It’s no secret that Xbox is the weakest in the Japanese gaming market. The company is looking to strengthen its ties on the market by negotiating exclusivity deals with Japanese developers.
The ever-vocal Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, recently revealed that gamers can expect to see AAA exclusives from Japanese studios on its platform in the near future.
In an interview with Game Watch, Spencer shared the company’s plans to release more Japanese AAA exclusives similar to Hi-Fi Rush. Spencer was asked if Xbox would be releasing “uniquely Japanese AAA titles such as Lost Odyssey or Blue Dragon” instead of just porting Japanese games to Xbox from PlayStation or Nintendo.
“Not at all, I think you can expect that,” Spencer responded. In fact, we released Hi-Fi Rush in January 2023. It may not have been a major title like Blue Dragon, but it was certainly high-quality.”
He adds, “There are also Japanese game creators who are part of Microsoft Game Studios, and while there are titles we can’t announce yet, we are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies. With further growth, including first-party and third-party, I believe you can look forward to the arrival of even more Japanese titles in the future.”
Xbox corporate VP Sarah Bond was asked a similar question last year. Her answer echoes Spencer’s recent statements.
“One of the things that I’m super excited about is that we have over 250 developers in Japan developing games for Xbox right now,” Bond said. 150 have already shipped, 100 of them are in Game Pass and we [recently] got to announce 15 titles made in Asia and 13 in Japan.”
She adds, “So much has come, but there’s even more that’s going to come in the future and I can’t wait to reveal it to you all as it starts coming out.”
Spencer recently revealed that he and Bond traveled to Japan to discuss a partnership with Square Enix and it went well. As a result of their efforts, Final Fantasy XIV will be released on the Xbox console later this year. However, Spencer did not confirm if Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Remake would arrive on the console.
Xbox still lags behind Sony and Nintendo in Japan in terms of console and game sales. It will take some time before we see Xbox take market share as Japanese gamers traditionally prefer Sony and Nintendo consoles. If Xbox manages to have an exclusive title as big as Starfield from a Japanese developer then it will be a game changer. For now, we will have to wait and see what Xbox comes up with in its collaboration with Japanese studios.
