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. |
Which ones? I can hardly find any notable JP games that fit those criteria.
Tales of Arise isn't on Game Pass yet but that hardly surprises me as it's been quite successful but also doesn't fit the criteria as it's less than 2 years old and is currently on sale for 60% off.
DBZ: Kakarot 75% off.
Sekiro 50% off. Does that count?
NieR Replicant 50% off but not two years old.
World of Final Fantasy Maxima. 60% off all the time and it's not a full price title.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory 50% off.
Resident Evil Village. Not two years old. 72% off (compared to launch price).
Judgment & Lost Judgment: Not two years old. Both 60% off (Judgment isn't even a full price title)
That's pretty much every notable game from Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Capcom and SEGA that haven't been on Game Pass yet (Konami: none, KOEI Tecmo: none (maybe the 2021 Fatal Frame game but it's not two years old)). I know there are more Japanese publishers but I think we're slowly getting into niche territory.
