Is Xbox Slowly Being Abandoned By Most Japanese Third Party Developers/Publishers?

[MJForum Poster]

I feel like XBox is in a much better position with Japanese games now than at any time in the last ten years. Game Pass has proven to be a great spot for publishers to dump their back catalog. The amount of Yakuza, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts games I can play right now is crazy.

I also think that as Japan moves more and more to mobile-centric gaming (part of why the Switch does well there), that Xbox Streaming will become an interesting option for many Japanese gamers.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

It's a sequel to the portable line of Monster Hunter games, it was designed for Switch and planned from the start to release only there, the moneyhat is only for the PC release.

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What moneyhat? Are you referring to the EGS exclusivity deal rumor? Because Valve isn't going to pay Capcom to port MH.

 

[Neoxon]

Ah I've had the teams mixed up in my head, likely through the word 'portable' somewhere along the line! The correction is much appreciated.

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They're both still mainline entries. It's just that they're both in Gen 5 rather than World being its own thing (World is still very much MH5). Capcom simply wanted to move away from numbers for their mainline MH games.

 

[Oregano]

True, but they're still missing some key players like Atlus & Arc System Works (on their own, not stuff published by others like DBFZ).

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Atlus & ArcSys really aren't that big though. Before/ignoring Persona 5 Atlus was always more comparable to those smaller outfits.

 

[t26]

It is also a step back with some games - They got Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 but no Saga Frontier, got Phoenix Wright Trilogy but no Great Ace Attorney, got original Catherine on Xbox 360 but no Catherine Full Body.

 

[Bear and bird]

Yeah no... That article is the kind of post you'd expect to see on a forum. It's not true at all.

Most of those games are either timed exclusives and/or moneyhatted exclusives. It's no different from last gen when Sony secured exclusivity for Street Fighter V. Or when timed exclusives like Nier Automata, Yakuza, Judgment, FF remasters and KH remasters eventuelly came to Xbox. Wouldn't surprise me if some of the mainstream-y exclusives (Square-Enix' in particular) eventually makes it over to Xbox.

Xbox will likely always fall behind PS and Nintendo when it comes to JP 3D party support, especially niche/smaller IPs, but to say that things are getting worse is just bizarre to me.

Edit: The Nintendo + Capcom and Nintendo + S-E argument doesn't actually work in this case. They're continuations of partnerships that begun years ago:
RE Revelations -> Outrage
Monster Hunter 3/Stories/Generations -> Rise/Stories2/GenerationsX
Bravely Default -> BD2
Octopath Traveler -> Project Triangle

Sure, they're games that won't come to Xbox (aside from maybe Outrage?). ...but it doesn't actually tell a story of recent faltering 3rd party support on Xbox since this is something that's been going on for about a decade.

 

[Marano]

But not only moneyhats are responsible for this. Both Legend of Mana and NEO The End World Ends With You skipped the Xbox and they weren't moneyhats.

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For the big games that would sell they are for sure moneyhats.

Smaller stuff? Gamepass is the reason some are coming at all.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

I don't think it's a matter of Japanese publishers abandoning Xbox. The Square Enix stuff is a mix of Sony timed exclusivity and also a matter of more niche games probably not being worth the cost of porting to Xbox. Same thing with Ace Attorney, where apparently the collection was already on Xbox but sold poorly (though that feels like bad marketing to me), so it makes sense for Capcom to not bother porting it.


On the other hand though, SEGA, Bandai Namco and even Square Enix have been supporting Xbox really well with any larger scale game (outside of money hats) to the point where Sega is now bringing Yakuza to Xbox day and date with PlayStation starting with 7 and Judgement, something that seemed absurd just a couple years ago, and Square Enix even brought Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts to Xbox as well.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see Persona and SMT make their way over to Xbox within the next couple of years because of another Gamepass deal, and eventually MS will make Xbox as significant in Asia as it was during the 360 era and begin getting many more smaller game releases as well.

The Xbox team dropped the ball during the Xbox One with regards to Japanese support, and it's going to take time to see those bridges be rebuilt. I honestly stand by the fact that the only reason Xbox got Kingdom Hearts at launch was because it was announced earlier in the generation when Square assumed the Xbox would recover

 

[Uzupedro]

What moneyhat? Are you referring to the EGS exclusivity deal rumor? Because Valve isn't going to pay Capcom to port MH.

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Nintendo paid Capcom(and Capcom offered) for the PC version of MH Rise to be delayed, it was on the leaks and all that.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/fu...ements-need-for-dog-petting-marketing.344665/

 

[The Last One]

For the big games that would sell they are for sure moneyhats.

Smaller stuff? Gamepass is the reason some are coming at all.

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Yeah, the big stuff is definitely moneyhat. Like FF XVI and Project Athia.

 

[Dis]

While xbox definitely has been getting a fair amount more Japanese games over the last 5 years or so, and gamepass has gotten a lot more of them which is nice there is a reason that so many games can be paid to be timed or full exclusive elsewhere......Sony and Nintendo would have to spend a vastly smaller amount of money to buy those timed exclusives than Microsoft I'd imagine due to the fact that Sony for example would be paying enough to cover the lost sales on xbox as well as an amount seen as fair to the publishers......and I'd imagine covering expected lost xbox sales for a fair number of Japanese games is a lot cheaper than covering expected lost ps or Nintendo sales of those games.

Microsoft does seem to still have an image of being very western focused, which I'm glad they're turning around and showing they're open to other games, hopefully we get more games from every region on every console as a standard. We need more voices and ideas heard from all over the world in games and not less.

 

[Marano]

Eh, not quite. They paid to delay the game on PC, but it was never intended to come to PlayStation or Xbox.

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I wonder why that is, cant be the controls if it is on PC, also would capcom think console players wouldnt like the graphics on 9th gen hardware but PC players wouldnt mind it compared to world? Also dont get that.

 

[Marano]

Yeah, the big stuff is definitely moneyhat. Like FF XVI and Project Athia.

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But the thing is that has all been a thing and not just SE and capcom but all japanese devs.

 

[Oregano]

I wonder why that is, cant be the controls if it is on PC, also would capcom think console players wouldnt like the graphics on 9th gen hardware but PC players wouldnt mind it compared to world? Also dont get that.

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The PC release is primarily aimed at Asian markets where PC is dominant and Monster Hunter is a popular IP.

 

[Iron Eddie]

It takes two to tango, Sony doesn't have a gun to Square's head. They certainly wouldn't take the deal if it was more worthwhile to go mutli-platform on day 1

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Microsoft used to do the same thing with titles like The Last remnant, fact is Square always did moneyhat deals but Sony is clearly trying even harder with titles like FFVII Remake not even coming to PC yet.

Bigger Japanese games that are on Game Pass are there because Phil cut the publisher a check they couldn't say no to, and Sony is cutting deals of their own on games that sell 80% of their share on PlayStation anyway. The smaller Japanese games that aren't on Xbox are because the Game Pass budget is not going to appease them.

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This is just it, the more capable the platform the easier it is to maintain such dominance. Just imagine if Nintendo wanted to start moneyhatting projects? Sony is lucky Nintendo isn't as proactive with paying for deals.

The question is how do you get consumers to be more open to other platforms, even here we see the same people refuse to move over and when there are deals or studio acquisitions they get upset instead of just moving to the platform they are on. For Microsoft paying more Japanese content isn't going to help as much as buying a studio like Bethesda. What Microsoft should be doing is getting more Game Pass titles on older content like they did with Yakuza, build relationships from there.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Nintendo paid Capcom(and Capcom offered) for the PC version of MH Rise to be delayed, it was on the leaks and all that.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/fu...ements-need-for-dog-petting-marketing.344665/

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I know, we are misunderstanding each other. I was asking why it is also coming to PC but somehow wouldn't fit on PS4/XB.

I'm saying some kind of console exclusitivity/co-marketing deal isn't that wild of an idea.

The PC release is primarily aimed at Asian markets where PC is dominant and Monster Hunter is a popular IP.

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In 2021, MH is popular everywhere.

 

[Damn Silly]

So I can't seem to read the entire article (gamingbolt just straight up refuses to load on anything for whatever reason) but based on the passages posted, I'd have to answer no to the title question.

 

[RedStep]

We JUST got ports of all the Kingdom Hearts games and all the Yakuza games, most (all?) of which are on Game Pass. There has been more support lately, "catching up" on series that we had previously missed. Those are not mentioned, naturally.

 

[Klobrille]

I feel like the opposite is happening to be honest, even more so if I look at all the games from Japan coming to Game Pass.

 

[Magog]

It does look that way. Sony and Nintendo paid exclusivity may play a part in that.

 

[tolkir]

They got Yomi wo Saku Hana for four months exclusively in Japan last year.

 

[criteriondog]

Yeah, there are a few Japanese titles/series on Xbox, or even games that were on Xbox, but it's sequels or remasters missed Xbox (Catherine to Full Body comes to mind specifically). I think GamePass is helping move some Japanese publishers to put some titles on Xbox, but I also wonder if Microsoft offered to pay to bring them over, or if they would even make it over if they weren't offered compensation from MS. As for more of the niche Japanese games, a lot of JRPGs still seem to miss Xbox unless it's a major release that isn't timed exclusive (biggest ones I can think of is Final Fantasy XV or Kingdom Hearts 3, which was KH's Xbox debut).

One of my friends was getting a new system a while back and didn't know what, and the easiest way I broke it to them was outside of system exclusives was that PS get's 99% of third party games, and a lot of Japanese games, so if that influences their choice, go there.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

They weren't on PC either, and the Switch isn't just a portable.

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Because the game is being built primarily as a Switch game, just like the portable games were purpose built for PSP.

The only reason the PC version of Rise exists is because of how well World did on PC in Asia where console sales, including Switch sales, lag behind Japan and other key markets like Europe and North America. Before that the game was meant to be a Switch exclusive.

 

[jokkir]

Pretty big shame about Ace Attorney but I assume people who have Xbox would have bought/played it on another platform already or buy it on Switch if they have that. I wonder what the sales numbers would have been for a new entry

 

[gothi]

Article reads like the author had a position they wanted to express then went looking for evidence to support it.

No discussion of why a lot of titles skipped Xbox (primarily Sony paying for exclusivity), no interviews with anyone involved in the decisions that might support/contradict the authors narrative and lastly the author themselves makes statements about games skipping Xbox and immediately has to walk them back a bit because the last version of the game did release on Xbox.

Pretty disappointing article on what could have been a good piece of journalism on what the score is with Xbox and the Japanese market & development studios.

 

[GING-SAMA]

It's been lot better comparing to the beginning of Xone Era.

I think the bigger one is Moneyhat

 

[arsene_P5]

Kinda funny to name Final Fantasy when Sony is the one preventing the likes of FF 16, FF7R and Athia from releasing on Xbox for exclusivity lol

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Thought this part was weird in the context of the article, too.

 

[stuckpixel]

Game Pass might show a short-term bump in games getting ported to the Xbox to take advantage of the first mover effect when it's easy to discover those games on the store. As more games gets added, all those mid-tier Japanese games will get lost in the shuffle and the benefits of being on the service will decrease.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Unless its AAA(+or Bamco) or GamePass related there are probably not many reason to support it if said company has somewhat limited ressources.

 

[Swift_Gamer]

I don't think abandonment is the right word here. Actually, I think they see porting games do xbox as a high risk investment. But they've been doing lately. It seems they wait and see if they can get the ROI with ps/pc to later port to xbox. I can be wrong tough.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Because the game is being built primarily as a Switch game, just like the portable games were purpose built for PSP.

The only reason the PC version of Rise exists is because of how well World did on PC in Asia where console sales, including Switch sales, lag behind Japan and other key markets like Europe and North America. Before that the game was meant to be a Switch exclusive.

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If you're going to stick with this argument, why did Portable 3rd release on PS3?

Capcom is going to advertise the PC release of Rise hard in the West, too. And it will sell great everywhere.

The game's feature set or design has nothing that be done anywhere else - other than Amiibo support.

They are leaving money on the table here, so I say console exclusivity isn't a wild take.

 

[Marano]

The same reason the MH Portable games weren't on consoles, save for that late PS3 Port of 3rd.

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Sorry for missing that post but if MH portable has to have normal controls for docked, PC and such, wouldnt that reason mo longer apply?

The PC release is primarily aimed at Asian markets where PC is dominant and Monster Hunter is a popular IP.

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This sort of makes sense but world was also a huge hit in the west on playstation and xbox, I dont know the numbers for world in the west but surely MH is very popular now too because of it?

No idea if rise would repeat its success in the west but I reckon it would sell some millions at least.

I feel like I am still missing something here.

 

[Oregano]

I know, we are misunderstanding each other. I was asking why it is also coming to PC but somehow wouldn't fit on PS4/XB.

I'm saying some kind of console exclusitivity/co-marketing deal isn't that wild of an idea.



In 2021, MH is popular everywhere.

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In the Capcom leaks they specifically mention the PC version only coming about to target the Asian market. There's no mention of PS/XB at all for Rise.

Also FWIW Matrixman.exe knew about both World and Rise well before they were revealed so I'd trust his word on it.

 

[Deluxera]

Weird concern. Japanese support for Xbox has been better in the last few years with major gets such as DQ or KH.

What may happen is Sony/Nintendo reacting by moneyhatting games to keep their advantage on JP content.

 

[arsene_P5]

Yeah no... That article is the kind of post you'd expect to see on a forum. It's not true at all

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I'd argue this specific statement is false, although I agree with the rest of the post. Fact of the matter is gaming journalism is mostly this poor and yes I expect journalist to do such article. Hot takes, clickbait, nonsense. Don't get me wrong, there are some good journalist, but I challenge everyone to name 20 good gaming journalist. Not possible for me.

 

[Marano]

If you're going to stick with this argument, why did Portable 3rd release on PS3?

Capcom is going to advertise the PC release of Rise hard in the West, too. And it will sell great everywhere.

The game's feature set or design has nothing that be done anywhere else - other than Amiibo support.

They are leaving money on the table here, so I say console exclusivity isn't a wild take.

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Hey see my last post where I was trying to parse the whole situation and still dont get it.

 

[Oregano]

Sorry for missing that post but if MH portable has to have normal controls for docked, PC and such, wouldnt that reason mo longer apply?

This sort of makes sense but world was also a huge hit in the west on playstation and xbox, I dont know the numbers for world in the west but surely MH is very popular now too because of it?

No idea if rise would repeat its success in the west but I reckon it would sell some millions at least.

I feel like I am still missing something here.

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Switch has massive reach in the west as well, but it doesn't in Asia(nor do PS/XB).

Rise was always intended to be a Switch project.

 

[catpurrcat]

It seems undoubtedly the case. Even just looking at recent or upcoming releases like Persona 5 Strikers, 13 Sentinels, Atelier Ryza 2, YS IX, Trails of Cold Steel IV, Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker are mostly multi-platform but not on Xbox.

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This. It's very troubling that the xbox team *still* hasn't plugged this tiny but significant hole in their lineup. Thought things were changing when Yakuza started to appear, guess not. I'd also add Nioh 1 and 2 to that list.

I realize you can't "force" a dev/pub to make a game for your platform but to spend tens of millions on mediocre first and second party content and then not address this niche gap in their software lineup is strange.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

In the Capcom leaks they specifically mention the PC version only coming about to target the Asian market. There's no mention of PS/XB at all for Rise.

Also FWIW Matrixman.exe knew about both World and Rise well before they were revealed so I'd trust his word on it.

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ok

 

[JhOnNY_HD]

I feel like XBox is in a much better position with Japanese games now than at any time in the last ten years. Game Pass has proven to be a great spot for publishers to dump their back catalog. The amount of Yakuza, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts games I can play right now is crazy.

I also think that as Japan moves more and more to mobile-centric gaming (part of why the Switch does well there), that Xbox Streaming will become an interesting option for many Japanese gamers.

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Not every game it's on gamepass.

Gamepass it's great if you are in but if youre not the sales will be low in comparasion of PS or Nintendo.

 

[Marano]

Switch has massive reach in the west as well, but it doesn't in Asia(nor do PS/XB).

Rise was always intended to be a Switch project.

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Yeah but there are are a ton of people on playstation and xbox who got hooked on world that would buy it there but never elsewhere.

It was always a switch project, I just dont get why in light of MHW popularity.

 

[Dekuman]

As long as Xbox is closely compatible with PCs and PlayStation/Switch 3rd partiers can also port their PC/PS/Switch content to XBOX at a marginal cost to them so there will always be support, especially with Microsoft money pushing them along for timed exclusives etc.
I think were moving to a futurte where no console will be left out for any particular reason outside of exclusives or technical reasons.

 

[Oregano]

This. It's very troubling that the xbox team *still* hasn't plugged this tiny but significant hole in their lineup. Thought things were changing when Yakuza started to appear, guess not. I'd also add Nioh 1 and 2 to that list.

I realize you can't "force" a dev/pub to make a game for your platform but to spend tens of millions on mediocre first and second party content and then not address this niche gap in their software lineup is strange.

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Nintendo still has issues getting that kind of content despite being completely dominant in Japan and pretty much as strong as PlayStation internationally. It would be difficult for Xbox to get their foot in the door with their lack of presence.

ok

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It would make sense to do a multiplatform game but it might seems a bit daft to have a line of Nintendo/PS/XB/PC games and a line of PS/XB/PC and not just put the latter on Nintendo systems as well. Might just make things neater.

 

[_Jelly_fish]

As far as I know, the Xbox was never super popular in japan. Which upsets me because there is a weirdly strong list of Japanese only Xbox Exclusives made by Japanese companies (CAVE made a few Xbox only games, and never forget SMT:NINE)

 

[Bear and bird]

I'd argue this specific statement is false, although I agree with the rest of the post. Fact of the matter is gaming journalism is mostly this poor and yes I expect journalist to do such article. Hot takes, clickbait, nonsense. Don't get me wrong, there are some good journalist, but I challenge everyone to name 20 good gaming journalist. Not possible for me.

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Well... Huh. Hmm.

I don't want to turn this into a discussion about the state of video game journalism, so let me just say that you have a point there.

I think in this particular case, the author could have framed the article better. "Which console should you get if you want Japanese games?", "Is Xbox worth it if you like JP games?" or "The state of JP support on Xbox" would all have been better premises for the article... but I suppose spicy (faulty) takes accumulate the most clicks.

Edit: Miswrote in the last sentence

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

If you're going to stick with this argument, why did Portable 3rd release on PS3?

Capcom is going to advertise the PC release of Rise hard in the West, too. And it will sell great everywhere.

The game's feature set or design has nothing that be done anywhere else - other than Amiibo support.

They are leaving money on the table here, so I say console exclusivity isn't a wild take.

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They're also leaving money on the table not porting World to Switch, what's your point? Lol

They have a clear strategy. Two series running currently made by two separate teams. One targets Nintendo's Switch, serving the domestic market primarily whilst the other one targets high end consoles.

The Monster Hunter World team will now spend the next few years working on a sequel while the Rise team supports the new title with events and a big G update. Then the cycle repeats itself.

PC gets the best of both worlds simply because Asia is a huge market and the Switch alone won't be able to make up the sales there. Capcom most likely feels they can sell enough units on the Switch outside of Asia without a PS/Xbox SKU.

Sure, a deal isn't a wild theory but as far as I'm aware there is no deal in place, and I'm explaining to you why a game can still be exclusive without money exchanging hands.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

If anything, I'd expect Xbox to get more love from Japanese devs since Japan is no longer their primary market. Certainly games that are more important "Japanese" will probably remain exclusive to Sony/Nintendo, but for other things, why not?

 

[Decarb]

This has been the story for last gen as well, a bunch of JPN games that have English localization straight up skip Xbox.

 

[Rzarekta]

Shhh don't tell them, they will just buy a large Japanese publisher and fuck things up like they seem to enjoy doing. I'd like to stick to the Nintendo and Sony eco-systems, please and thank you. Hopefully Japanese devs continue to put their games on Xbox too though. Perhaps they just aren't buying into their business model as much as some western devs are thus far.

 

[DeuceGamer]

I think Japanese Publishers are evaluating platforms on a game by game basis. The article mentions Nintendo a lot, but Nintendo isn't getting all 3rd Party titles. XBox is in a similar situation in that Japanese Publishers will evaluate titles on a case by case basis for it IMO.

One thing to keep in mind is that for midtier Japanese titles they are going to capture the vast majority of the potential consumer base by releasing the title on Switch, PC, and Sony consoles. I'm not sure there are a lot of XBox only owners that are looking to buy small and medium Japanese titles, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Moving forward I expect the major multiplatform releases will get an Xbox version. Switch will get exclusives and multi platforms that will run on it. Sony will get all multiplatform titles and a few exclusives, though I think the number of Japanese Sony exclusives are shrinking significantly thanks to the dominance of Switch in Japan, and the ability to port most small and medium Japanese titles.