'Reynatis' Dev Explains Lack Of Xbox Version, Says There's Not Enough Demand In Japan

Xbox really doesn't exist in Japan. In stores you will find it in a tiny corner, if at all.

Just look at the number of consoles sold in Japan on a weekly/monthly basis.

Their statement is completely accurate. It’s still surprising that companies like Squeenix and Capcom are releasing what they release on it.

@dskatter their games sell massive numbers in the west though no matter what they are released on. A game like this not so much.

Thing is, I've been saying this for a while, a number of games either do not ever come to the Xbox, or do so after what is sometimes a significant delay, which often kills of interest in the game anyway. This is why the likes of Game Pass is receiving fewer and fewer games. The work involved in putting a game on Xbox is often just not worth the effort, with the financial return being simply too small.

This is why I remain unconvinced about there being a future for Xbox as a console manufacturer; if third-party developers are going to continue skipping the console, more and more developers are going to do the same. And, if more and more games are only available on the PlayStation, then more and more gamers will choose that platform over the Xbox, and so the cycle will continue, and worsen, with fewer and fewer developers opting to put their games on the Xbox.

Many people don't want to accept this reality, and personally I'd rather not see this kind of thing happen to what is my main platform, but I honestly believe that the future for Xbox (as a console) is truly bleak now. I think we will still see great Xbox games, but where we play them will be somewhere other than an Xbox console...

Perhaps someone could explain to him that countries other than Japan exist?

At least they're honest about it and don't come up with some PR song and dance to build up some kind of false hope.

@Zenszulu You’re not wrong on that!

What I have always been curious about is what does it really cost to make a port to the other console?

I knew Xbox wasn't the place to play Japanese games when I bought mine.
It's sad, yes but I knew what I was getting into.

And that is a simply true fact whether you like to admit it or not.

I think the important take away here is that while a developer said this, NIS America, the publisher mentioned here, the western publishing branch, IE outside of Japan, even feels the same. Not enough interest outside of Japan either.

Im sure the handful of people who were looking forward to this are salty as hell!

@mcdreamer yeah is a shame but I wonder if that situation is being mirrored here in the uk also. I went into a major electronics retailer here at the weekend and while paying they had loads of ps5 peripherals and games behind the counter, also quite a lot for switch and literally just a couple of controllers for Xbox.

Granted that’s just one example but if that’s replicated elsewhere it’s not a good look.

@datamonkey It's a while since I've been in a store in the UK (despite it being my home country!) but certainly the last time I did Nintendo especially was front and centre, with Sony just behind. I guess to some degree it's a reflection of what sells, with each relegation of Xbox further out of sight just making that worse.

Yet despite countless devs and publishers saying as much, some people here just won't accept that Xbox isn't relevant in Japan and will argue that Xbox is beloved there.

@mcdreamer at this point xbox doesn't exist world wide, stores in my country only have Switch and Playstation and just a few xbox games scattered around. There was a store with a XBOX 360 banner still but nothing in it!

At the game shop near me, there is only one Xbox One FIFA 14 game for sale second-hand. There are no consoles for sale (I have seen a second-hand Xbox One X for sale at that shop once).
In Japan, it would be difficult to even buy a new console unless you went to one of the few large city electronics stores.
You can buy it online, but for some reason it is always out of stock.
Unless Microsoft can prepare sufficient stock in Japan, they won't even be able to get off the starting line.

It’s hard to argue their reasons. Xbox has always been afterthought in Japan except for maybe a brief period during the Xbox 360 era. The only way NiS games comes to Xbox would be if Microsoft forked over a massive amount of funding and today’s Microsoft heads don’t seem to care much about Japan. It’s a wonder why the other big Japanese developers continue to support the console.

@Kingleo31 the Japanese games oriented for the western audience like Resident Evil, Sonic, and I guess LAD now would be on Xbox .

We getting genshin impact anyways so idc 🤷

I think that people who play these types of games would have probably bought them on other platforms, if it were out on xbox.

@BeMadIdc do you know when? I didn't hear any stories about this. Just saw a short clip somewhere that it's coming, but nothing more.

Maybe someday we can play it NS emu on xb.

@CutchuSlow wait 4 tgs nay get more info.

@Kingleo31 I think because Xbox probably incentivizes them, and because pc, and pc game pass, do well in Japan. Most of the Japanese games on Xbox are on pc too, although not all of them. Sega/Atlus do it, and Sq-En is moving that way. I like it. I buy the multiplatform stuff on Xbox with reward points.

To some extent, “Xbox doesn’t do well in Japan” because people keep repeating it over and over. People also say Japanese games don’t do well in the west, in order to excuse a lack of localization, which isn’t really true. The western market is bigger, and in many cases, Japanese games do better in the west.

@Old_Man_Harper Japanese dev. They aren’t going to bank on sales overseas (in addition to the switch, steam and PS overseas versions) when there isn’t demand in their primary market. They aren’t a large enough dev either that could roll a risk like that for good will. It would be nearly impossible to pitch for funding/backing. Xbox is on life support in Japan. It sucks but makes sense.

Still some readers here think that Japanese games only sell in Japan and that Xbox is an alien system that doesn't run Windows and DirectX like most computers worldwide. Weird.

@BeMadIdc Genshin is Chinese...

I just wish these devs would just tell the truth. Just say you dont feel like making an Xbox version.
If you truly cant see the glaring flaws in the "Xbox doesnt sell in Japan" argument, then there's no helping you.

They do realise that like with OG Xbox to 360 or Xbox One differences of sales or audiences matter and that other countries would gladly enjoy it on their Xbox even if Japan has a smaller audience for it. As if the OG Xbox to now uses Windows, had the developers first mindset, sure has changed over time but I mean.

They could just make a deal with Microsoft for funding it for Xbox/cloud/PC or whatever? I get they may be small of a dev but many other small devs get help and ask for it. Ask Xbox branch in Japan and see if they can get in touch, stop believing nonsense and make an effort or ask other devs that have made a game for Xbox and what the success or average or not as great response was. People believing what they hear and stereotypes and seem to ignore the past of Xbox Japanese/Korean games on the platform or the actual outcomes.

If they don't know how large of an overseas audience they see Xbox or other platforms and know how excited they would be for this game the devs are delusional and don't think about the bigger business picture at all or potentials at all of sales/audiences looking forward to this game. How sad. I don't know enough about this game though, I've probably seen the name/artstyle a few times maybe.

I was surprised when Phantasy Star Online 2 was Xbox first before other platforms in the west, if Sega is intelligent enough or willing to risk it to do such a thing (even if a larger company sure) and go yeah why not start there then the Japanese getting it on other platforms when they did prior to the western release, why are some devs so blinded when going for wider audiences overseas. XD

If censorship then sure Steam or Switch but the ignorance or more questionable side just makes me wonder, why?

In terms of APIs or the hardware or setting up meetings with Microsoft or whatever then sure but to completely ignore other audiences on other platforms with such a statement I think it's very questionable/and an 'I don't want to' then a case of the audience they original care for being the Japanese or Asian region and they have no idea how aware or waiting or could be annoyed now they have made the wider audiences then getting wider sales/audience and further audience reach for them to get their other games prior or future to think about and them shutting up and making the port happen. They don't think long term enough clearly. XD

@Browntrouser Xbox uses DirectX technology for graphics, audio and input (Xbox itself means DirectXBox), which is a technology developed for Windows (95 as Direct3D back in the old days). PlayStation, Nintendo, Linux, Mac, etc., they tend to use open source technologies like OpenGL or Vulkan, which are also available on Windows. Once you port your game to PC, if you port it using DirectX, then porting to Xbox is trivial really. But if the port to Windows uses OpenGL, then it's more problematic because OpenGL is not supported on Xbox. Only recently (2023) Microsoft started to map OpenGL APIs to DirectX in their GDK, so hopefully in the future, as the technology matures, it'll be trivial as well.

So the answer really depends on how the dev planned from the beginning. As a rule of thumb, most games made for Windows use DirectX as default, and thus will be ported to Xbox pretty easily, and thus, cheaply. A game made for PS or Nintendo only will have more difficulty porting to PC + Xbox, and thus will be more expensive.

Also note that, in general, game assets like 3D models, textures, audio files, scripts & text files, etc., do not need to be ported, although some minor tweaks might be needed to adjust for platform idiosyncrasies.

This is my guess as to why sometimes you see games like Phantasy Starr Online 2 going to Xbox first, because it's an MMO for PC, it was probably trivial/cheaper to port to Xbox console immediately after having the PC version available. On the other hand, Japanese devs, who historically have put more emphasis on console than PC, have more trouble adapting their tools (probably already tuned to Unix/OpenGL) to PC/DirectX, and thus ports are more expensive. And why games from smaller or medium devs prefer to skip the platform before having to invest a lot of resources in the port. But companies like SquareEnix can fund this effort, even if they only sell 10% more (once your tools are ported/upgraded you don't need to touch them for a long time), or why sometimes Microsoft funds said effort, as what happened with SEGA, and why we're getting everything SEGA on Xbox as well since a few years ago.