What's astounding is that the situation Xbox was facing back in 2003 is scarily similar to the troubles Xbox has in 2017. Here's an interesting article by Games Industry Biz that highlighted the cancellation of a much anticipated Japanese Xbox exclusive:
With True Fantasy Live Online out of the way, Microsoft Japan's release list is left looking extremely short. Action shooter Phantom Dust, which was well received at the Tokyo Game Show in 2003 but didn't appear at E3 this year, and Xbox Live Arcade remain strong hopes, but neither is the sort of killer application needed to bring Xbox sales in Japan up to a decent standard. At the time of writing, the console continues to limp along selling only a few hundred units a week in the region.
What's funny is if you replace "True Fantasy Live Online" with "Scalebound" and "Level-5" with "Platinum", what your left with is a scarily accurate situation Microsoft is currently in right now. Cancellation over quality concerns? Check. A short list of exclusives left for Xbox? Check. Phantom Dust anticipated but nowhere to be seen? Check.
Back in January 2017 after the cancellation of Scalebound, the Xbox brand took a huge hit as similarly, it was one of the very few Japanese Xbox exclusives to be planned for the system. Here's Phil's statement on the cancellation:
After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for Scalebound, we're working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and other great experiences.
On the next day, Phil said on Twiiter:
Difficult decision, we believe result is better 4 Xbox gamers, still disappointing. Im confident in 17 lineup thats our focus
Implying this decision is better for Xbox gamer is polite PR speak for; the quality wasn't good enough. Phil also re-etirates that depsite the cancellation there will be a focus on the 17 upcoming titles for the console emphasising the strong abundance of qualities hitting the console still.
Xbox One also repeats history as the console hit below 100 console sales back in 2015. This is no anomaly either, with the console regularly dipping near those figures on a weekly basis. As of speaking, the console hit 140 sales for the week between the 10th and 16th of April 2017.
There's also the question; where's Phantom Dust? Not just the HD remake that is scheduled this year; which has gone awfully quiet, but the HD remaster as well where we saw only one trailer, leaked gameplay followed by the closure of the developer. Microsoft has stated the game is no longer in active development although Microsoft hasn't cancelled the game either with Amazon still taking pre-orders making it clear the game is still on its way one form or another.
So once again Microsoft repeats history by making similar business decisions. I avoid the word "mistake" because I understand it's a risky business and there's a lot of behind the scenes we will probably not know about. What we do know is Xbox is once again is starved for Japanese exclusives, has a non-existent presence in Japan and we still don't know when Phantom Dust is coming out. What year is this again?
- http://web.archive.org/web/20040625124442/http://www.gamesindustry.biz:80/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=3558
- https://www.gamespot.com/articles/phantom-dust-xbox-onepc-re-release-coming-before-e/1100-6447379/
- http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-06-22-xbox-one-weekly-japan-sales-hit-new-all-time-low
- https://www.gamespot.com/articles/scalebound-the-xbox-onepc-exclusive-officially-can/1100-6446756/
- http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-12-scalebound-cancellation-hurt-xbox-boss-says
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