This, more than anything.
Developers, work elsewhere. Players, play elsewhere. Japan, business as usual.
[VG247] With the closure of Tango Gameworks, Xbox sends an accidental message: it is not a platform for fans of Japanese games
- Thread starter --R
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Developers, work elsewhere. Players, play elsewhere. Japan, business as usual.
I mean, besides weirdos like ourselves online, how many actually know or care who Phil Spencer is? My boss who plays FFXIV doesn't know or care and other people I know.
Tango shutting down is wild. But then we look between MS, Sony, and Nintendo and we'll notice only the latter really has their own dedicated major Japanese studio these days.
It's a fanfest. I would wager the people who go to those are more in the know than the regular gaming audience
The message I got from this closure is everything Xbox Executives said in the last few years about fostering creativity among their studios and giving them the budgets to thrive and prevent studio closures was lip service at best… an out right lie at worst.
This whole debacle has left me feeling pretty empty especially given I actively supported the Bethesda and Activision mergers because I actually believed their messaging and wanted there to be continued competition with Sony. Like I bought Japanese games on the Xbox I had no interest in playing in an attempt to vote with my wallet … in the hopes they'd do better to bring more Japanese games west.
But now? 🤷♂️
You close your only Japanese studio that produced a banger of a game? Why?
I'm questioning everything from the last four years out of Phil's mouth. And not just his statements on Japan.
This whole debacle has left me feeling pretty empty especially given I actively supported the Bethesda and Activision mergers because I actually believed their messaging and wanted there to be continued competition with Sony. Like I bought Japanese games on the Xbox I had no interest in playing in an attempt to vote with my wallet … in the hopes they'd do better to bring more Japanese games west.
But now? 🤷♂️
You close your only Japanese studio that produced a banger of a game? Why?
I'm questioning everything from the last four years out of Phil's mouth. And not just his statements on Japan.
Maybe, but my boss was at that fanfest and he didn't know.
People generally seemed to know who he was. His introduction was just met with a shrug.
A quote from the girl in the chocobo hat in front of me as he walked out: "Oh...him."
Probably a more generous reaction than the one he'd receive today.
I feel like Japanese game support on Series consoles is pretty good these days, no? Getting stuff like P3 Reload day one on Game Pass is something I wouldn't have imagined even one generation ago.
The message I got this week has nothing to do with fans of Japanese games and is much more systemic in terms of core problems at Xbox.
The message I got this week has nothing to do with fans of Japanese games and is much more systemic in terms of core problems at Xbox.
They've been sending that message for years, Japan's market has sent an equivalent message back:
Xbox's whole message for the last few years has been "gaming for everyone" and the world's response has been "yeah, just not on Xbox."
Doesn't help that his segment lasted longer than some of the expansion reveals.
The inflection point was probably with Kinect.
I did buy a 360 when they had a bunch of exclusive Japanese games, and to this day, I like those games, but I sold my 360 a year later. 2 years later, I decided to get back into HD gaming, and initially I couldn't choose because both PS3 and 360 were depressingly similar, but after paying attention to Japanese releases, I went to PS3. Why? Simple, because while it was viable to release a 360 version in the west, they wouldn't sell a 360 version in Japan. That more or less told me the direction both MS and Sony were going.
I did buy a 360 when they had a bunch of exclusive Japanese games, and to this day, I like those games, but I sold my 360 a year later. 2 years later, I decided to get back into HD gaming, and initially I couldn't choose because both PS3 and 360 were depressingly similar, but after paying attention to Japanese releases, I went to PS3. Why? Simple, because while it was viable to release a 360 version in the west, they wouldn't sell a 360 version in Japan. That more or less told me the direction both MS and Sony were going.
Probably pretty dated by today's standards. It's nothing incredible but it's just one of those JRPG JRPGs, you know? Trope-y story (protag has amnesia etc etc) but it's got a fun cast of characters and the battle system is really enjoyable. It's real-time but it's got really a cool link up mechanic. Also I have a soft spot for games with non-human party members lol
I'm laughing just because that has to be one of the worst photoshops ever.
Wasn't even that lol quick face swap app thing. I don't have time for anything more lmao
> Every major Atlus/Sega RPG is on Game Pass, sometimes at launch
"Wow, Xbox hates Japanese games because they closed one studio"
Does closing Tango suck? Yeah, absolutely, they deserved better. Is this article a massive overreaction unmoored from reality? Also yes.
"Wow, Xbox hates Japanese games because they closed one studio"
Does closing Tango suck? Yeah, absolutely, they deserved better. Is this article a massive overreaction unmoored from reality? Also yes.
The 18-6 contractor policy they have at some studios sent that message a long time ago 😔
Now it seems like it's that + "no game is safe unless it sells 10 million copies"
Xbox really hot this gen running but emulators getting the axe was my point of no return to consoles. I'd even be surprised if we see another Xbox as MS doesn't seem that interested in consoles anymore which is understandable, everything comes to PC sooner rather than later, PC gaming is pretty simple and straight forward and PC sizes easily rival that of Pro console (easily so of we count laptops).
It's tricky because you want to just read the room and can tell people are just venting, but at the same time like 1/3 of my games on my Xbox are from Japan and it's the only reason I can play them.
And then you get people's whole West vs Japan thing where I'm still convinced "western" just means not from Japan to some people, because Lies of P is just sitting there like * shrug *
I'm just scratching my head at a lot of these posts.
Just like with the 360, once Xbox got the Final Fantasy ports, they didn't give a fuck about investing in Japanese games. Now that they paid Sega all the $$$ for Yakuza and Persona + other niche Sega games to be on Gamepass + ports + marketing, they don't need their own Japanese studios. They also eating good with the SE scraps... there's the Japanese support right there.
Funny because even though Sony has more Japanese games, I still feel like they don't necessarily like them either with bow theyre performing worse in Japan with every new system, along with the closure of their Japan studio. They just don't have to do anything though for devs to come to them since they're the most consistent top dog.
Yeaaa, how they do some things is just insane to me. Their reliance on co-dev and finding partnering studios to do the majority of the work basically means if you're not in a senior position already, there is very little place for you at an Xbox studio, to learn and grow in your craft and discipline.
And this contractor thing as you mention, cycling so many people every 18 months on a project that lasts several years.
no one here reads beyond the clickbait, we just see the thing and provide the same two cents for several pages
Forza Motorsport likely cycled through key parts of its dev team at least twice during development, as that game entered pre-production around 2019.
That's an enormous amount of wasted time and lost knowledge on a game using a proprietary engine.
OG Xbox and 360 had some great Japanese exclusives however anyone who bought Xbox One or Xbox Series as their only console and had more than a passing interest in Japanese games needs their head checked.
With the closure of Japan Studio Playstation sends an accidental message: it is not a platform for fans of Japanese games.
People would laugh at this headline because of how ridiculous it would be.
It only sends that message if you're not paying attention to the fact that Team Asobi was created and the establishment of XDev Japan.
Okay, but why do third party multiplatform games not count for this. A game is game, if I can manage only one console, I don't need to know it's an exclusive to feel better about it.
Of course they count, it's just that Xbox now gets *some* multi-platform support when they used to get outright exclusives from the best developers in the country: Sega, From Software, Cave, Namco, Square Enix and more.
Yep, 360 in particular was great for fans of Japanese games. I felt like they were definitely trying for a few years, and even ended up cracking 1m in Japan and some software managing to sell 200k or so. Sadly they didn't stick with the effort and gave up on Xbox One. That also hurts their lineup worldwide since Japanese games sell plenty outside of Japan.
Not only do they continue to have good relationships with Japanese developers, but their relationships with Team Ninja and Square Enix have helped to bolster their Japanese output, not to mention their investments in India, China, and Korea to strengthen their footprint in Asia in general.
I know Team Asobi isn't "major" even if they're great, but Polyphony has been and still is a major Japanese studio.
Because sans Square those companies don't often make exclusives anymore ...