Phil Spencer On Tokyo Game Show 2023: 'The Future For Xbox In Japan Is Bright'

Maybe another Minecraft game and something completely out of left field would be welcome.

Final Fantasy vii Remake will be revealed for Xbox.

@Blaa I do not think Japanese people would particularly care about that game. FF games disappear off the sale charts as quickly in japan as they do everywhere else now. Square Enix is a waste of resource. Better to let them fade into obsurity. the only reason to approach SE is to take away the press release's "we have exclusive Final Fantasy" from Sony.

I believe they'd care more about quirky titles like Pikmin or a co-op GaaS game like Monster Hunter tailored for their tastes. Maybe a Splatoon knockoff that doesn't suck. Or more cloud information as they obviously like mobile.

He's been saying this for years dawg, what future is he even talking about at this point, evil skynet future, total recall future, Akira future?!?! 😂
I do wonder if we'll get a gamepass drop given how stacked the month already is, I've been praying for Tales of Arise for a while now and it would actually make sense now given the expansion, but not that big of a miss if they don't.

I was reading somewhere earlier PC gaming is continuing to boom in Japan. It was up 43% last year alone. It’s a market Xbox are in so there could be some truth in that regard but for the Xbox hardware itself, I think it’ll always remain niche in Japan.

@Cashews I would not expect anything that's not tied to an Asian based studio. I am hoping for some Final Fantasy games coming to Xbox.

Remember when Xbox backed Mistwalker Studios and we got Lost Odyssey? It didn't move the needle one bit. GamePass on phones and a dedicated streaming device is surely the future of Xbox in Japan.

I really want more KOEI Tecmo games.

A Yakuza shadow drop would be good or a Namco Ridge Racer game

@somnambulance I was kinda hoping Phil would do another troll X last night.

I am moving to calling it X instead of tweeter. It is time.

@Benjamin to be fair Lost Odyssey was a terrible, horrible video game.

I agree jrpgs aren't the way to go. Monster Hunter is probably too hard - that game has too much of a following for anyone to consider leaving it. Obviously MS's strength rn in the japanese market is Minecraft. Exploit that in the same way Pokemon exploits their young.

I'd support existing studios like Capcom and give Nintendo anything they want (like Azure support and eshop discounts) to try to get gamepass on their next gen.

In Phil we trust.

3 predictions, but only 1 of the 3 would actually happen at TGS:

• Final Fantasy XIV and announcement of an imminent release on Xbox (or something Square related)
• Overdose update
• Tango to announce The Evil Within 3

Would feel like a missed opportunity if they don't come up with any of these. Either way, cannot wait for next Friday!

Geez just give up on Japan already. If they haven’t taken to Xbox by now they never will. Japanese like Japanese products. Xbox could have every JRPG on it…unless it’s exclusive it’s doubtful it will make any meaningful impact. The best chance Xbox has of making any roads in Japan is teaming up with sega and rebranding Xbox for the Japanese (the ‘Sega Xbox’ at the start of a generation would have been ideal). But that’s not going to happen.

In the meantime they keep losing hold of western markets outside of America.

This is the problem with MS, they’re always chasing what they don’t have before focusing on what they do.

@Bleachedsmiles Close but no cigar!

Minecraft is a Japanese sales chart evergreen. It literally never leaves the japanese chart. MS has their foot in the door - more than any time in their gaming history - they just need to figure out how to exploit it.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/09/japanese-charts-pikmin-4-continues-to-dominate-the-competition

japan is always worth going after because of how talented they are at developing games. i also assume most of MS's developers are somewhat attached to their culture. people simply desire to be accepted by them even to a fault.

Love when Phil drops the Japanese on us lol.

@Cashews Minecraft is available on everything. They’re not selling Xbox’s on the back of it. If MS want to go the third party route then yes, they’d probably have some success in Japan. My comment was relating to the xbox console.

@Bleachedsmiles Mine was too. I will say it again. they have a foot in the door - how they exploit that foot is up to them.

when you have the hearts and minds of a people you have a way in. Xboxes, subscriptions, whatever.

Look at the flipside. Ubisoft and EA has zero presence. Zero way in. Which is better?

EA tried as well with Wild hearts.

@Cashews Heh when switch and PlayStation owners boot up Minecraft they’re not thinking Xbox. Hell, I’d be surprised if the majority of Xbox owners even know Minecraft is a ‘first party’ game

Xbox are barely a 3rd thought in Japan if console sales are any indication. So I’m not sure about being in hearts and minds (maybe for the few hundred that pick one up each month)

EA and Ubisoft don’t face the struggle of trying to sell a western console to them. I’ve no idea what their plans are for Japan. I would assume both have seen some form of success. But, like Minecraft, I wouldn’t say a Mario + rabbids has gamers instantly think Ubisoft over there (probably more so than Minecraft and Xbox tbh)
I wouldn’t say ea and Ubisoft don’t have a ‘way in’ though when their games are on platforms that do sell in Japan. Unless you know something I don’t and they don’t allow ea/Ubisoft games there? I think it be fair to say more opportunities for them to have a Japanese hit than for Xbox with a game tied to its consoles 🤷🏻

@somnambulance Rule out DS2 at SOP and Gamescom, and you would hope Kojima is turning up with Overdose at the Xbox TGS stream.

The way I see it there is only one way for them to “crack” the Japanese market. They need Japanese games as exclusives; like with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon… but they need to eat the cost over years and years as that exclusive library builds up; and not throw in the towel after 2 games haven’t changed their fortunes.

With Xbox games all being on PC I just don’t see it happening unfortunately. But more Japanese, or Asian in general, games will still lead to more sales so it’s a step in the right direction. Plus it helps that audiences in the West also like those games.

@somnambulance Agreed mate. I think a showing wih Overdose at the Xbox TGS event is THE perfect time. Here's hoping! 🤞

Persona 6 on Xbox, make it happen Phil.

@Browntrouser You say that, but Phil’s words are very telling:

“We will share updates updates from our studios and a diverse lineup of games from creators predominantly located in Japan and across Asia.”

The fact that it’s predominantly means there will be some non-Asian games showing up. Wonder which non-Asian studios will show up?

I’m guessing Bethesda shows up with a Japan-focused Starfield trailer, and maybe a Japan-related track for Forza Motorsport. Would love a Halo Infinite Japanese trailer too while we’re at it!

@GunValkyria I wouldn't be so sure that MS hasn't already done a deal. They are doing a lot of deals with SEGA/Atlus at the moment for marketing and gamepass partnerships. At very least I feel like it will be multiplat as this 1000% needs to be on the next nintendo console.

I would say if it could only be on just 1 console it should be a nintendo console as they have the biggest JRPG player base and just player base in general.

I have been hearing this same type of thing for as long as I can remember with Xbox so call me a skeptic. That said, I don’t really care. I don’t own an Xbox for Japanese or Asian styled games so wether it has them or not is no big deal to me. Don’t get me wrong, a great game is a great game and if he has some great titles from that region coming down the pipeline, I am all for it. I’ll just believe it when I see it and couldn’t really care less one way or another. It’s just not why I own an Xbox at all.

I wouldn’t expect much here. I would expect the Atlus games already shown to pop up again.

Also it’s not the exclusives that are the issue with Japan. The Japanese market is very old school and requires a lot of boots to the ground work that MS doesn’t really do even in the States.

I’ll give you an example. They don’t have a physical booth at what’s considered the largest Tokyo Game Show in years. That’s the issue. Right there.

Not that Japan is alone, they didn’t have a demo booth for Starfield at Pax Wes either but they had their PC partners pick up the slack They cant do that with Japan. Thus their show is kind of missable.
🤷🏼‍♀️

Also want to point out I think this new employee Mena is step in the right direction and I do like that they are doing fan event for JP Xbox fans this year.Kudos there.

@Blaa 😂😂

Don't expect much itll be the usual games, there will be no final fantasy 7 remake,no persona 6 ,Sony won't allow that, and after the Activision shenanigans, it will just make Sony more aggressive to cut ms off.

@Amigator 🤢

@tallythwack that could be an excellent opportunity though. Force Sony to spend money ona declining brand. pretend like you give two sh*ts about Final Fantasy, make Sony spend stupid amounts of money on a dying brand - win.

Oh Phil, such sweet words. I get disappointed a lot by your promises of Japan, but somehow you always tease me back.

@Cashews
Aww, that's sweet🥰 FF will most probably only pick up in popularity as Rebirth is shown off to the world and eventually released.

@Cashews ff is hardly a dying brand ,if so, why so many petitions from xbox gamers to get it on their system ,there's more than spiderman.

@tallythwack I have no idea why they want it on that system. I sure as hell don't. Square Enix sucks donkey balls. They aren't worth a pot of piss if I were Phil and they asked me for a $50 cab fare to put FF16 on gamepass permanently I'd have them thrown down a mountain instead.

More announcements of late ports instead of actual japanese exclusives

@Benjamin It actually did (alongside many other japanese exclusives during 360 like ninety nine nights, blue dragon, infinite undiscovery, dead or alive 4 etc and timed exclusives like last remnant, star ocean 4, dead rising and tales of vesperia)

360 sold over 1 million in japan which was very impressive and above the sales of og xbox (despite how og xbox had great japanese support also)

@Darylb88 the persona mobile game also looking very good make it on xbox much like how ps5 is getting many mobile games to the point im thinkin itll be a mobile/live service machine

@Utena-mobile wasnt it last year or so we got persona 3,4,5 and monster hunter rise day 1 gamepass?
along with many other games
u people are just never happy

@tallythwack
-square enix blames ps5 for not so great sales of ff16 not meeting high expections [before this "Square Enix is Reportedly 'Panicking' Over Final Fantasy 16 Pre-Orders" many stated was not true and turned out it was]

-ff7re also didnt sell very well on ps4 "long term" last i read

-recently square enix stock market decrease

-update the stock is still decreasing and lost about 2billion in value

its not just final fantasy is dying [to me been dying ever since ff10 was finished] but all of square enix is dying based on my info stated above Takashi Kiryu has alot to do to save square from its self

@Cashews you might not like it, but its a very popular franchise.

@rizangle 7 million copies of a game sold ,is a good figure,but not for square,they are known for making ridiculous projected sales figures.

@tallythwack 7 mil years later isnt very good for a very very long running IP and the game is pretty high budget so i have to agree with square

With the other info i stated before i would again agree with them

Like i stated before with my previous points square and final fantasy are in big trouble for now