Nah. I think they know they cant (with console and console exclusives) this is all about gamepass and potentially broadening its appeal to the Japanese market.MS really trying to beat Sony this time.
Microsoft is not buying a Japanese studio to appease the current users. They are buying to bring users from Sony and Nintendo
Thats what fanboys always say every gen then get angry when X game doesn't come to Nintendo lol but PS PC and even Xbox are appealing to the biggest Japanese publishers, there will still be some successful AAA games on other consoles as long as the power gap is hugeWith Nintendo dominating Japan, I don't really think it matters what Sony and Microsoft do. Japanese market and the vast majority of Japanese 3rd party devs will use the Switch as the default platform for their games going forward. Marvelous, Koei, Capcom, Konami, Bandai, Atlus are about to have their best-ever years in decades putting them in a good position in terms of any takeover bids.
The multimillion 3rd Party games in Japan are basically Fortnite, Minecraft, Monster Hunter & Dragon Quest.
Switch basically has Monster Hunter Rise, SMT V, Monster Hunter Stories 2, Rune Factory 5, Olive Town, BOND, Age of Calamity, Bravely Default 2, No More Heroes 3, Bayonetta 3 as 3rd party exclusives in the coming 12 months or so. There might be a lot more game developers that choose this option in 2021. This was recently also demonstrated by the devs behind Hades as they chose the first console they launch their game on to be the Switch.
Japan is the third biggest gaming market, so if Switch represents 90% of the hardware market this will be a substantial shift compared to the time the PS4 launched when Nintendo was struggling. A lot of 3rd Parties shifted away from Nintendo because of the subpar performance by the 3DS in the West compared to the DS, while Wii U cemented their opinion of Nintendo floundering. So the first three years Nintendo didn't really receive much support for the Switch from a third party perspective.
Minecraft is currently the biggest 3rd Party game on the system, with digital sales the game has already surpassed 2 million in Japan. The next biggest third party games on the Switch in Japan are a late port of DQXI, and a drumming and fishing AA games by Bandai - Taiko and Fishing Spirits.
Overall any developer focused on AA games will have Switch as the default platform if they aren't incentivized by some different platform holders be it Epic Store, Playstation ecosystem, GamePass or even Amazon. I don't think we'd see growth for Playstation or Microsoft in terms of their gaming divisions unless they somehow also release their games on the Switch.
Ehh, I really don't like the idea of Microsoft going around with their big sack of money and buying everything in their sight. And yes I would be pissed off if they would bought some devs of my favourite japan IP and lock them to PC/Xbox. Why can't they set up their own studios or buy ones with established and long partnerships like Sony does? And before xbox guys jump on me, if sony all of a sudden randomly bought say random ass developer they hardly had any connection with, it would be retarded too. But yeah hurr durr PS fans would be mad!111 It's always funny people pretend exclusives are shit and big corporations bad!11 but when it comes to buying companies it's 180 turn and suddenly advocating/wishing for it.
I know it's just business but still. I haven't read an article, what does that mean that Jim Ryan has taken power away from them? They can't make decisions on their own or what. Well I think Sony is focusing wayy to much on western markets and to some degree it will bite them in the ass sooner or later.This is just business. The bigger fish gets its prey.
If you read the bloomberg article. Sony, under Jim Ryan, has taken powers away from Sony Japan too.
I know it's just business but still. I haven't read an article, what does that mean that Jim Ryan has taken power away from them? They can't make decisions on their own or what. Well I think Sony is focusing wayy to much on western markets and to some degree it will bite them in the ass sooner or later.
“The Xbox has a chance to make Japan its second-largest market after the U.S. if it takes the right steps for years to come,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. “Sony’s attention is drifting away and fans have started to notice that.”
Sony has placed more importance on the U.S. market after the PlayStation 4’s disappointing performance in Japan, according to employees who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
A senior figure inside PlayStation headquarters in San Mateo, California, said the U.S. side was frustrated by the failure of the Japan marketing team to sell as many PlayStation 4 units as expected. The person asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
As a result, Japan has been sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5’s promotion, according to several PlayStation staff in Japan. Employees in Tokyo said they’ve been left awaiting instructions from California.
Japan-based developer support teams have been reduced by as much as a third from their peak, and the rolling contracts of a number of game creators at PlayStation’s Japan Studio, one of the unit’s oldest in-house software ateliers, haven’t been renewed, former employees said. The U.S. office believes the PlayStation business doesn’t need games that only do well in Japan, employees in the California headquarters said.
The PlayStation 5’s two main online promotional events both took place at 5 a.m. in Tokyo -- making them more accessible to American and European fans -- and lacked Japanese translation for some parts. The company also decided to standardize its PS5 control scheme so that Japanese players would have to use X to confirm and O to cancel, like the rest of the world. That reverses a 26-year tradition in a country where circles signify positives and crosses mark negatives.
“It’s analyst consensus that PlayStation no longer sees the Japan market as important,” Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito said. “If you want to know their take on the Japanese market, you need to ask about it because otherwise Sony wouldn’t talk about it.”
TV ownership among Japanese households has been falling for years, according to government data. That makes the market less attractive, according to Ace’s Yasuda. In order to play games on the PlayStation, a user must have a TV or monitor, though some titles are also available to play on PCs.
Serkan Toto, a game consultant in Tokyo, said the PlayStation 5 should sell fewer units than its predecessor.
“Many PlayStation 4 owners in Japan would eventually move to the PlayStation 5, but that would largely depend on how strong the PlayStation team in Tokyo will be in pushing the needs of Japanese customers to the American headquarters,” he said. “Considering the current power balance between the U.S. and Japan, I can’t expect much, unfortunately.”
Fuck off Spencer. You have bought enough now. Build your own shit.
If they make the games available for everybody else I am okay with it.Dont blame Phil.
Read the full article.
In part Jim Sony has taken their eyes off the Japanese markets.
If anything, MS can capitalise and funds big Japanese games.
If they make the games available for everybody else I am okay with it.
Unlikely...
Get an Xbox or PC and subs to GPU
already have.. still not a fan of this approach and I hope it doesn’t blow up in their faces.
Guess are you stuck between 2 rocks.
Sony is weakening their japanese base, MS has a GPU approach and hoping to add more japanese games
If it was me, the GPU works fine.
Japan is Nintendo Land. Sony barely feels like a Japanese company anymore.Sony's Home Turf
Thats what fanboys always say every gen then get angry when X game doesn't come to Nintendo lol but PS PC and even Xbox are appealing to the biggest Japanese publishers, there will still be some successful AAA games on other consoles as long as the power gap is huge
Microsoft did build a number of studios from the ground, and currently still are (The Initiative), but you don't build studios from scratch this easily.Fuck off Spencer. You have bought enough now. Build your own shit.
Microsoft did build a number of studios from the ground, and currently still are (The Initiative), but you don't build studios from scratch this easily.
As far the topic, I don't see them buying big studios like SEGA but who knows. Smaller ones are interesting as well, starting with those who have been supporting Xbox since the beginning :
Experience
Mages / 5pb
Cave
Moss
White owls
Mistwalker
Until the bakery decides to cheap out on the ingredients of the pie because it ain’t selling enough to make a profit.A modest slice of a big pie you have none of, still tastes good.
That's how business works folks.
Why can't they set up their own studios or buy ones with established and long partnerships like Sony does?
Of course when you make a samurai game, it was given to your gaijin developer..
Oh man imagine the meltdown if Microsoft went ahead and bought From or SEGA/Atlus. That would be guaranteed Japan win. Yes, Atlus fans will buy an Xbox in Japan to play SMT.
I think there will be a MONSTER HUNTER WORLD 2 eventually, when the userbase is adequate for Capcom, the series works well both on portable and as AAA series, that game might not come to Switch 2 for technical reasons.Japan is still the third-largest video game market and the rest of Asia is also seemingly also trending towards Nintendo.
This year Nintendo is closing in on something like 85% of the Japanese Video game market. Next year it will be over 90%.
In the Wii/DS era, their previous peak Nintendo only had like 65% of the market - the PSP did great numbers ofr third parties. Between the PS3/PSV Sony sold like 100 million physical software in Japan, right now the PS4 is only around 40 million physical software so serious decline compared to the prior gen. The PS5 will see an additional decline in both software and hardware sales since a lot of the AA exclusives that used to automatically go to the PS3/PS4/PSV are now on the Switch.
Japanese Devs actually do care about doing well in their home market. So offering them to make exclusive games that only reach 10% of their market, isn't going to be especially attractive without incentivizing it.
Power gap is huge but the majority of Japanese 3rd parties aren't competing with AAA publishers. If you are talking about a handful of companies like Take Two, EA, behind the biggest hits on the systems like FIFA, GTA, COD etc yeah I do agree those have an interest in supporting the new consoles more. For example, EA has barely bothered to support the Switch and GTA isn't even launched on it. Compare that to Capcom who after having a massive hit with Monster Hunter World, reveals a Switch exclusive game not pushing the graphical boundaries,
Just buy Sony and be done with it
if they have a good relationship with the company like Insomniac with Sony or Playground with MS then it’s much more logical.
But studios like Bethesda?
fuck that.
Not a fan of this move from MS honestly. I'd prefer see them buy smaller studios and help them grow.But studios like Bethesda?
fuck that
if they have a good relationship with the company like Insomniac with Sony or Playground with MS then it’s much more logical.
But studios like Bethesda?
fuck that. It’s cool for the laughs and mic drops but I would rather have them to be sold to another company that keeps the games multiplat.
I am all for competition as it benefits the consumer.
but put some heart in your product and don’t simply buy your way to the top.
But I would be the worst business man alive so there’s that