In the context of the Activision-Blizzard deal it could be something like the FTC/DOJ requesting that MS has to keep the Call of Duty franchise multiplatform. It could also have nothing to do with gaming or IP specifically, but rather the employee abuse at Activision and what MS plans, and may need to do, to fix it.
Nah still Sega for me. Will admit completely bias. But idc, I think they are the best fit and option for any Japanese presence
Crossfire is an alternative way to really get into the Eastern market. It’s absolutely massive there and that includes outside of Japan in larger markets with more opportunity for growth.
They’ve also expanded and are worked on many additional projects.
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they got Blizzard now no need for that, Overwatch 2,Diablo IV and Starcraft 3 would do the job, also COD still big in asia especially mobile
Legit question, with all this talk about Japanese publishers how much do those in Japan play Western games? And how much of the market is Japan
Indeed, it is an incredibly boring acquisition.
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Really not that much, and with PS mind-share being close to 0 in Japan at this point Western games over there have taken a tumble in popularity too because that’s where they were being played. There’s some notable exceptions though. Apex Legends is MASSIVE over there (thanks to Vtuber sponsorships of all things) and I’m pretty sure that’s directly why the Switch version was made.
There was a poll at the start of the month of I think 100,000 gamers on some Japanese tv program of their overall top 100 games and only 6 of them were Western I think. It had a ton of recency bias on it.
Anyway, I’ll happily eat crow and lick the plate if I turned out to be wrong with the situation of a Japanese publisher acquisition, and Xbox actually does become a beast over there, and thus would not need the Switch for certain games. Hell, with how Sony effectively pulled out of the region and killed Japan Studio, maybe Japan would even accept Xbox as the “new” PlayStation if they did something as serious as acquire a Japanese publisher.
It’s just right now I simply worry about the niche games these companies make and their survivability under Xbox. This is where my desire and and expression of importance for Switch releases for the smaller games is coming from. Everyone’s focused on how Monster Hunter or Final Fantasy or Persona, but really, under a Sega acquisition for example, how would the new Etrian Odyssey from Atlus perform on Xbox when the series is more popular in Japan, the fanbase is 100% on Nintendo (it’s only been on Nintendo handhelds), the fanbase is 100% portable, it’s an extremely niche genre (DRPG) and 99.9% of Xbox players have probably never heard of it? That series needs Nintendo, plain and simple. Doesn’t help that Xbox still sucks ass at marketing games so they would only show it at E3 and Game Awards.
What I am saying is basically, these studios are going to still want to make games like those, and will probably be asking MS “Does this series have a future on Xbox?” Being still allowed Switch releases (while also getting them on Xbox) on the niche games would be a major way to make a JP publisher acquisition easier, I feel.
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The other thing that could play to that point is widespread adoption of xCloud in Japan. I’ve created a different thread on the idea of a streaming 5G portable being crucial for this, but there’s a lot of ways it could play out.
If you have millions playing xCloud in Japan due to its superior 5G infrastructure, these publishers will see the Xbox as a viable target.
Just as CoD rules the North American console space, I wonder if Monster Hunter is the same for handhelds in Japan. Where a high price could be justified in convincing an entire market that this tech is for real.
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Crossfire has 6 million concurrent users and over 1 billion registered users. It’s COD on steroids for about 15 billion in Asia.
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True. And IF MS really, actually does want Game Pass on Switch (this is not me wanting it on there, this is me saying maybe they want it on there), then this is the thing that would make Nintendo budge in a heartbeat.
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Apparently someone on iron lords mentioned Microsoft isn’t done and is trying to get wb and batman specifically I’m not sure who said it specifically
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I think that was Carlos (I forget what his online persona name is). He and BRAP joined toward the end.
Ah ok that would be something and a counter to all the marvel shit
Can someone rate the most popular devs and publishers in Japan? Obviously Nintendo is high up on the list
I guess Capcom would be probably square enix too idk tho
Yeah I suppose we’ll see. Not sure if I really expect them to do any major acquisitions like Activision Blizzard is going through. I wouldn’t be surprised if they add a couple studios though.
Yea technically they could before the end of fiscal year since Activision isn’t till what next year
I mean, I think they could go for most developers any time, I just don’t expect them to do any major deals that would cross over during ABK’s timeframe.
If they do pursue another publisher, it’ll be after that deal closes, unless it’s an emergency scenario to MS (which I don’t really think anything at this point would be).
ThIs is the top publishers in Japan for 2021. Yes, Microsoft is one of them, because of Minecraft Switch. Minecraft is another Western game with an extreme Japanese following (well, a worldwide following really. There is not a place where Minecraft isn’t popular lol)
Funny thing about Aniplex is that it’s a Sony branch but they publish on Switch and even sometimes publish Switch exclusives. Shows how disconnected Sony’s branches are.
Konami is because of Momotaro Switch, before anyone gets shocked. The game is a cultural phenomenon there.
And it should be noted that these are physical only (physical is still more popular in Japan) and that almost all of these sales are on Switch alone. PS is seriously a non factor there.
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Hoge Law mentioned how the EU treats King being acquired by Microsoft will be something to watch. Man would it ever be dumb if they took issue with that when Microsoft hardly does anything in the mobile space.
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