This is a good sign of things to come. Xbox Wire JP is going to need Japanese content to appeal to readers.
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After about 12 hours in Elden Ring I say they need to make a deal with FromSoft, fund their next game, not saying to moneyhat anything but maybe a new IP like they did with Sony, also I know this is likely not possible but I wonder if they could make a portable Series S? A la Switch but with Series S specs? I think that would be popular in Japan.
This will answer your Portable Xbox questions
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Thanks!
Yeah I feel the same about Platinum & Cyberconnect2, they would be great gets for Xbox given that they’re JP developers that can use the backing of Microsoft to make the games they want to make without having to juggle multiple projects to stay afloat. They are very similar when you look into their history.
Having Coalition work with Platinum to continue the Scalebound project in Unreal Engine would be ideal if they can convert the assets to the current build of Unreal Engine. I don’t think Platinum has used Unreal Engine in a while so it would likely take a longer time since they would have to get up to speed with it again but it could work.
I also wonder if they can rebuild Scalebound faster and better with Platinum’s current in house engine provided it has all of the capabilities they need to make the game.
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I have to imagine that the better hardware of the Series consoles would also help, I remember the game looked very ambitious at the time for an Xbox One game and by far Platinum’s best looking game yet, I hope they collaborate again some time.
Yeah they have a much better set of circumstances now to be able to make the game they’ve always wanted to make given their added experience with online coop, better hardware, and better versions of UE & their own engine that they can utilize.
With all that in mind it makes me more interested to see them rework the game with an Xbox budget.
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[quote=“Cayde4Ever, post:169, topic:5693”]
I hear Sakaguchi is going to retire though, would you still want them if that happened?
[/quote] that depends. If retirement means from making games but still like head of company then yes. Im sure he has groomed guys. If he can be in like a todd howard role im downAccording to TheGameSpoof, Xbox Japan are collaborating with “top class developers” on “truly groundbreaking product”, from tweets by senior producer Matt Smith and job listings:
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It’s all coming together now. Might be some news at TGS this year.
Give it time. I know patience is a virtue but it does come atogether eventually.
The Kojima Game is one of those games
Xbox sold just a tiny bit over half what PS5 did this week in Japan.
With this recent news I’d say we’re due for Japan getting some good Xbox stock.
PlayStation 5 – 11.259 (1.550.666)
Xbox Series X|S – 5.742 (178.509)
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They sell relatively solid amount of consoles there. I am curious if they could reach PS numbers of they sold more though, but I think by the end of the gen they might reach 500k. PC Game Pass and Mobile are their main vectors there.
IMHO Xbox’s first move should be to buy Platinum. That will get them a solid foothold along with Tango. They should Shrink Platinum to two teams to start with, but once they launch Scalebound invest and grow them to a 3 team studio along with Tango being a 2 or 3 team studio. The last genre they would be lacking in is JRPG’s I would personally think Level 5 or a similar studio that has sort of fallen short of it’s past glory to rebuild. Sega would also be a good JRPG candidate. I would say Mistwalker, but I am not sure what state they are in or if they have the desire or ability to scale back up and take on the Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey franchises right now, but they could be built back up. Microsoft could probably buy them and Platinum with the change found in the executive parking lot and in the break room sofa.
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In order to attract talent I think they need to allow Japanese games to be made for both Xbox and Nintendo. Because most people in Japan grow up playing either PS or Nintendo devices they more than likely want to make games for those devices especially to get other people in Japan to notice and play their games.
I do think it would benefit Microsoft to offer Japanese developers some freedom to continue releasing Japanese ports for other consoles - they maintain goodwill and keep the fanbase strong while letting the audience come to them with the alure of gamepass. Plus I think you’d have a hard time convincing Atlus to get rid of the dart board they use to decide what platform they release games on.
They don’t need to and don’t see MS sponsoring the ports to other platforms. And they support PC Day 1 anyway.
They certainly don’t need to, Japan is not such a big market that Microsoft really needs to take drastic measures to ensure a foothold, but I think this is a case where Microsoft would catch more flies with honey than vinegar. We’re talking about a market where Microsoft holds a tiny minority of the total home console sales, which is in itself a declining market, I think they’ll struggle if they try and force the audience to move over to Xbox if they want to continue to play games that are considered Japanese mainstays. I think it’s better to give studios the option to release ports (that is, region specific ports without English language options and only so long as they are financially viable to do so) but continue to market Xbox and Game pass/XCloud as the best place to play these games. You might even find Japanese studios are more open to acquisitions/publishing deals under these circumstances.