This article might give a good idea about the kind of issues MS can fix in non-western markets cuz I think a lot of the same points apply.
PS it mentions how lacking the social media and brand presence is here and in some cases, worse than if they didn’t actually say anything. Like apparently Xbox India was tweeting about being excited for Scalebound months after it got cancelled. Like what the fuck lmao 
Yeah, imo the talks about studios outside NA, EU and JP from Phil were a decoy, as of now gaming studios are 80-90% located in those areas, moreover “prestige” studios are 100% there.
I think MS will soon be in a 360 ERA situation where Japanese third parties won’t want to skip Xbox
It’s getting there. Some are stubborn, mainly Atlus and Arc, but others are coming along.
Arc are really further up Sony’s rear. So no chance there. Atlus are just up their own rears. Just need to find the right tool to wriggle them out. Expensive tool.
Platinum and Level 5 for me.
Huge potential, always has been.
I hear Sakaguchi is going to retire though, would you still want them if that happened?
Bring back Blinx, damn you!!!
Sakaguchi has been saying he will retire since a decade ago
The title is a little clickbaity. It’s talking about the big publishers. Nothing stops them or makes it difficult to grab studios (they can get a publisher too, but many of them have tons of non-gaming departments or have no reason to sell right now)
He knows he’ll slaughter anyone in court, even if some politicians want to become famous going against MS.
MS doesn’t always have to acquire devs…look at Nintendo…more than 1/2 of their games are made by external devs…
Kamiya is practically ready to deep throat Phil to take another shot at Scalebound…to which I say why not? Phil is clearly cool with Kamiya, enough to send him flowers. Both Kamiya and Platinum’s CEO want the bag
It isn’t like Platinum games have massive budgets either. They can take Scalebound, and rework it into a single player RPG or maybe something with light co op elements
Seriously if I were Phil…throw Kamiya $40M and have him make a banger…even if it’s something like Astral Chain which was a great game it’d be worth it
This is a time when Xbox needs to build better relationships in Japan and they have a well respected Japanese developer and director begging to work for them
It would be such a piss poor decision to blow it
For the record if they throw Shinji the bag, if Kojima is making an Xbox game and if Kamiya makes a game
If all 3 turn out great AND all 3 have good things to say about Microsoft then their clout in Japan would absolutely sky rocket.
That should well and truly fix things.
I doubt they ever get 2 Japanese publishers. I even doubt 1 but I really don’t think they get 2.
They clearly dont have a problem with making games multiplat if they have to as seen by the ABK deal
I can see them scooping up one of the Japanese publishers to
Secure everything for GamePass as that’s clearly the goal, to have a massive library of IP that you cant get on any other subscription
To prevent anyone else from doing so
To me its not an if but a when, the question is who will it be
With a multi-plat option I think one of those publishers happens eventually. In the meantime, save Platinum!
