Japan is when not if.
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That’s true and it’s my biggest doubt about how much they are serious about that (aka lip service like Rand said), it’s not like the only choices are publishers acquitions.
They have tried to get Nintendo before, after ABK you don’t think they will try get any of the smaller Japanese publishers which are tiny in comparison?
You act like that’s just an easy decision. It has to be done correctly, with the proper presence and organization there (relationships, language barrier gap, cultural adherence) not just throw money at studios which hasn’t worked well for them. They only recently hired for positions for XGS Publishing in Japan. It’s just gonna take time. A publisher acquisition will certainly make things much easier because it would skip many steps in establishing an organization, presence, and relationships.
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Everyone seems to forget this. The same with everyone mentioning Square and making Final Fantasy a Xbox exclusive.
They have sold literally less than 300,000 Xbox’s in Japan this gen and even less last gen.
If they did that the number of players would plummet, they have to grow their market there first, but it’s a chicken and egg scenario because they literally have no presence there.
If they made a game that catered to the Japanese audience it wouldn’t sale.
If they are going for Japan they need big IP which also appeal to other markets which is why I think Capcom and Sega are better IMO.
I mean, last 2nd party japanese deal was forever ago (Scalebound lmao), if that was the intention, there would be already several announcements.
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Exactly relating to my points though, those didn’t work well for them because they didn’t establish a presence and organization there, basically wasn’t done correctly. To be done correctly this time, it has to take time. You want it sooner than later, but that’d be rushing things. They want things actually good and under control this time, which, again, will take time. Assuming they don’t even have an intention is extremely baseless.
Ok, but let’s not say “rushing”, last japanese exclusive from XGS was D4 in 2014. We are near a full decade.
Do you not actually realize what I’m trying to say?
I don’t understand how some of you can’t comprehend this.
The whole 1st party organization and just the “Western” content were only addressed and taken seriously in 2018. We haven’t even started to really see their WESTERN acquisition output yet, for you to assume it’s not their intention to go big in Japan. Again, if it’s not happening now it doesn’t mean it won’t happen. They addressed almost every possible thing, why doubt it’ll also happen with Japan?
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It’s only a matter of time…
Get there western division up and running and then get GP in other markets.
Netflix is a prime example, the amount of amazing Korean content we are getting now is amazing. Did they start with Korea… no but they now have 5 million subscribers in Korea.
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I do wonder what is the plan for getting Japanese gamers into the ecosystem. Is it just Xcloud? On the previous Tokyo Game Show stream Phil was making it clear “that you no longer need an Xbox console to enjoy our platform”. Xcloud’s biggest flaw for me is you can only play what is currently on Game pass. And that means when a game leaves you can’t stream it anymore. Yakuza is starting to leave so that’s major JP content no longer on Xcloud. Was a buying option ever stated for non-GP games?
And, I’m assuming this is not the case, but I hope that because PlayStation stopped caring about Japan (and even did a little earth scorching), MS takes that as “Japan is lower priority” since PS is already dead there. Right I have some belief that MS may grab a small studio or 2 from Japan, but overall, the “acquisition wars” thing between Sony and MS will be focused entirely in the West.
I do, but their pace is too slow imo regarding Asia, they’ll get significant traction not before 2030 at this cadence. XD
I think MS tried with JP Studios but Every time the road got blocked, we know they spoke with Platinum games but led to no result. idk what is going jp studio don’t seem to like idea to work with MS or refuse to release exclusive games on xbox and demand multiplatform release and control publishing like bungie…
right now the best we got from JP is Kojima 3P Deal.
as for acquisition i think they are waiting for Opportunity, they will jump on any publisher from big 3 if they wanted to sell. any one from 3 would bring something needed for MS.
for now i think it’s best to increase 3P Deals like kojima one.
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That’s one of the best OPs I’ve ever read. The detail and thought process to put it all down like that was brilliant.
I would not be surprised if any of those “over 200 Japanese developers” become longer term partnerships or acquisition targets for Xbox.
These things take time (as some of you lovely folk have already mentioned). It’s time to stop thinking Xbox is sleeping at the wheel.
Now, when it comes to mobile devs/pubs I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them looking at:
- InnerSloth (Among Us - located in Redmond, WA)
- Niantic (Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, Transformers, etc. - Global Studio Presence)
- MiHoYo (Genshin Impact, Shanghai, China)
- SEGA (actually have a couple games in Apple Arcade, global studio presence, obvious pick for many reasons)
- eternax (Trivia Crack, global studio presence)
- Space Ape Ltd (Beatstar - UK, mostly owned by Supercell)
- Rec Room Inc (Rec Room - Seattle, WA)
- Konami (Yu-Gi-Oh!, PES - Japan)
- Plenty More…
Casual Market Buys:
- GameFreak (Pokemon - 33%? share of TPC)
- Creatures Inc (Pokemon - 33% share of TPC, partial ownership by Nintendo)
- InnerSloth (Among Us)
- EA (sports, Star Wars games, Battlefield)
- Take Two (Zynga, GTA, RDR, 2K Sports)
- Konami (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Soccer/Football)
- Plenty More…
Sorry, I’d make a longer list, but I’m tired.
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Buying a Japanese publisher could be easier on the organization. But nothing prevents Microsoft from creating its own publisher in the East by buying some studios. Tango, Platinum, cyberconnect 2, JP Studios, spend a lot from From Software.
That way Microsoft would have an extremely strong Japanese publisher. Make publishing deals with Itagaki, Kojima, Arc.
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Konami would be wild, Yu-Gi-Oh is big, PES not so much imo they lost the battle. It does have nice ips, so what the plan here let say they get konami. What is the plan with gambling business, spin it off and sell it ?
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Just say no to Konami
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