They are not in such a desperate position where they walk around and ask studios sometihng like “please make us a game and you can even port to other platforms just don’t ignore Xbox”. In fact, any developer who skips Xbox at this point - just doesn’t recognize the mount tai (I mean you literally develop games for PC while developing for Xbox).
That’s why they are not hell bent on just selling Xbox consoles in Japan.
But of course - imagine getting MS coffers while getting to release the games everywhere. But that’s not what MS pursues - they do not want to become a third party publisher.
No but they recognise where it’s beneficial to them to be a third party publisher. They continue to support all of their live service titles across multiple platforms and have continued to release games on other platforms, and are likely to continue to do so to some degree with Activision Blizzard once that deal closes (though, I’m being intentionally non-committal on that part - let’s not open up that whole debate). Even Sony recognises that releasing outside of their own console is of benefit to them sometimes - just look at their recent Bungie acquisition. Bungie has retained a degree of independence and will remain multiplatform.
If they were to ever pick up a Japanese publisher, all I’d say is to give them a fraction of the same freedom Bungie has right now - it still brings all of the same benefits in the West with console exclusive releases that are day one to game pass - but might give them a better chance in Japan. Does Microsoft NEED to? Of course not, but I think they’d benefit from this approach. Or at the very least, you avoid losing an audience that were already unlikely to buy an Xbox.
Except - aside the fact that Sony did not have much say there - Sony’s deal is mainly related to GaaS games. And releasing GaaS games on other platforms != third party publisher. GaaS games provide recurring revenue which is a relatively solid source of income.
When Microsoft will start releasing new games on other platforms - they still haven’t released Sea of Thieves on PS but by that logic they should have done it - then they will become a third party publisher. And I don’t see them doing that. Even ATVI is a peculiar topic, so I agree with you on not opening that debate.
Or you can bring new ones to your platform. Like COD will bring some people to Xbox 100%.
Nintendo Switch is also a special platform and I am talking about Playstation mainly there. Most of the big games - made by the publishers - are either not released on Switch or have a separate version.
The fight over consumers is very important. And losing audience is not a concern - it never concerned Sony, why would it matter for Xbox now? With PC, XCloud, Xbox there are move ways to play those games. Not less.
I just don’t think going in with the attitude of “losing audience is not a concern” is the right approach for a market that has largely rebuffed Xbox’s efforts so far - depending on the publisher we could be talking about franchises that have been major parts of Japan and it’s gaming culture for decades now. Like Dragon Quest, which is a game so popular they had to start releasing it on weekends to stop people skipping work/school to play it. And it’s not even just about console sales you’ve got live concerts of the Dragon Quest music, themed Dragon Quest bar/restaurants, the mountain of merchandise, gaming crossovers, dragon quest animated movies and even an amusement park. I’d say that with any Microsoft purchase in Japan it’s going to be important to retain that kind of fanbase, rather than hurting it. I don’t think there’s a wrong approach here - I absolutely think between the low cost Series S, cloud gaming and PC that people have sufficient options but I also just think that continuing to release ports (at least, for the immediate future) and drawing the audience in over time with Xbox as “the best place to play these games” would work too without risking disrupting the fanbases that these games have.
Anyway, I feel like we’re likely going to have to agree to disagree, I’m weary of having overly long debates that disrupt the discussions here and we’re not really budging on either of our positions. Like I said, I do absolutely think your approach would work fine, I just also think a softer approach would benefit them too.
I’m sure this was discussed at some point, but I just saw this on otherera. So what do you think the chances are the big ole daddy Phil picked up atleast one of these games?
Boomstick (or whatever his name is) from double barrel gaming said that he was told that MS has signed games with Tabata, Kojima, and Sakaguchi. Grain of salt from me as he is a pretty normal guy, but he said that as his podcast has grown in popularity he has met more people/sources and got DM’s about it.
Habata- In contrast, the second title has only just begun development. It is described in Gematsu’s post as a “global AAA-scale nomadic RPG”, which is considered an “evolution of *Final Fantasy XV.
So many games have leaked from Jeff, Jez, Nick etc that I think big projects like that would also have leaked
Sakaguchi? Again id love him to work with xbox again but unless its a smaller game, I dont see it happening, he seems to have no interest in big AAA games anymore and even if he was, the team he has is pretty small I believe
Is it possible? Sure but i’ll skeptical to avoid disappointment for now
Yeah, kinda reads like a wish list of independent Japanese developers.
I don’t put too much stock in lack of leaks since Jez and Nick don’t seem to know anything about Kojima. I’d be kinda suprised if XGSP wasn’t putting money into Japan, but yeah it sounds kind of like something you’d see posted on a forum wish list lol.
Guess there is this too though. I’d be very suprised if MS wasn’t at least making offers.
Things typically don’t leak from Japan. We know several of the Western partners MS is working with but hardly anything about Japan besides Kojima and we know MS has projects in Japan. Jeff Grubb may simply not have sources in Japan not that I believe the rumour either but it’s possible MS usually works with people they worked with before ( Sakaguchi).
In regard to Tabata, MS needs their own Final Fantasy after seemingly losing the franchise to Sony so they better throw money at his studio and ensure they secure his games.
I think the Japanese market isn’t particularly important in the grand scheme of things. Buying studios isn’t necessarily going to fix any problem for Xbox and neither is funding exclusive games from the region. The one piece they need to focus on is making the platform attractive to developers and to show its ability to shine light on Japanese games in western and other markers where the brand is strong.
I somewhat agree if they become one of the biggest platforms, devs from other regions including Japan will naturally be enticed to make a Xbox port due to the sheer size of the audience.
Wouldn’t harm buying up one Japanese publisher though.
