Besides a few years when Xbox 360 was still young, there is no denying that Xbox hasn't offered as many Japanese titles as Nintendo and Sony. The last few years, this has started to change though as more and more Japanese games are being released for Xbox Series S/X, and on Xbox Games Showcase there was even several major announcements from companies like Atlus, Capcom and Sega.
After the event, Phil Spencer visited a Giant Bomb stream, and this was a topic that came up. Spencer explained there are multiple reasons why Xbox gamers are missing out on Japanese entertainment, but that he really likes the progress that has been made, all while acknowledging that there is more work to be done:
"It's not any one thing. Sometimes it's business deals that are done, sometimes the team has a focus that they're just...'hey we can only support two or three platforms' and they're kind of reducing development risk. It is real, every platform you add, adds more work to the development team.
Sometimes it's just a team that doesn't have a lot of connection to Xbox and they don't necessarily see it in their local game store when they walk in."
This is something that Spencer clearly would like to change, as he continued:
"It's even why our presence on the ground with Xbox--even if we're not selling as many consoles as the competition, if you go to Yodobashi Camera, I want there to be an Xbox section, I want there to be games that are shown.
I also want the teams that are kind of on a base level that Xbox is a games platform and it's something they see in their daily lives."
He ended by explaining that things are moving in the right direction, but that the work is far from over:
"I love the progress that we've made over the last 5 or 6 years there, but there's obviously more work for us to do."
How important are Japanese games to you?
Thanks Tweaktown