A Japanese developer behind the indie title, Sakuna: Of Rice and Rain, recently explained to a fan who reached out on X, who asked why the game wasn’t on Xbox in response to a sequel reveal, and the answer is pretty straightforward: the team simply lacks the manpower.
Koichi stated: "XBOX, well... personally, it's a console I've had incredibly strong sentimental attachment to since the very first one, but honestly, with our company's manpower, we just can't afford to spread ourselves across multiple platforms like that. In Japan, it's not even stocked in major retail stores, you know…"
What’s interesting here is the admission that Xbox isn’t present in major Japanese retail stores, which I guess is to be expected. But it's still a bit sad to hear. Xbox has made attempts to grow in Japan. For a time under Phil Spencer, it seemed like building an audience there was a clear priority for Xbox.
And to be fair, Xbox has put in real effort to bring Japanese developers onto the platform. Even recently, Xbox put out a new job description in Japan to lead ID@Xbox in the region. But if consoles aren’t in retail stores, it raises a bigger question about how far that strategy can realistically go.
That said, Xbox’s Project Helix will be a console/PC hybrid that supports PC games, which could potentially include storefronts like Steam and Epic Games. That could change things next generation, and allow users to access more independently developed Japanese games.
A lot will come down to whether Xbox can actually ship hardware more broadly across Asian markets, though, and that’s going to be a lot more difficult for Microsoft to pull off, especially when they have to factor in how poorly Xbox is performing currently.
What do you think, should Xbox keep pushing into the Japanese market, or is it too little too late?
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