Japanese developers have to realise that developing games basically just for Japan is not a good thing anymore. Developing costs increased and the Japanese console-market decreased. On the other side, the western market in Europe and America increased.
All the big (Japanese) franchises are that big, because they were successful in Japan AND Europe / America. Check:
- Metal Gear Solid 4 (just 16.74 % of the worldwide sales came from Japan)
- Resident Evil 5 [both platforms] (13.06%)
- Devil May Cry 4 [both platforms] (15.83%)
- Street Fighter IV [both platforms] (8.12%)
That is the reason that made FF XIII going multiplat. X360 is a very successful console in the west and Square Enix wants to get as much sales as possible.
Games designed just for Japan did not do very well this gen. Star Ocean / Last Remnant / Infinite Undiscovery are all around 500k.
White knight Chronicles did not do that good either with 350k units sold. The release in NA and Europe might push this to 700k though which is decent, but nothing to go crazy about. Same thing for Lost Odyssey.
Tales of Vesperia is at 320k, Valkyria Chronicles at 500k. This simply is not enough.
For HD-Games - you just need the western market.
Imagine not having GamePass on your console...
