shikamaru317 said:
It doesn't matter what my personal feelings towards any of those games leaving are. The fact of the matter is that the overall situation in Japan is not going to improve unless Xbox starts putting in more effort over there. After these leave and Wo Long comes in, we will have 26 JP games on Gamepass by my count. In most Gamepass updates no JP games are added to Gamepass, with only an occasional update adding a few. Their chief competitor, the new PS Plus mid and high tier, had around 100 JP games the last time I checked, and each monthly update they seem to add at least 3 JP games, sometimes more, this month for instance we don't even have the full list yet but 2 of the 4 that have already leaked early are JP games. While it's true that I don't particularly care about any of these 3 games that are leaving (Lightning Returns was well known to be a bad game unlike the first 2 FF13 games, while the other 2 just don't interest me), the fact of the matter is that the overall health of Gamepass within Japan plays a part in the decisions of JP publishers about what games to port to Xbox, what games to sign Gamepass deals with Xbox on, and the overall sales of Xbox in Japan. And to be frank, the picture is not looking too pretty over there right now. Japanese gamers are raging against the uncalled for Xbox price increase in Japan, we are getting less JP ports announced for Xbox than at any point in the last 5 years I'd say, the overall JP Gamepass line-up is weaker than it was in the past. The fact of the matter is that the JP games I am interested in and would play if they were added to Gamepass, rarely seem to get added. There are some, which are already on Xbox, that I have been sitting and waiting and hoping to see on Gamepass that still haven't been added 2 years or more later in some cases, and I can't really buy them either as they are JP games that don't get big price discounts in digital sales. Others, which have yet to be ported to Xbox, I have been sitting and waiting and hoping to see Xbox make Gamepass deals to win over Xbox ports, and that too hasn't happened. And that, ultimately, is the main source of my frustration. The JP games that Xbox does seem to get Gamepass deals on are often the ones I'm not interested in, like Wo Long for instance, I just don't have any interest in Souls-like games and never will. And I am far from alone on this. I frequently speak with fellow Xbox fans on twitter who are just as frustrated with the current JP situation on Xbox as I am. |
See, this right here, is the shit that pisses me off. You lead your post with "oh it doesn't matter how I personally feel about such and such, this shit is important for the future of the health of Xbox in Japan, and getting more Japanese games for the rest of us!" But then a couple paragraphs later it's "oh but these Japanese games aren't the RIGHT Japanese games, and even the ones that are available on Xbox for me to buy, that I would like, I can't, so I'm just waiting and waiting for everything to be the way I want it to be..." Yea, ok. Big shocker that a lot of Japanese devs may not think it's worth their time doing Xbox ports, if the Xbox fans who supposedly care about Japanese games actually just sit around do precisely jack shit to show that they actually care in the one way the means something to a business. Aka, spending time and money on the games that are actually available.
MS, for their part, are doing everything they can to secure more Japanese support. They've made deals with Sega for Yakuza (and the creator has credited said deal for making the series more popular in the west), they finally managed to bring the entire Persona series to Xbox, they've worked with Capcom and brought Monster Hunter Rise to GP on day one, we're getting a new IP from TeamNinja on GP on day one, Tango just released a fantastic new IP, they're working with Kojima on a project of some sort, before Square decided "fuck everything Xbox" they brought a ton of their old games to GP. The fact of the matter is, they ARE generating as much goodwill with devs there as they can without paying literally everyone off to simply get their games at all, which isn't financially feasible, or good business.
Everything isn't gonna be on GP. Sometimes, if you really want a game, you're simply gonna have to buy it. The economic reality is that Xbox and PS do not have the same exact audiences. GP subscribers and PS whatever tier subscribers will not have largely the same expectations, purchasing habits, or general gaming interests. It doesn't make sense for MS to invest a bunch of money in adding tons of Japanese games to GP, if their data shows that only a tiny fraction of their subscribers are going to engage with that content, and/or only a tiny amount of new subscribers are gained. If something matters to YOU, then put your money where your mouth is.
Your fellow Xbox gamers in this thread just made Persona 5R their GotY for 2022. Hell, even I played it, and I had literally 0 emotional investment in it ever coming to Xbox. You know who didn't play it? The one person in this thread that never fucking stops going on about Japanese games. It's getting old. And hey, I get it, we all have time, and budget restraints that keep us from doing certain things, but all companies can do is look at what you ARE actually prioritizing when you are in fact playing games, and you're clearly NOT prioritizing Japanese games.
Last edited by Angelus - on 15 February 2023
