Inafune: Xbox The Only Way Into Overseas Market

Elaborating on the overseas policy, Inafune-san makes his high opinion of the Xbox 360 well-known. Despite the perceived risk of developing for a Western format, Inafune's decision to support the Xbox 360 exclusively with Dead Rising, the timed exclusive of Lost Planet, and added support of PlayStation brands such as Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, ultimately bore significant success.

"I think I can only get away with saying this now, but I really thought that the using the Xbox was only way to break into overseas markets, and I took that hypothesis all the way", exclaimed Inafune-san. "In the end, I am very happy that I did so. Also, I think the hit success of Dead Rising and Lost Planet helped to bring our sometimes difficult creator organization together."

[qface64]

honestly to me it seems like all these japanese developers are assuming that since the xbox is american its the key to conquering the west
if you ask me the way they can break overseas is release everything equally on all systems that way everyone can get in on it even the west

am i the only one that sees it that way
i know its a crude explanation but it always was hard for me to explain things

[NO_PUDding]

qface, you are completely right.

But money clearly changed hands. There's nothign more to it. And it would have been far more expensive for MS to buy RE5 timed exclusivity, becuase it's massive in the East, and the Playstation is really important there.

So Lost Planet is not an exclusive I am too upset about. It's kind of a weird one. :D

[Fishy Fingers]

Headlines a little out dated. It should read "Xbox [Was] The Only Way Into Overseas Market" going by the quote it's based upon.

[qface64]

nice that someone finally noticed that

[Game13a13y]

what about the Wii?

[twoface]

May I add to that, good games are a great channel into overseas market

[Omega4]

Considering its record breaking attach rate this is no surprise, most new IP's have done extremely well on the 360 when they release on it exclusively like Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Mass Effect, Bioshock etc all selling over a million

While the same cant be said for the Wii and PS3. Look what happens to the Lair and Haze devs, it wasnt pretty, and then there's all those non causal Wii games which have failed to make any impact

Which is why the 360 is a devs best bet no matter what region your in

[poindat]

I won't disagree that the 360 is the... safer console to develop on, but come on. There's plenty of PS3 exclusives that have sold over or around a million copies.

Oh ho ho, and the same can be said for the Wii. I'm not even going to bother with that.

What happened with Factor 5 and Free Radical was because they developed games that were hyped up and disappointed. Same thing can happen on the 360. I don't see what your getting at there.

[vasilisk]

I love it when you pick the titles of games for comparison.
I can also do the following:

Most new IP's have done extremely well on the PS3 when they release on it exclusively like Uncharted, Resistance, LBP selling more than TWO million copies to date.
While the same cant be said for the 360 and PS3. Look what happens to Too Human, it wasnt pretty, and then there's all those non casual Wii games which have failed to make any impact

See what I did there?

[decapitator]

The same can be said for Ninja Blade, Too Human, Zoids Assault. If you are gonna be biased, at least get your facts right holmes. Uncharted, Resistance, LittilebigPlanet are all successes.

The cookie can crumble in both directions. Take those goggles of and you will see more clearly.

[Omega4]

@vasilisk

Yeah i do see what you did there, you pick two games which were bundled with the console and threw in the only decent launch title game which was bound to sell....very impressive

@decapitator

Those werent really high profile games though, apart from Too Human.

All i know is there are a lot more successful new IP which release exclusively for the 360 and a lot more unsuccessful ones on the PS3

And for the record, i was specifically choosing NON FIRST PARTY titles, but just went along with it to prove my point ;)

[vasilisk]

And you picked the 2 lowest rated new IPs and Haze was never a high profile game.
Of course you chose non first party titles, you would have a big problem finding FIRST party titles from Microsoft that are NEW IPs.
Let me see you trying to find some...

[decapitator]

You are full of it my dude. Resistance, LittleBigPlanet are not first party titles. High profile titles or not, they were new IP's and released exclusively on a console.

Also if all you know is that new IP's perform less better on the PS3 than the 360, then you know less than you think you do.

PS: You really gotta take those glasses off your avatar, you will see so much better

[ActionBastard]

Name them. You've had to go all the way back to HAZE and LAIR, to try and have a leg to stand on in this conversation. With in an install base of over 21 million, the PS3 can't be overlooked by pubs/devs. So what's left? Paying for 3rd party exclusives (all of the games you mentioned either came to the PS3 or whose sequel will come to the PS3). You have Sony showing things like Infamous, Fat Princess, Uncharted 2 and Burn Zombie Burn (all exclusive, 1st party or both), yet none of those appeals to a hardcore gamer like you, right? Race Pro and Ninja Blade, yeah, that's more your speed. The mythical Alan Wake and Splinter Cell Conviction will give Sony a run for their money. Amirite?

And again with attach rates...

[maspi]

hey Guys look at the comments below the article.all comments are dated 2007.article posted with 03/03/09 date. huh!

[MegaMohsi]

2 year old article, this is great.

[Gun_Senshi]

What about EUROPE

[II Necroplasm II]

What's that?

[SupaPlaya]

You can't forget to put sarcasm on your comment mate, a lot of people don't get it on here.

And I agree America is the only country overseas. /sarcasm

[mephman]

Exactly, Europe is ignored once again.

Either way, this article appears to be really old.