won't buy it then. Only SE lose here.

Click to shrink...

FFVII Remake will be on the XBox One, I think that's pretty much a given. Heck I would not be that stunned if a Switch version is worked out eventually too.

They gonna collect that Sony "marketing" cheque and then milk the fuck out of it in hopes of part 2/3 and even 4 if they can manage it.

 

[MrTired]

last time i checked my country's data the wiiu was still miles ahead of the xbox one and the wii u did horribly.

Click to shrink...

Could I enquire into which country is that, if that's not to personal a question?

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Square knows who buys their games and it aint xbox players

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Chicken egg situation unfortunately. Square Enix game fans will not pick up an Xbox One as their main platform given SE's past with Sony in particular. But then they pull off asinine decisions. Just in 2019, they released Kingdom Hearts 3 on Xbox One: great! Except they did not release The Story So Far or any official story recap, which meant nobody who only plays on Xbox could play any other game officially before jumping into the millionth installment of a franchise with crazy twisted storyline. Then there's those nice Final Fantasy ports they brought to the various consoles: nice! Except for some reason they decided that two of them should not be released on Xbox One or Switch.

At the end of the day, they gotta do their best to give Xbox players their best if they want Xbox players buying their content. They can't just release a random port every now and then and pretend they'll be as excited as those on other platforms who played all chapters. And this isn't even exclusive to Square Enix. A recent example: not long ago we finally got a Ys game on Xbox One: a port of a game from 2006 instead of a newer one. If they never release anything on there, it's not gonna be one random port of a long-running series that gets an entire console's population on board.

This is the equivalent of Microsoft listening to the fans that Sony fans would like Forza games on their console, so they listen to feedback and release a port of 2009's Forza Motorsport 3 for 50 bucks on PS4. Oh, it's not selling well? Clearly Sony fans are not that interested after all.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

dragon quest 11 (another ue4 game) is also missing. as is builders 2.

Click to shrink...

As is the Star Ocean 1 remaster. There's a lot of stuff from SE randomly skipping Xbox One.

 

[Footos22]

Jawmuncher 100% agree. I find Square's decision making with Xbox particularly weird in how inconsistent it is.

"You can have Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered and ports of every other Final Fantasy game ever but you're not getting the FFVII Remake."

"You can have the port of Romancing SaGa 3 but you're not getting the remake."

"We want to bring more Dragon Quest to the West and get a bigger fan base for it in the West." *doesn't release Dragon Quest on the most Western console*

I mean, DQXI I can understand you thinking that would be niche in the West but Dragon Quest Builders for example would sell extremely well on Xbox based on sales for Minecraft and Portal Knights.

Trials of Mana and Oninaki not coming to Xbox personally shocked me particularly because one is an Unreal Engine 4 game (very easy to port to all platforms) and the other is an action RPG (and KH3, FFXV and NieR Automata all sold extremely well on Xbox meaning they should know action RPGs will sell well at this point).

How does Square even make these decisions? Flip a coin on every title and if it's heads, it's on PS4 and Switch but if it's tails, comes to all three? The decisions are wildly inconsistent and don't seem to follow any pattern.

Click to shrink...

How do you know ff7r isnt. It's first to PS4. Pretty obvious they can't say anything till that deals done.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

I definitely don't see the Market in Japan changing. At best it might be able to go back to the 360 days. I just figure with more and more sales of even Japanese-centric titles coming from the west, you would think some developers and publishers might try and branch out even if it's digital-only. Hell, we even have titles that released on Xbox in Japan and then skipped the console when they came to the west which is absolutely the strangest thing to me.

Click to shrink...

It's just not worth it to them. Developing for additional platforms takes time, money, and expertise. There isn't enough return on investment there, the potential sales from the western Xbox audience would likely not cover the costs for most games.

 

[Green Yoshi]

 

[Joni]

I don't understand why they can't release digital only.

Click to shrink...

Opportunity cost. These companies believe it is more profitable to have these teams work on something aside from porting.

 

[Pryme]

It's really unlikely that FF7R won't land on Xbox at some point.

Microsoft should probably push to get some of these games on Gamepass to help boost the JRPG playerbase on Xbox. Clearly, more people are keen to buy these games on PlayStation as we can see from the sales splits in the PAL charts.

 

[Fart Master]

Square knows who buys their games and it aint xbox players

Click to shrink...

it isn't 2007 porting games is cheap and honestly at this point is straight up pointless not to release on all consoles.

 

[Fortinbras]

I'll be busy with the FF games on Xbox until the Xbox version of FF7R launches so I'm good. The majority of Japanese games I'm interested in is available on Xbox so I won't complain.

Yakuza and the Sega Ages would be nice though.

Microsoft should help small developers with ports or publishing and put the games on Game Pass to build a fanbase for these smaller games.

 

[Detective Pidgey]

At this point it's not on MS anymore. Take Sega for example, the dev of Yakuza is open to bringing the franchise to Xbox but Sega just says nope. Square Enix with FF online, why is it taking so long? It has been in talks for God knows how long now.

Why is Platinum's new game skipping Xbox at all after Nier did reasonably well on Xbox One? I'm glad Xbox is getting Tales games again and the new one looks really good too. But for next gen I will keep in mind that I'm really gonna need a Sony system for all remaining Japanese games.

 

[crazillo]

It's very much a publisher thing more so than an Xbox thing. Ys Origins came over because for once DotEmu instead of XSEED published it in the west. I'm happy with Bandai Namco and Capcom support. SEGA is spotty but Square-Enix is the one I find really weird. So, SaGa 3 comes to Xbox - great. You can't tell me this game will have more anticipation than the Kingdom Hearts collection or the Trials of Mana remake though? Also Square could consider launching into Game Pass with some later ports. I think porting games over is easier than before and they are quite simply leaving money on the table. Even the new big AAA IP Babylon's Fall might skip Xbox entirely. There's also no excuse for the former 360-exclusive The Last Remnant remake or Star Ocean 4 remake to not hit Xbox at all!

With SEGA, I don't get why the Yakuza games are not being ported over as the creator has stated he would like to do so. Concerning Atlus, Microsoft actually announced a partnership in the late 2000s but then Atlus got bought by SEGA and you never heard of that partnership again after Catherine and Persona 4 Arena.

Putting Japanese games into PC Game Pass should be a good way to increase recognition. Valkyria Chronicles 1 is on PC Game Pass but sadly it lacks achievements. This would be a way to still have it on Xbox even if it's not the console per se (although I think the remaster should have hit Xbox, too). IMO, this would be a good way to introduce Yakuza to Xbox, too. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is another interesting model as it skipped Xbox in Japan -- for Japanese publishers the goal must be pushing global sales rather than the Japanese market.

I'm not sure how many people will buy a PS5 over Xbox because they can get all the Japanese content there but I think it's not a number to underestimate - so Xbox should make sure to get the lionshare of Japanese games on the platform.

 

[Nightengale]

Phil's trips to Japan was never promised to you as an assurance that they'll get every game out there.

It's a show of commitment that they care about that specific niche, and it's of noted importance to Phil himself, even if the reality is the audience for those kind of games isn't strong on that platform.

And stuff like Black Desert Online and CrossfireX shows that they're also looking at areas that are not the norm - the world of Asian PC gaming.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

Phil can take all the Japan trips in the world, as long as xbox gamers continue to not buy these niche Japanese games, these niche Japanese games won't come out on Xbox.

Click to shrink...

What I find confusing is the appeal of having these games that don't sell on your system in the first place. No weeb is gonna buy an Xbox only because some niche titles pop up, and all the effort that is put into getting ports is in vain since the established audience doesn't care except for some high profile Japanese games.
What I'm asking is, what's the point of a bloated gaming library full of games that your consumer doesn't care about and that won't get other consumers to switch their ecosystem of choice?

I feel like they should focus more on their strength and push for more western titles, that might be lacking on the competitors console. I think they need their own The Last of Us or God of War. Halo and Gears are great, but they are gamer's games, no one that is not a gamer is gonna sit down and watch their SO play them the way God of War and Naughty Dog do. These are the titles that push your brand and get people only partly invested to care and these big crazy AAAA games only happen in the West with its Hollywood culture and approach to game design. So MS should invest in those. Hell, let Halo and Gears teams make a new IP. Sony had great success with that.

 

[Holundrian]

MS and Japanese games is a tough uphill battle because even their own consumer base is very anti Japanese games.
I was told on ERA during or close to the release of Crackdown by the Xbox diehard club that they have no interest in weeb games not even ports and would rather take more Crackdowns.
Like there is an actual sentiment of not wanting to diversify the games available on Xbox. *shrug*
Makes it a bit of a chicken and egg scenario where I personally am never going to be interested without JP games but also JP games don't sell that well generally on Xbox because the userbase also doesn't seem to be interested in those.

That said I think play what you want anywhere seems like a good side step solution at least to me as I use my PC as well.

 

[Completely Anonymous]

If you want Japanese games the Xbox is definitely a gamble. If it's your focus, then it wouldn't be a smart purchase at all. The audience really just doesn't buy the games, unless they have a Western tint to them. Not all the audience, but the majority.

 

[Raide]

If you want Japanese games the Xbox is definitely a gamble. If it's your focus, then it wouldn't be a smart purchase at all. The audience really just doesn't buy the games, unless they have a Western tint to them. Not all the audience, but the majority.

Click to shrink...

I guess that's where Game Pass and Xcloud could be really good. They could always test titles out for a few months and go from there.

 

[UltraMagnus]

If you want Japanese games the Xbox is definitely a gamble. If it's your focus, then it wouldn't be a smart purchase at all. The audience really just doesn't buy the games, unless they have a Western tint to them. Not all the audience, but the majority.

Click to shrink...

If you want more of the niche Japanese content, yeah, but XBox basically does get all the major Japanese IP minus DQ and Yakuza.

 

[Kelanflyter]

Capcom and Koei Tecmo throw Xbox pretty good support too but neither had much new at E3.

Konami has Contra: Rogue Ops and PES 2020 though.

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Contra : Rogue Ops has been announced on Xbox One ? I thought it was a Switch exclusive

 

[bananas]

Despite all my rage, I still have no japanese games

 

[Deleted member 36622]

I don't know what you are talking about honestly.

Bandai Namco was skipping Xbox and after Phil's visits they started releasing all their major/anime games multiplatform on Xbox, they are even skipping Switch with a lot of titles that are releasing on Xbox.

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If they are happy to sell less... Numbers don't lie, Tales of Vesperia both as 360 exclusive and the remaster bombed so hard on Xbox.

Seriously i think the main reason why some of these japanese third parties show up at Xbox conferences is because they are giving them the space, Sony even during their previous E3s was less interested on showing multiplatform games.

Phil Spencer does what is possible, considering that JRPGs don't have a big market on Xbox and considering that brand has almost no presence in Japan.

I've always said Xbox needs more japanese games because those are my interest but looking at sales, the Xbox community seems to have different tastes.

 

[roly82]

I don't care about Japanese games but Phil did a great turnaround with the support.

 

[Akai]

Square Enix'es stubborness, when it comes to releasing their japanese titles on Xbox, is so mindboggling. Especially, when you consider what they are choosing to release and what they aren't. Can't say that I'm surprised, though. They are one of the most mismanaged studios out there and that also extends to their western games.

Contra : Rogue Ops has been announced on Xbox One ? I thought it was a Switch exclusive

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It was shown during the Nintendo conference and confirmed for Switch, but later we learned that it's actually releasing on every major platform.

 

[Deleted member 55421]

I think certain Japanese games would do really well on xbox, like Nioh.

It's the jrpg ones that Xboxers generally don't care about. More action, less jrpg.

 

[Fatmanp]

Next gen really has to be a reset for Xbox in this regard. MS cannot go on with certain series being defacto exclusive to Sony/Nintendo for little to no reason. Perfect examples of this are;

Yakuza
Dragon Quest
Persona
Ni No Kuni

Will they sell as much on Xbox as Playstation? Most likely no. I would argue that a lot of this is to do with the type of games MS offers within its first party lineup and the types of gamers it attracts. They are all predominantly online focused and/or shooters. The problem with that is that these are they types of games that third parties offer in abundance. Sony is successful because its first party offering are ones which do not exist on a third party level.

 

[Raide]

I think certain Japanese games would do really well on xbox, like Nioh.

It's the jrpg ones that Xboxers generally don't care about. More action, less jrpg.

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Agreed. Nioh would be well, as would the Yakuza series etc.

 

[Hasney]

He got PSO2. Keep going there and get Dragons Dogma Online while he's there.

 

[Lua]

The xbox public at large don't buy these games. Microsoft build an image of xbox being the "gamers console, with real man games and shooters" and niche japanese stuff that isn't that wont sell in the console. At least that's how i always saw the xbox brand, and its why im not attracted to it.

 

[Raide]

The xbox public at large don't buy these games. Microsoft build an image of xbox being the "gamers console, with real man games and shooters" and niche japanese stuff that isn't that wont sell in the console. At least that's how i always saw the xbox brand, and its why im not attracted to it.

Click to shrink...

In the 360 days, sure. It was a bit dudebro shoot bang. Not really for the new era, since the mix of varying titles is so much bigger.

 

[dotyoureyes]

Who is arguing that more games are bad?

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The guy I quoted?

 

[Lua]

In the 360 days, sure. It was a bit dudebro shoot bang. Not really for the new era, since the mix of varying titles is so much bigger.

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I guess, but i dont know if it was enough to distance themselves from that old image and public. I think the image xbox has still is the "bro console with the best graphics" to the public at large. Which i guess isnt a bad thing if they want that, but it certainly doesnt attract me or the public that would buy the niche japanese games to the brand. Tho i can only speak for myself, this is all speculation on my part. I admit that because the xbox fanbase is so insuferable and toxic on the country i live this colors my opinions

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

No Trials of Mana really surprised me. Kind of weird.

 

[More Butter]

I really don't know what people expected. They are bringing some interesting games to the platform and it sounds like they have considered acquiring some studios even. Hopefully next gen Japanese games won't arbitrarily miss the platform but that isn't just MS's fault.

 

[Flame Lord]

I don't really see what they can do to solve the problem besides throw money at it, and I doubt that would be worth it. At this point I feel like the only thing they can do is make the best console they can and hope for the best next gen. The 360 was an Xbox, yet still managed to get a decent amount of Japanese games. I assume that was because the 360 was too popular to ignore. This time around that wasn't the case and they left MS in the cold.

 

[Dust]

They tried onslaught of varied JP titles (mostly even exclusive) at the start of 360 generation and it ended rather poorly with Tales nearly kicking the bucket.

Let's say Phil brings those games, they sell XX thousand copies and that's it...yay? It's just pointless pursuit that seriously just reeks of list wars, or blocking titles from other platforms.

Big stuff (like Souls or mainline FF) should not skip Xbox at this point, unless someone else just pays for development. Those at least sell something.

 

[Jenea]

Even if Phil tries his best and will moneyhat japanese developers to port their games, at best, xbox will have the majority of japanese games, while ps4 will have'em all. I think a better strategy would be jrpg exclusives, so people who can't live without them would have to buy the next box.

 

[Raide]

They tried onslaught of varied JP titles (mostly even exclusive) at the start of 360 generation and it ended rather poorly with Tales nearly kicking the bucket.

Let's say Phil brings those games, they sell XX thousand copies and that's it...yay? It's just pointless pursuit that seriously just reeks of list wars, or blocking titles from other platforms.

Big stuff (like Souls or mainline FF) should not skip Xbox at this point, unless someone else just pays for development. Those at least sell something.

Click to shrink...

Well, technically missing out on Xbox is list wars and locking titles form other platforms. It's pretty much why this thread is here, even if the titles are not AAA games, many are being blocked from Xbox users just to pad out lists.

 

[Nephtes]

Jawmuncher 100% agree. I find Square's decision making with Xbox particularly weird in how inconsistent it is.

"You can have Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered and ports of every other Final Fantasy game ever but you're not getting the FFVII Remake."

"You can have the port of Romancing SaGa 3 but you're not getting the remake."

"We want to bring more Dragon Quest to the West and get a bigger fan base for it in the West." *doesn't release Dragon Quest on the most Western console*

I mean, DQXI I can understand you thinking that would be niche in the West but Dragon Quest Builders for example would sell extremely well on Xbox based on sales for Minecraft and Portal Knights.

Trials of Mana and Oninaki not coming to Xbox personally shocked me particularly because one is an Unreal Engine 4 game (very easy to port to all platforms) and the other is an action RPG (and KH3, FFXV and NieR Automata all sold extremely well on Xbox meaning they should know action RPGs will sell well at this point).

How does Square even make these decisions? Flip a coin on every title and if it's heads, it's on PS4 and Switch but if it's tails, comes to all three? The decisions are wildly inconsistent and don't seem to follow any pattern.

Click to shrink...

^this

All this.

I really wish SE would explain how they choose their titles that go on Xbox.

I literally purchase everything I can from them on Xbox to show there's at least some people buying over there, but by and in large, SO MANY of the titles I'm most exited about skip the Xbox, for no discernable reason. And despite owning a Switch and a PS4, I usually boycott the game all together (not that they care about one customer out of millions).

Games like I am Setsuna, the Secret of Mana remake, Dragon Quest XI, and Nier: Automata (till it came out on Xbox) fit into this category.

I made an exception for Octopath Traveler, and I'll probably begrudgingly make one for FFVIIR, but for fucks sake, SE is a multiplatform publisher, but I shouldn't have to.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm upset about it, but I'm not THAT burnt up about it.

1. It's just videogames
2. This is the most 1st world problem ever
3. I'm not want for games to play on Xbox, my backlog is ridiculous

 

[VX1]

Speaking of Square:

Square Enix Might Eventually Look into Launching Its Own Subscription Service

https://wccftech.com/square-enix-might-look-its-own-subscription-service/

 

[bbq of doom]

Isn't the current assumption that FF7R is a timed exclusive?

Anyway, PSO2 is a huge get for them. I think downplaying that is a bit curious.

 

[Jroc]

If you're already compiling a Windows 10 build of your low-budget niche game then it's pretty trivial to change a few lines and spit out an Xbox version. Testing/certifying the game would be the biggest hastle.

PS4 is Japan's console so it gets everything by default, the Switch is Japan's handheld so it gets everything it can realistically run. Windows seems to be propped up on a massive international weeb userbase. I have no doubt that Xbox One versions probably sell the worst, but it would be nice to get some actual statistics.

The 360 gen showed how strong domestic brand loyalty is over in Japan. Significant investment and a bunch of exclusive Japanese games lead to like ~1 million sales over an 8 year period. People always use Apple as an example of a successful import company, but the story would probably be different if Apple's main phone competitor was a Japanese firm.

Maybe Microsoft should just moneyhat or self-publish the obscure stuff going into next-gen? Japan itself is a lost cause, but they can still win over international Japanese game fans. It would add even more variety to gamepass and potentially grow the audience for them.

TL;DR: I hope Microsoft starts or acquires their own Japanese developer.

 

[Terror-Billy]

I'd blame the publishers instead of Xbox. There are some stubborn af companies like Atlus or NIS that just don't publish on Xbox. Then there's Square, who plays bingo with which games to launch on Xbox and which don't. I do acknowledge that Xbox is non-existent in Japan, but you are not gonna tell me that porting and publishing on it is way too expensive to fucking Square, of all publishers.

I hope things get better next gen. There's probably some logistics behind publishing (stuff like certification and printing) that push Japan out of the Xbox biz. I know about the demographic issue, but I buy every game from Japan (I even own the terrible ones like One Piece and I've never seen that series) as a way of support, so I don't count myself as a representation of that demo.

 

[Dust]

Well, technically missing out on Xbox is list wars and locking titles form other platforms. It's pretty much why this thread is here, even if the titles are not AAA games, many are being blocked from Xbox users just to pad out lists.

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If I was a JP dev, unless Phil arrives with a bag of money I just do not see a point making a Xbox version. You also have to remember that Xbox might as well not exist in Japan.

I know It's a shitty endless circle (no JP games on Xbox thus no JP games' fans thus no JP games...) but that's how reality is.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

Speaking of Square:

Square Enix Might Eventually Look into Launching Its Own Subscription Service

https://wccftech.com/square-enix-might-look-its-own-subscription-service/

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As if they wasn't enough on the market already.

 

[IsThatHP]

Pretty sure a lot of Xbox owners bought KH3 and FFXV. Not really sure why people think otherwise? The only KH game to not be PlayStation only is the second highest selling he this year and the highest selling in the series?

 

[EvilBoris]

How many games do you think that a title needs to sell on the Xbox in order to warrant the cash being spent on it?