Phil Spencer was asked at the Tokyo Game Show if he had any plans to develop in Japan. Spencer was clear that he not only wanted to expand Xbox’s studios in the country but also do more to grow their work there. This is good news because while Xbox is highly regarded in North America and Western Europe, Nintendo and PlayStation have a heavy lead worldwide.
According to a tweet from Genki
In Japan, in particular, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch reign supreme. If anything, Pachinko is more of a threat to the two console makers than Microsoft is. It’s clear that Microsoft absolutely needs to be more of a threat outside of the United States and the UK.
According to the book Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris, it was Sega of Japan not doing well that really hurt Sega of North America. To be fair, this was an issue of the parent company (Sega of Japan) not being as good as the child company (Sega of NA). However, one studio not doing well can do major financial damage, as was seen before Tom Kalinske took over Sega of NA and turned it into a powerhouse. Xbox seems like they’re trying to replicate this by making a former Sony executive the Director Of Partnerships In Japan.
To be fair, there’s no competition between Xbox and PlayStation with Nintendo, Nintendo is doing their own games that they own the rights to. They aren’t competing with Xbox and PlayStation, and they aren’t trying to release the biggest AAA games outside their own label. So to be clear, Xbox is more directed at targeting the fanbase that owns PlayStation worldwide.
So we may see Microsoft’s Xbox take on Sony’s PlayStation using their most recent purchase of Activision-Blizzard. It feels like they’re making a real power move for Japan.
