Tag: Japan
News Xbox's Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast Airs Later This Month
Updates from Xbox, Activision, Blizzard & Bethesda
Microsoft has announced its Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast will take place later this month on Thursday, September 26th. Content from Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and Bethesda will be shared. Xbox will also be showcasing an "exciting lineup of games from third-party...
News Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X|S Price Increase For Japan
Microsoft says it's only for this location
Following the news earlier this week about Xbox hardware revenue nosediving, we've got an update coming out of Japan about another price increase for the Xbox Series X and Series S in this market. As highlighted by Famitsu (via Gematsu), as of August 15th, 2024, the price of an Xbox Series X model will...
News Xbox Series X|S Appears To Have Passed 600K Sales In Japan
Series S leading the way
It's not very often that we get updates on the sales figures for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S — after all, Microsoft hasn't officially shared them in years — but courtesy of Famitsu, it looks like they've reached a new milestone in Japan. The Japanese outlet is reporting this week that the two Xbox consoles have...
News Xbox's 'Top Paid Games' Chart Looks Very Different In Japan Right Now
Here's the full top 10
As you know, we often like to take a look at the "Top Paid" Xbox charts and see which games are selling particularly well on the Xbox Store, but it's very rare that we look beyond the likes of the UK and US stores. Today, we've taken a peek over at the Japan store, and it's shaping up very differently! In fact, the top 3...
Report Ubisoft's Japan-Themed Assassin's Creed Set For Gameplay Reveal Next Month
A sea of red is coming
'Assassin's Creed Red' was officially unveiled back in September 2022, but we're still waiting for a proper reveal from the folks over at Ubisoft following the tiny teaser trailer up above. Earlier this year we heard that a new trailer could be dropping in May before a gameplay deep dive during Ubisoft Forward,
News The Legendary Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Has Passed Away
His work included video games
News has just broken in Japan about the passing of manga artist and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. He died on March 1st, 2024 at the age of 68 from acute subdural hematoma. Apart from his influence on the manga and anime industry, Toriyama had a huge impact on the video game industry over the years - not only...
News Former Sony Exec Says Japan Publishers 'Need' Xbox If They Want To Expand Business
Claims it would be tough to "do that just with the PlayStation"
Microsoft's Xbox business is booming thanks to services like Game Pass, but one market it's still trying to succeed in is Japan. After apparently "losing trust" with Japanese studios during the Xbox One era, earlier this year it appointed the former Sony executive Mena Sato Kato as the...
News Phil Spencer Visits Hi-Fi RUSH Xbox Studio Tango Gameworks
Checking up on the team in Japan
The Tokyo Game Show recently took place, and as usual, Xbox aired its own showcase featuring all sorts of announcements for the local market in Japan. Of course, the Xbox head Phil Spencer was also present, and apart from a recent message talking about the "great" time he had, Hi-Fi RUSH and The Evil Within studio...
News Sony Veteran Becomes Xbox's New Director Of Partnerships In Japan
"Opening up a new chapter"
Back in December of last year, we noted how Xbox was looking for a "Director of Japan Game Creator Partnerships", and it looks like that role has now been filled by former Sony executive Mena Sato Kato. Sony Interactive Entertainment's ex-vice president of mobile business took to LinkedIn earlier this week to share the...
News Microsoft Welcomes Investigation Into Sony's 'Anti-Competitive Tactics' In Japan
The Xbox maker says it "deserves discussion"
Last week, you may remember that a story was doing the rounds about a U.S. senator claiming Sony has a "monopoly of 98% of the high-end game market" in Japan, and that story has evolved substantially over the past few hours. Axios is reporting that 11 members of Congress are concerned Sony is unfairly...
News Microsoft CEO Suggests ActiBlizz Deal Would Help Xbox 'Compete' In Japan
Expanding territories
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appeared on CNBC this week to talk about the future of the company, including what's next for the Xbox team. Of course, this discussion led to questions about the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and how Microsoft is responding to the current regulatory approval processes going on around the world...
News Xbox Unveils Job Listing For 'Director Of Japan Creator Partnerships'
Another major hire in the region
Microsoft has made a big deal about the need to grow Xbox's presence in Japan over the past couple of years, and it seems like that's still a major focus for the team right now, as a major job role has just opened up at the company. The ad, posted on the Microsoft website, is for a "Director of Japan Creator...
News The Callisto Protocol Has Been Cancelled In Japan After Clash With Ratings Board
CERO has blocked the game in its current state
Perhaps one of the most exciting games on the horizon is The Callisto Protocol - led by the creator of the Dead Space series, Glen Schofield. Unfortunately for Japan, it seems it won't get the chance to play this upcoming survival horror game - with developer Striking Distance Studios announcing it has...
News Xbox Series S Outsold The PlayStation 5 In Japan Last Week
Following on from a strong display at TGS 2022
Xbox has been trying to crack the Japanese market for some time now, and it seems it's recently had some sales success according to the latest Famitsu sales data. Between September 9th and September 18th, the Xbox Series S hardware managed to shift 13,211 units. This is seemingly one of its best weeks...
News Electronic Arts And Koei Tecmo Are Working On A Monster Hunter Rival
"The next great hunting game"
The Monster Hunter series has become an absolute goldmine for Capcom over the years, with each game normally shifting millions of units around the globe. It's got plenty of other companies thinking about how they could join the hunt, and with this in mind, EA and Koei Tecmo are teaming up in a new partnership to make...
News No More Heroes 3 Xbox Version Locks In October 2022 Release
Travis Touchdown is back
Update (Tue 19th Jul, 2022): We've finally got a release date for No More Heroes III (outside of Japan), which will be landing on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on October 11th in North America, and October 14th in Europe. The game will support Smart Delivery on Xbox, and in addition to the digital release,...
News Xbox Series X|S Sales Surpass 250,000 Mark In Japan
Xbox's Aaron Greenberg thanks fans
Xbox has been working around the clock to expand its footprint within the Japanese gaming market, and it seems its efforts are slowly but surely paying off. In a sales update from Twitter user and sales tracker BenjiSales, it's noted how the system's combined sales in Japan (since launch) have now surpassed...
Gallery Xbox Japan Website Shows New Screenshots Of Sonic Origins
It's the blue blur's classics redefined
Sega finally lifted the lid on the release date for Sonic Origins this week - confirming it would be arriving across multiple platforms including Xbox Series X|S this June. In the lead-up to the release, Xbox's official page on the Microsoft website in Japan has now released some new screenshots of the blue...
News Xbox Wire Officially Launches In Japan
"Reinforcing our commitment to Japanese gamers"
The Xbox brand is growing in popularity within Japan thanks to services like Game Pass and Cloud Gaming, and locally developed games jumping on board. To help increase awareness, Xbox has now launched its news service 'Xbox Wire' in the country. This will allow the Xbox team to deliver "fully...
News Atelier Dev Open To Xbox Releases, If There's 'Enough Requests From Fans'
"We may be able to make that a reality"
One Japanese RPG series that's not yet graced the Xbox platform is Atelier by Gust and Koei Tecmo. That could all change in the future though, if there's enough demand. Speaking to the website The Mako Reactor (thanks, @HazzadorGamin) about the upcoming release Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mys
News Xbox Made Progress In Japan Last Year, Despite Being Heavily Outsold By PS5
The 2021 sales figures are in
Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo sales figures from Japan in 2021 have been rolling in over the past 24 hours, with GamesIndustry.biz reporting (via Famitsu) that 95,598 Series X|S consoles were sold in the country last year. Unfortunately, that's miles behind the 5.3 million Nintendo Switch units sold, and ten times...
Random Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai Has 'Finally' Secured An Xbox Series X
Just in time for Halo Infinite!
Xbox Series X is in demand around the globe, and even in Japan, there have been shortages due to the pandemic and various other factors in play. Game Pass and xCloud have also increased the system's popularity and Halo Infinite is just around the corner, too. Taking this into account, it seems the legendary Super...
News Xbox Series X|S Appears To Have Already Surpassed Xbox One's Lifetime Sales In Japan
Excellent news for Microsoft
It looks like Xbox's efforts to crack the Japanese market might finally be paying off. After one year of availability worldwide, the Xbox Series X|S model has apparently already outsold the lifetime sales of the Xbox One in the region. This information comes via Game Data Library. It's apparently shifted around 116,119...
News Xbox Series X|S Has Now Sold Over 100,000 Units In Japan
It's close to overtaking the Xbox One's lifetime sales
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S appear to slowly be making an impact in Japan - a territory that has largely avoided the brand. New sales data confirms the consoles have now reached over 100,000 units sold, pushing it close to overtaking the Xbox One's lifetime sales of around 115,000. As...
News Starfield Will Be Bethesda's 'Largest Translation Effort' Ever
"Over 300 actors and over 150,000 lines of dialogue"
Yesterday during Xbox's Tokyo Game Show livestream, Bethesda's Todd Howard made a brief appearance thanking Japanese fans for their support of series' like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Along with this message, he touched on Bethesda's new space RPG, Starfield - sharing some exclusive news for...
News Xbox Is Working 'Every Single Day' To Increase Its Line-Up Of Japanese Games
Phil knows it's important to fans
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has mentioned on a number of occasions how the company would like to bolster its Japanese video game offerings, and the subject was briefly raised again during Xbox's Tokyo Game Show livestream. During a chat with Shinji Mikami - the found of Japanese studio Tango Gameworks (a developer...
News Japan Is Now Xbox's Fastest Growing Market Worldwide, Confirms Exec
"We've seen phenomenal growth"
Xbox’s head of the Asia region, Jeremy Hinton, has been talking to IGN Japan as part of an all-new interview, confirming during the chat that the region is now "Xbox's fastest growing market worldwide." Hinton pointed out that they have "seen phenomenal growth" over the past twelve months, with a high percentage...
News Square Enix Responds To Acquisition Rumours, Says It's Not For Sale
"We do not consider selling off the company"
Update: In response to Bloomberg's report, Square Enix has issued a statement to confirm that it "does not consider selling off the company or any part of its businesses," and has not received an offer from any third party. "Bloomberg has reported today that there is interest from several buyers to...
News Atlus Wants To Know What Games It Should Port To The Xbox Series X
Where do we start?
It's no secret that Microsoft wants the Xbox to be a great system for Japanese games, and to make this happen, it needs more developers and publishers from this region to sign-on. Phil Spencer has already managed to secure games like Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age for Game Pass, and now it seems the company Atlus -...
News Xbox Japan Shows Off Yakuza Themed Controller That's Held Up By A Crayfish Stand
But sadly it's an image only
We've seen Xbox teams from all around the world show off their own crazy designs and now it's Japan's turn. To commemorate the local release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon on the Xbox Series X|S earlier this week, the team within this region shared an image of an appropiately-themed Xbox controller. What makes it particularly...
News Xbox Has Reportedly Approached Several Japanese Devs About A Buyout
"from small to big"
One major area of focus for Xbox in recent times has been improving its library of Japanese video games. A new report from Bloomberg sheds some more light on this, revealing how Microsoft has approached "several" Japanese developers (of all sizes) about a potential buyout. "Several Japan-based game developers, from small to...
"Phil, let's do it again together"
Following Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase recently, head of Xbox Phil Spencer spoke about how one of his favourite moments of the entire event was when Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age was announced for the platform. "It's just an area of focus for us to make sure all creators globally feel like Xbox...
News Dragon Quest Was One Of Phil Spencer's Favourite Moments Of The Xbox Showcase
And ours too, Phil!
Phil Spencer has been working hard to improve Xbox's relationship with Japanese creators, and it looks like we're starting to see the fruits of his labor. At Microsoft's showcase earlier this week, the team revealed multiple Japanese titles are on the way to Xbox and Xbox Game Pass. In the same interview with the YouTube channel...
RPG fans rejoice!
During a recent Ustream event, the CEO of Experience In., Hajime Chikami, talked about two new titles that are in development by the company for Xbox One. Chikami mentioned that while it's difficult to release Xbox One exclusives in Japan (presumably due to the low install base), releasing digitally worldwide via the Xbox Games...
News Kinect-Powered Dance Evolution Arcade Game On the Way
Kinect leaves the living room
Next year Kinect will throw off its living room shackles and join the arcade scene, as Konami has announced it's working on an arcade version of Dance Evolution (or DanceMasters) for release in 2012. The game is currently on test at certain locations in Japan, with the sensor tucked away inside the arcade cabinet...
