Let me stop you right there: Atlus doesn’t make obvious choices like this for some reason. Charitably I can say it’s because they know something we don’t but realistically it’s because they’re stubborn and old-fashioned. That’s assuming these rumors are true of course, but it would be more surprising to me if they supported Xbox at all.
Not everyone agrees, but I still like the idea of investing heavily in areas where you’re more likely to see success, resulting in a larger/can’t miss ecosystem overall.
1 Like
Cant lose what you never had
2 Likes
1 Like
I think that was more related to cloud streaming via Edge in certain regions agreements, as you can play Death Stranding on Xbox with Geforce Now in Russia and the Middle East.
Wouldn’t put it past Sony to be that petty though
1 Like
During these times when we discuss the lack of JRPGs on Xbox I always give thought to the idea….what if we just played some of the couple hundred of the ones Xbox already has?
Yakuza franchise is now on Xbox, there are tons of FF titles, dragon quest and other great JRPGs. Where Sony might have some timed exclusivity on a few JRPGs, always remember….this gen Xbox has the triple AAA wRPGs on a permanent lock. I’d be so pissed if I couldn’t play Starfield, ES6 or Fallout 5. And stuff like Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed might cause envy as well.
Its unfortunately the current reality we face. Microsoft needs their playerbase to play more JRPGs so that they know we want these games.
2 Likes
I thought they were heading into right direction with yakuza series, but doesn’t seem to be trying as hard as they did there. Microsoft was able to build a decent base for franchise
Sadly , I think not much they can do unless throw money at them until gap between Sony is closer and Xbox becomes too big to ignore
1 Like
there is no player base if they didn’t invest in market in first place, JRPGs are also big on PC.
That’s not how it works. Yakuza got a major growth thanks to Game Pass. And most of the people want to play the best games, not just some random Kemco smartphone port.
6 Likes
Like I said before, if MS want jrpg’s or japanese games in general, they cant rely on Square and most certainly not on Atlus, they need to fund their own big games or revive old ones
and as for the" not coming to xbox because bad sales", yeah, no, FF aint coming purely because of Sony moneyhatting, FF, at least the mainline stuff sold well or decent at worst
and Atlus, well Atlus are bloody useless, the fact its taken them this long to get a proper Persona title on switch should tell you they arent the best decision makers
4 Likes
I think Game Pass might change the playing field, down the line. Instead of sending a game out to a platform to die, devs are getting cash up front and a ton of exposure.
The “nobody buys JRPGs on Xbox” argument thus is less of an issue because sales no longer matter and the requirement of “building a fanbase” no longer matters because a playerbase comes baked in with GP - people will play the game by virtue of it being there and “free”
The success of this has already been seen with Yakuza, but too many other Japanese devs remain skeptical of the service to give it a chance - choosing the safe and predictable short term money hats from Sony
2 Likes
Scarlet nexus, Octopath Traveler, the dragon quest games, Tales franchise… there’s a lot of stuff to play on Xbox JRPG wise. When people spend money on these games Xbox will notice. We need to make noise and show them that yes, we want more JRPGs on Xbox.
But it’s not just about buying these games, we have to complete them. You wanna see more JRPGS? get some of your favorite Xbox podcasters to make the noise, start telling your friends about these great games and tell them to check them out. This is how these movements work.
We could all honestly say “hey starting in February everyone on XboxEra should play through Lost Odyssey like it launched on feb 1st 2022.” Tell your friends about these great games you know are on Xbox.
Word of mouth is the most powerful tool.
2 Likes
I totally agree that variety is the key for success. Also buying a studio/publisher or at least doing XBGP deals with Japanese publishers/studios looks like the more logical thing at least for now.
I’d also say that growing Tango to more than another studio (to something like Xbox Japan Studio for example) and putting a well-respected man like Mikami-san in charge of 3rd party relations in Japan could be a big move that has the potential to change things there though obviously we don’t know if Mikami-san wants such a position. Could be a bold move though that gives the signal to the publishers and studios that are yet not convinced there that Xbox takes Japanese gaming seriously this time around.
3 Likes
I do miss the "fuck it we’ll do it ourselves " attitude toward JRPG 's that the Xbox division had in the early 360 years that got us Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and yes even Infinite Undiscovery.
7 Likes
I wonder when we’re gonna get an update on the new DQ game. I’m especially very curious what they meant with a new combat system. Could they perhaps pull a Yakuza but then the other way around, realtime?
one way to start fixing situation…
Good point. But still annoying that the community have to push it. The publisher can try it as well. But if you have someone like SE who dropped KH3 without any of the prequel on Xbox and hope for a success then it’s normal to skip Xbox in the future. 
That’s sadly true. While Xbox did get DQ eventually, Game Pass even, it remains to be seen if Sony’s not gonna make some deal to have that timed exclusive as well. I know not everyone agrees with it but to prevent this I would hope it’s actually Xbox making a deal for either timed exclusivity to just have it launch on Xbox, or even Game Pass day one.
Or just at least make sure it just drops on Xbox day one too. It’s not so much for me that they have it timed exclusive, Sony gamers can have it too. We’ll see what happens. But I wouldn’t mind MS getting a little more agressive in this, since Sony sure is.
1 Like
Yep
Dont have FF, here’s Lost Odyssey aka the true FF13 and a better FF than anything thats come from square since 2001
Wish theyd start splashing the cash for Asia territories again like the old days, when quite frankly its more important than ever for gamepass
6 Likes
Phil is trying to get a foothold in Japan with Tango and it should be interesting to see in which ways he’ll do that. We know a new game is in development that isn’t Ghostwire Tokyo, but that’s not a JRPG. Also not a JRPG but damn promising is Wukong. Xbox wants to do better with Asian content, right? Get that bad boy featured in your E3 show. If that game really comes to fruition and looking like that? Well, people watching the Xbox show will be talking about that a lot afterwards. People just like third person, action adventure and next gen worthy graphics and animations.