| FinalEvangelion said: They really should have kept Mistwalker and some 1st party devs around, but now they are cutting dev studios which I think will hurt MS in the long run since they will be so reliant on 3rd parties. Both Nintendo (N64) and Sony (PS3) know what it's like to rely too much on 3rd parties. After TOV and FF13 coming next, I imagine it's too high of an opportunity cost to moneyhat jRPG devs. Even a big company like MS, their shareholders want to see the value of shares increase. |
Microsoft definitely needs more than four Japanese IPs (Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, Ninety-Nine Nights). But unfortunately I don't think Microsoft has the patience to do things the right way in Japan (build their first-party ranks). They think that throwing money at the problem (moneyhatting third-party devs) instead of investing (new IPs) is going to solve everything.
Sega's Saturn run in Japan has already outlined somewhat of a blueprint for Microsoft to follow. The majority of software sold on the Saturn in Japan was published by Sega and they gave a huge conglomorate (Sony) a run for them money from 1994 to 1996. It wasn't until 1997 when Sega gave up on the Saturn (due to losing all of that support they built up last gen in the western market) and Sony became a force in Japan (very strong third-party sales but they also overtook Sega in first-party sales) that Sega started to slow down. Even when the Saturn slowed down, it was still performing a good bit above Xbox 360 standards. If the Sega Saturn wasn't so hard to program for, I think Sega could have stole some third-party PS1 exclusives from Sony.
Right now, MS should focus a lot more on first-party publishing. It doesn't matter that MS "lost" in Japan. So as long as they don't give up and release more real exclusives for the console, you'll have more Japanese gamers buying 360s. Even if they already own a Wii and/or PS3. They need to do what they can. Next generation, they have an opportunity to make larger improvements.
The hardware failure controversy is definitely hard for Microsoft to shake off though. To this day you still see people on the internet perpetuating the idea that no one should buy a 360 as it is a faulty console. Even though they don't have any proof that current chipset consoles (Jasper, which gives off a lot less heat, uses less energy) have high failure rates. That reputation they got from the faulty early model consoles has stuck with them.
