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Microsoft Discusses Xbox E3 No-Shows

Posted by simoniker on from the bye-bye-gamie dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Sole Food' column discussing why certain Xbox games were missing from Microsoft's line-up at last month's E3 show in Los Angeles. Titles mentioned, with included late-breaking Microsoft response, include "part action, part collectible-card game" Phantom Dust ("Microsoft Game Studios has decided to not publish Phantom Dust for North America"), action title and "everyone's favorite goggle-wearing, vacuum-wielding, time-shifting cat" Blinx 2 (We plan to make an official announcement after E3"), and "console massively multiplayer online RPG" True Fantasy Live Online ("The Level 5 team is focusing on developing and polishing the game for the Japanese release this winter, and as a result the timing of the U.S. release of the game is still undetermined.")

2 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Re:japan? by csumk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whilst the eastern market may not be massive, it is reasonably significant. With the japanese market comes the japanese developers - if your console isn't popular in japan the these developers are less likely to produce games on it. You are only going to get lazy ports at best. MS needs developers like Square producing games for the XBox if it is to really challenge Sony.

  2. Re:japan? by Mandoric · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There're both historical and economic reasons.

    1) When the US game market crashed in the '80s due to saturation and shovelware, the Japanese market didn't. Until the release of the XBox, every console that received mass acceptance was created by a Japanese company---the Americans had mostly given up on the market, their efforts limited to the 3D0 (backed mainly by Matsushita/Panasonic) and various attempts at reviving the Atari name.

    2) Due to this, Japanese designers of hardware had a financial head-start, which transformed into a technical proficiency head start for Japanese devs, who began work on most consoles months to years before American ones.

    3) While Japanese population is only half that of the US, PC gaming is less common, console gaming is more, and in any case the population of Japan is at least on an approximate level with that of natively-English-speaking Europe---and, in addition, the large Southeast Asian market traditionally uses Japanese hardware and software, increasing numbers.

    4) Due to the realities of Japanese population density, niche games are somewhat easier to promote---distribute and advertise in a few key cities, and you can sell to a majority of the population. This means a greater variety of games, from a greater variety of developers; in general, the huge publisher overheads in the US (massive land area) and Europe (5 or 6 languages necessary) are reduced.