Took 5 years and selling the game for $5 to make it here.
Game struggles heavily early on.
MS' Next Acquisition May Be Bigger Than Bethesda
- Thread starter Captain Crunch
- Start date
Game struggles heavily early on.
Most people aren’t gonna buy an Xbox just for Persona. That isn’t a system seller. A good chunk of their sales are still from Japan and if you stick Persona only on Xbox where the audience doesn’t care about it you’ll drastically reduce the sales and ultimately kill the franchise.
Bethesda made sense because Xbox gamers were interested in those games. They like stuff like Fallout and Elder Scrolls. Core Xbox gamers aren’t really into JRPGs like that. If they were they’d own another system also.
JRPGs are too niche for Microsoft to bother with. They figured that out after Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon.
What did the last Persona game sell like 5 million or so? That doesn’t really change the math because not every one of those 5 million (some were double dipping on Royal and Vanilla) comes over.
I don’t really see what Sega has that Microsoft needs.
You got it.
I might be coming from a different mindset but if I like a game/studio and I k ow its on platform X, I buy that platform. Now if you are saying japan is inherently xenophobic and wouldn't purchase the console thats another story. However, They sure do play a lot of minecraft and and stuff like Apex legends so it seems like its less xenophobia and more to do with putting games on the console that japanese people want.
Microsoft paid for Tales of Vesperia. They went on a whole run where they bankrolled several JRPGs to try and attract fans. It didn’t do much. You have to play to your audience and what interest them. Sony and Nintendo have JRPGs on lock. Those many niche titles that both platforms get won’t come to Xbox and all those add up to the fact that if you want a system to play JRPGs on Xbox ain’t it.
I beleive if they go with a A level franchise like Persona, all of that can change.
It's mutually beneficial if you think about it, sega hasn't been popular in the states since the dreamcast. They aren't doing super bad it's just they aren't hot, and seen as "old" a new game from sega isn't turning any heads like that.
Heck a couple years ago on of the best sonic games since 3 dropped and while it got some headlines it wasn't like if a new 2d mario game dropped.
Xbox hasn't been popular in japan since ever... And sega has a ton of clout and respect in japan.
Then there's the money, a big part of sega in japan was it's physical print. With covid and arcades in general dying sega is starting to get left behind even more but this time on there home turf.
Microsoft alleviates that issue. Sega alleviates Microsoft lack of japanese games and presence.
It's a perfect fit
I’d rather go after Capcom or even Konami. Hell I’d even get Kojima to freelance work in Metal Gear.
Grand Conde
Superstar
Microsoft and Sega have actually had a decent relationship with each other for a couple decades now. if there were a large Japanese company for them to acquire you gotta figure they’re at least at the top of their list of prospects
Wasn't the Xbox basically whatever sega was doing? I remember when it launched I was eating off all the sega exclusives.
MS was considering buying them out to get into the console game way back before they started XBOX and also licensed a special version of windows for Dreamcast as well. SEGA was also one of the first major 3rd party publishers to back the original Xbox so you’ve gotta figure they have a solid business relationship
A potential Sega acquisition makes sense to us solely because we're not in Japan, frankly.
Yakuza 7 is a next gen exclusive to XBox, and (if that infographic from earlier is to be believed), it didn't make a difference. Still getting outsold by the PS4. The PS4.
Those don't become system sellers for Microsoft because the Japanese public just doesn't seem interested in the rest of the XBox lineup. They REALLY tried with JRPGs in the 360 generation, which was the height of the brand's popularity and quality. Still didn't matter.
So, from a Japanese standpoint, it'd be easy to see how they would think this would ultimately damage their two best brands right now (Persona and Yakuza) if they went exclusive worldwide. They'd really only protect themselves if, for some crazy reason, the games didn't go exclusive, or went exclusive everywhere BUT Japan. Doing either of those really doesn't help them break into Japan the way they seem to want to.
If anything, they'd be better off attempting to establish a Japanese studio with maybe some poached talent.
Yakuza 7 is a next gen exclusive to XBox, and (if that infographic from earlier is to be believed), it didn't make a difference. Still getting outsold by the PS4. The PS4.
Those don't become system sellers for Microsoft because the Japanese public just doesn't seem interested in the rest of the XBox lineup. They REALLY tried with JRPGs in the 360 generation, which was the height of the brand's popularity and quality. Still didn't matter.
So, from a Japanese standpoint, it'd be easy to see how they would think this would ultimately damage their two best brands right now (Persona and Yakuza) if they went exclusive worldwide. They'd really only protect themselves if, for some crazy reason, the games didn't go exclusive, or went exclusive everywhere BUT Japan. Doing either of those really doesn't help them break into Japan the way they seem to want to.
If anything, they'd be better off attempting to establish a Japanese studio with maybe some poached talent.