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Forums - Gaming - Phantom Dust remaster launches May 16 for free!

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Nuvendil on 18 May 2017
S.T.A.G.E. said:
Nuvendil said:

Well your fanboys don't need blinding.  It worked on the average consumer who just knows "hey, there's that Phantom Dust thing".  It keeps that game in their mental image of the Xbone even though it actually doesn't exist.  And small exclusives like these are again symbolic.  Sony learned this with the PS1 and PS2:  you aren't selling people the box or the individual games, you are selling them the platform, the ecosystem you are creating.  The PS2 had some awful 3rd party ports and was noticeably weaker but people bought into the Playstation platform because Sony built and promised a compelling ecosystem on Playstation.  MS knows this is important and that canceling games, closing studios, leaning too hard on 3rd parties, constantly having fire sales, all those create a mental assumption in the audience that your ecosystem isn't very vibrant or very desirable.  

And no, Japanese third parties don't have to run to MS.  But MS could have at least tried to build bridges.  They did with the 360 and it DID help.  But this time they just didn't.  At all.  

I doubt the average consumer knows what Phantom Dust is. The only stable message that Microsoft has sent to consumers is that they want to be everywhere, even if you dont game.

Microsoft building bridges in Japan depends on how well Microsoft sells in Japan. Once Microsoft sold over a million Xbox 360's in Japan then the Japanese devs started giving Microsoft games. No one in their right mind should give Microsoft an exclusive game (for an IP they own) in a generation were Sony is doing well. That will send those franchises to an early grave. I mean, look how everyone is looking at the switch. They are contemplating whether the switch gets ports orr exclusives. You have to give publishers the platform and have the following behind it to create the spark which drives their development dollars. Im sure Microsoft has tried to build bridges, but once Sony wins...its kind of over. I have a theory about Japan that if an outsider makes a product thats a carbon copy of their own its a recipe for disaster, but if they create something genuinely innovative (that they havent seen before)  or better in quality than what they make nationally they will come.

With that said, I really hope they get their act together. The only games im expecting from Microsoft that I even want are State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3...and still wouldnt say those are must haves. Are you anticipating anything at E3 that you're excited for?

No, the average consumer doesn't know what PD was.  Nor do they know Crackdown.  Or Quantum Break.  Or Order 1886.  Or Persona 5.  Or Nioh.  Or Yakuza.  They know the names from news articles or brief marketing name drops or game lists.  Like I said, these mid to small time exclusives are about building brand value, not aobut being mega hits.  That's why MS didn't want to do a public canceling, they've already done too much of that.  It's just not a good look.

No, MS should have built those bridghes at launch.  MS reached out to Japanese devs before the 360 launched, they made a partnership with Mistwalker early on.  They did things to actively engage with the Japanese audience from the word go.  They never did that at any point with the Xbone.  And yeah, now they can't do anything to fix it but that's a result of their innaction at launch.

As for what I am anticipating at E3...from Xbox?  Nothing.  Aboslutely nothing.  My hype for the brand was crushed way back in 2013 and while they've rekindled it here and there with the announcement of Scalebound for example, it's never been very strong and they've well and truly murdered it with the lukewarm Halo 5, the laughing stock that was Halo MCC, the canceling of Scalebound, the obvious steps taken to have one foot out the door with regards to the console market, the fact that this year they've reserved a third of the dang space at E3.  My hype for Xbox at E3 is pretty much rock bottom.  But outside of Xbox, yeah, there's plenty I am excited for.