Just wondering what the deal is with Xbox and Square Enix. As far as the Japanese side of things go, we’ve seen some improvement in the last decade (FF, DQ, KH, Nier are all Square’s biggest brands and they’ve all come to Xbox), but things are so scattershot and inconsistent I don’t know what to expect.
Why are so many of Square’s smaller projects skipping Xbox? Trials of Mana, Legends of Mana, SaGa Scarlet Grace, NEO The World End With You… all games that come to Nintendo, PlayStation, and PC, but not Xbox. Why? Just last week, Square launched TWO games that came to Nintendo, PlayStation, PC, iOS, and Android, but pointedly, not Xbox. What is up with that? These smaller mid tier projects would especially benefit from the exposure thar Game Pass would provide them, surely, like so many Japanese games on Xbox have? Especially given the precedence with Octopath earlier this year? Even their big brands like Final Fantasy are reverting to the days of skipping Xbox now.
I just don’t get what Square’s deal with Xbox is. They make exclusives for PlayStation (Final Fantasy, Forspoken). They make exclusives for Nintendo (Octopath, Bravely, Triangle Strategy). They make a whole range of multiplatform games that are distributed between Nintendo, PlayStation, and PC. Why is their Xbox strategy so scattershot, exactly?
I dont know why SE Japan games keep skipping Xbox. I know traditionally they have had a stronger business relationship with Sony. But I am not losing sleep over it. If MS has to be selective about which publishers they get exclusive deals from then SE would be the odd man out. I prefer jrpg’s from Sega/Atlus, Namco anyways.
Square Enix LOVES accepting money for exclusivity.
Sony and Nintendo offer Square Enix a lot of money for that exclusivity and they simply accept it.
As far as I know, Microsoft hasn’t offered Square Enix any money for any exclusivity since Rise of the Tomb Raider. If Microsoft gave them an upfront payday, im sure that they would accept it.
That’s literally what it is. Microsoft is paying Square Enix in order for Crystal Dynamics to co-develop Perfect Dark with The Initiative. Simply put, if Microsoft were to pay Square Enix a high enough amount, then Xbox would get timed console exclusives but Microsoft doesn’t where as Sony and Nintendo do so Xbox loses/misses out.
It’s a tough row to hoe to be both a Xbox person and a JRPG fan. We either don’t get games at all or we get them way late. Tales of Arise was a recent bright spot at least.
I do have to wonder if they are just baiting Game Pass payments. Octopath hasn’t even come to Playstation because they are probably baiting a port fund from Sony.
Square Enix and Xbox relation is fine. As I said on the Acquisition thread, Square Enix is the publisher more inclined to accept timed exclusivity deals, and that includes every console(Nintendo got Octopath, Xbox Rise of The Tomb Raider and PS Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken). Playstation is the console that invests the most in timed exclusivity deals, that’s why they get more Square games than Nintendo and Xbox.
Also Xbox is literally co-developing a first party game with one of Square’s biggest studios, this really shows that the relationship between the two companies is fine.
SE know MS will come to them with a Game Pass deal.
That’s not a bad thing.
It’s literally what MS wants. Phil talked about it several times in his yearly E3 interviews with Jeff Gerstmann, about the ways in which he was reaching out to Japanese companies to work out deals around Game Pass to bring their games to Xbox.
We’ve seen the fruits of those efforts for quite some time now. There’s really no reason to believe MS are anywhere near done.
Perhaps but it could be that Square Enix knows that Sony/Nintendo will pay for the Japanese games so if Microsoft wants them, they would have to outbid Sony/Nintendo.
As for the mobile stuff, I can’t comment as I don’t follow any of it.
My guess would be is that SE doesn’t want to spend the money on porting the games over especially if they don’t believe that they will get the sales needed to even out the cost and afterwards, turn a profit.
I don’t see them as a crap company. I see them as a company that goes where the money is. It’s that simple. Money talks and that’s all Square Enix cares about.
They are indeed, their financial numbers proves that they can’t manage their western arm, nor even the japanese one without Sony or Nintendo milking it. It’s an unique situation between japanese publishers.
I was referencing Voice of Cards, but apparently just the demo launched last week, the full game launches a couple weeks from now. It does still skip Xbox however, so I feel like it’s a valid enough point to bring up.
This still doesn’t explain why multiplatform games hitting everything else, including mobile and PC, are not coming to Xbox. What reason is there for Actraiser or Legends of Mana or NEO TWEWY or Voice of Cards to miss Xbox?
I’m not sure PlayStation gets more exclusives than Nintendo; the two of them seem to get an equal amount of love as far as exclusive games go, in fact I think Nintendo might actually get more? it’s just that PlayStation gets Final Fantasy as an exclusive, which is Square’s highest profile franchise.
But Microsoft shouldn’t have to keep baiting these companies with upfront payment if Game Pass is actually successful for said companies (which I absolutely believe it is, to be clear, and I especially think smaller games, indie games, and Japanese titles can especially benefit from it). That’s why stuff like Actraiser or Voice of Cards missing Xbox is so eyebrow raising.
But that’s… weird. How much does it cost to port a game already running on PS4 and PC to run on Xbox as well? A few bucks? Especially since I assume most of these games would be digital only releases on Xbox, so even the minimum print run requirement doesn’t apply here.
And that’s okay. MS don’t pay their taxes. Fuck 'em. They can pay the price of doing business in feeding Game Pass.
It really shouldn’t matter to you one lick.
Yeah, I think it’s just a matter of money. It’s good business sense to only release on a less-popular platform if they sweeten the deal for you, even if it’s crappy. And it’s good business sense to pick and choose which games you’re willing to pay extra for if you’re in charge of the less-popular platform. It sucks from our perspective but you can’t have it all
It does suck really hard that I can’t let myself get excited about a trailer until I see the consoles listed at the end because Xbox isn’t getting games by default. I think that the people in charge are doing everything they can to change that reality though.
It’s the only big publisher left doing it outside Sony moneyhats, so I think it’s fair criticising it. You talk about Xbox like nobody plays it, I can make the case the overall Xbox platform has more MAUs than Switch and =~ of PS or Steam. It’s simply SE eastern arm has a bad relationship with them, I still can’t wait to hear the next excuse why a huge mmorpg like FF14 “is not feasible” on Xbox, lmaooo (first was Gold, then content delivery, next will be the time sun rises…).
The recent FF GP additions or DQ ports were paid hefty money from MS, I assure you, they even paid for a new FF13 pc port, lol, while SE never bothered for Steam.
Like I said earlier to Roronoa_Zoro90, SE probably doesn’t want to spend any money porting the game over to Xbox if they don’t believe that they would make a profit. This would be my guess.
