Until very recently, there was an old mantra that said that Xbox did not have games developed and produced in Japan in its catalog, but this statement has definitely become obsolete. Phil Spencer, a fan of the Japanese market and as a great player and strategist that he is, has been very insistent on bringing more games to the console.
Xbox’s investment in the “land of the rising sun” has been making itself felt in recent months, with the mass arrival of Japanese-style games not only to the Xbox and PC family of consoles, but also to the Xbox Game Pass subscription. Great proof of this is the first wave announced for March, where we see games of the likes of Ni No Kuni 2 and Guilty Gear Strivebut there are many more.
Big Japanese games from big franchises
It all started with the arrival of complete sagas, historically linked to SONY consoles, such as Kingdom Hearts, final fantasy either Yakuza. But these were just the tip of the iceberg, as many other franchises have been arriving far and wide in recent years, and more insistently in recent months.
Without going any further, we have the revered saga Personto which has been added Danganronpasome games in the series Dragon Quest, Ni No Kuni, Zero Escape, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Soul Hackers, AI The Somnium Files either Zero Escapenot to mention the games based on “manganimes” that, mostly at the hands of Bandai Namco, tend to be multiplatform.
The Yakuza saga has seen its popularity boost thanks to Xbox Game Pass
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Despite the fact that the presence of Japanese games is being boosted in large part thanks to the Xbox Game Pass service, in the end what counts is the platform. Japanese developers are beginning to see (finally) that Microsoft consoles are as desirable a market as any other and that the players in their ecosystem highly value the Japanese industry.
This trend should continue to rise, so it can be expected that in the coming months we will continue to have surprises and arrivals of Japanese games on Xbox, without discrimination that there has been for a long time. It will undoubtedly be a milestone for Phil Spencer and his crew.