There has been lots of criticism to go around in the past few months for Microsoft, which has bungled and reversed its stance on every key Xbox One policy till now. However, Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune felt that it made sense to prioritize the markets with a larger install base.
Speaking to IGN, he stated that, “I’m not a first-party person, I’m not part of a first-party company, so this can only be what I’m assuming, but if you look at how big the share of the Japanese market is when it comes to consoles now, it’s continually shrinking, to the point where it’s not even over 10 percent.
“So having Japan be an afterthought – after Europe and North America – as much as I may not like that as a Japanese creator, it makes sense to prioritize the markets that are naturally going to have a larger installed base and larger sales.Just because it’s Microsoft… I wouldn’t want to count a company out, even if they haven’t had a great track record. It doesn’t mean they automatically fail the next time.
But will the Xbox One be successful in the country which has given the Xbox 360 a rather cold reception since its release? Inafune feels that it depends on “how they’re able to market it and how they’re able to convince gamers that they have the content they want.”
Let’s see if that works out when the Xbox One releases in Q1 2014 in Japan.
