I know I’m playing a Japanese game when I play Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Dragon’s Dogma, Megaman, Okami, Ace Attorney, Onimusha, Dead Rising, or Lost Planet. Capcom is one of those developers who breathe their soul and their culture into their games, and it shows in each of their productions. It’s just my personal feeling, but I find Korean studios much more westernized than Japanese studios. I feel more like playing a Japanese game while playing Monster Hunter or Devil May Cry than playing a Korean game while playing PUBG, Lost Ark, Crossfire or BDO. But it’s just a feeling, I can understand that it is not shared.
It is not Sony that decides whether its competitors can buy a company or not. There is no logical and legal reason for a Capcom acquisition to be blocked by the authorities.
All SEGA studios are quality studios. No matter the budget, they always release amazing games that don’t have to be ashamed of the competition. Joining the Xbox family could allow them to reach an even higher level of quality.
I think great games will come from these countries, but we shouldn’t bury Japan for that. The proposals are different and I find that Korea still needs to find its identity. I really like Korean movies, I wish games had such a strong identity.
Anyway, I’m happy that new countries are becoming more and more important in the industry. It’s a good thing for the video game market, and if Microsoft wants to invest there with the acquisition of a few talented studios, I absolutely won’t be against it.
Out of all this Monster Hunter, Onimushua and Megaman to me are the only Japanese centric. The others all seem to have a western flair but to each his own. A lot of Korean games are definitely very westernized, but I feel they balance it out by making more cultural relative games.
True but Sony is a Japanese company you never know how much influence they’re packing. Certainly, this ABK deal could have closed earlier had Sony not thrown a fit. Also didn’t Microsoft already approach capcom and got refused once at least according to rumors.
On this we differ. I certainly think they have good studios, but I don’t think they are up to the task of delivering triple A games like Capcom. Might be because I have seen what Sega could do in their prime. If they had studios like in the Dreamcast era I would agree, I’d even say they were better than Capcom. As it is their IPs are the biggest thing about them today. Even some of their big IPs have ended up being contracted to other developers like Streets of Rage and golden Axe. With Yu Suzuki’s departure the Virtua fighter series has pretty much fallen.
The other thing I do wonder with Microsoft cutting back the workforce, Sega might be a tough sell for them. I think they would rather try to acquire the SONIC IP and sign a partnership with Sega for the rest.
It would be nice if Sega can rebuild but I would think they need to start before anyone considers them for acquisition. I do wonder what will happen if Nintendo or Sony acquires them to spite Xbox, certainly will work well to fill certain spots in Sony’s catalogue.
Nah this ABK deal needs to pass. There is a lot that comes with including influence that reaches all the way to Japan. Also, other than Kadokawa there is also Sony that has invested in From. They will certainly not agree to sell and push other investors in their favor, best thing is Microsoft can invest as well.
Agreed. Even as a huge SEGA fanboy I think they’re partly a rebuild project when it comes to their old IP. When it comes to current console and PC output, keep that going as is. But for Sonic Team and the revival of classic IP, there needs to be work done. I personally think though, that this work would pay off for Gamepass.
As Cliff said in today’s podcast, today’s kids want to grow up being streamers, developers, and so on. To add to his point: Five Nights at Freddy’s, Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite Are all billion-dollar franchises…each. Once Gamepass becomes a must-have for parents, Xbox can breathe a sigh of relief. I think SEGA can be a big part of that, but they’ll need to have some work done for them to reach that potential. Capcom, otoh, are ready to go.
If they want to target a wide variety of genres then I definitely prefer independent studio acquisitions. Go out and get 8-12 independent studios that provide different experiences/genres.
Plus with Sega they definitely wouldn’t need Final Fantasy anymore, since they would own Persona which these days can be argued is just as if not more popular.
OD62 you hit the nail directly on the head with your thoughts on Sega, we think very much alike add 5 or 6 Japanese studios to them then give them all the financial backing and time they need, then get out of the way and watch the magic happen. I am a Sega kid so the nostalgia that Nintendo continues to live on could definitely be rekindled in the right scenario.
Falcom, Cyberconnect2, Platinum,NIS,Rabbitt and Bear,Mistwalker,M-two,Itigaki games. I would like them to even expand out of Japan a little for sega and pick up Game Science, shift up and Digital Sky make them more of a well rounded Eastern publisher
I find the notions of AA and AAA vague and subjective (I sometimes have trouble defining where the limit lies between the two). You have AAA which is mediocre (Forspoken) and AA which is incredible (Hi-Fi Rush). In the end, the budget and the size of the game don’t matter, what matters is the quality of the product. So rather than talking about AA or AAA (I’m aware that big productions are necessary), I would say that Xbox mainly needs quality games, and I think SEGA is capable of making them. When I see series like Yakuza or Persona (which are considered AA), I tell myself that these games do not have to be ashamed of the big Japanese productions (RPG). So I think not all games need to be AAA rated, games need to be polished and made with love and passion, and I think SEGA could bring a lot of those things under Microsoft. Of course you can bring some of these games to AAA rank, it all depends on what the studio wants to do with the licenses, but it doesn’t have to be.
Where I agree with you is that the acquisition of Capcom would have a much greater impact than SEGA. Capcom is probably the best Japanese publisher, and the most popular in the world. But honestly, SEGA would already be an incredible step forward for Xbox in Japan. I think there is a lot of potential to exploit with SEGA, and a great marketing opportunity for Xbox in Japan. And as I said, you can very well acquire other studios to complement SEGA (ARC System, Platinum, CC2, MediaVision, NIS…) and have very interesting and varied content. From my point of view, Microsoft really needs a Japanese publisher to continue to expand effectively in the world, so if they can acquire Capcom or SEGA (or both), then that will be wonderful.
SEGA has taken a different direction, but I think they’re very good at what they’re doing right now. I agree that some IPs need to be brought back, but the current base is solid and should stay in place. I think the solution is to invest in staff and studios. Microsoft could bring that.
I don’t think Sony or Nintendo care about SEGA. And Microsoft could do something much more annoying in return lol
Not really. Capcom covers horror games, Japanese action games, Japanese role-playing games, fighting games, platformers. I would say Capcom covers more of Microsoft’s current needs and is probably the best thing that can happen to Xbox and GP. SEGA is interesting for the PC market and Japanese role-playing games (and Sonic). I find that the two publishers complement each other quite well, but if you have to choose, Capcom covers more needs. However, you can acquire SEGA and supplement it with the acquisition of independent studios, so it’s still a very good option.
Yes I agree, but I think they really need a Japanese editor. After that (or before) I hope they will acquire several independent studios.
Shining Force and Valkyria Chronicles are developed by MediaVision (which does not belong to SEGA), and Phantasy Star by Team Sonic. Personally, I think that the acquisition of Mediavision for the development of these three licenses would be a good thing.
Yes I think SEGA has a lot of potential, I would be very happy if it joins the Xbox family and has a new golden age. I’m also a big Capcom fan so hard to choose (ideal would be both lol), but one of those two would be a great addition for Xbox.
I don’t see either SEGA or Capcom being viable acquisitions for Xbox. Both publishers have fantastic games that do just fine as multiplatform titles. Neither studio have much to offer on a multiplayer or mobile front and if anything, would lose value if they became exclusive to Xbox.
The reason that Microsoft can get a publisher like Bethesda is because they were small enough and were willing to sell, it was the right place and the right time. Capcom would’ve been viable back when they were losing a lot of money during the end of the 360 generation toward the end of 2015ish. Microsoft would have to convince anyone within an acquisition that its good for both parties. I’m not sure how they could do that for Capcom when the publisher is already making almost a billion a year and most of their audience comes from the PC, Switch and PlayStation.
With Activision, Microsoft was willing to take a big financial acquisition because the stock was at a good place and the company needed deep restructuring and was already looking to sell. Capcom is a very healthy business so I’m not sure how Microsoft could really benefit. Capcom would probably have to keep their games multiplatform because Monster Hunter does huge numbers in Japan just on the Nintendo Switch alone. Devil May Cry 6 or Resident Evil 9 being an Xbox/PC exclusive would probably only hurt the value of the IP and its sales figures.
If we want to use Capcoms past Xbox exclusives as evidence, we can see that none of them ever made it to Capcom’s platinum tier top 10 list. Neither Dead Rising 1, 3 nor 4 are seen as commercial smash hits for the business, meanwhile Street Fighter V which was a PS4/PC exclusive sits at 7 million units sold, Monster Hunter Rise which was a switch exclusive sits at 11.70 million units sold, and Monster Hunter World at nu. 1 sits at 18.60 million units sold.
Capcom is a fantastic publisher and is on par with Nintendo, PlayStation or Microsoft when it comes to delivering high quality single-player titles. Hopefully now that PlayStation has to reveal how much they spend on keeping games like Resident Evil Village away from Game Pass, we can understand more about what’s going on with the annoying wait Xbox gamers have to deal with for high quality Japanese games. We’ve seen an almost turnaround from the beginnning of the Xbox One generation where Japanese games never came to Xbox, to a point where Microsoft’s been giving us titles like Persona 5 Royal and Soul Hackers 2 straight into Game Pass.
It’s quite apparent that Square Enix has some sort of business deal going on with PlayStation. Remember Xbox’s partnership with Square Enix to bring every Final Fantasy to Xbox Game Pass? Looks like that deal must’ve made Sony upset, because as we can currently see, there are no Square Enix titles available on Game Pass and there won’t be a single Square Enix game coming to Xbox in 2023.