According to Nippon Ichi Software America president Takuro Yamashita, Microsoft “hasn’t been very supportive of Japanese games.” Since this is NIS America, Yamashita is talking about bringing Japanese games to the Xbox One and not selling loads of Xbox Ones in Japan.
In an interview with MCV, Yamashita said, “Honestly speaking, Microsoft’s approach to Japanese games hasn’t been very supportive. Microsoft, you know, for Japanese games, there’s still a very niche element to them, no matter what it might be.”
This is rather odd, because the Xbox 360 was a hotbed of niche Japanese games.
Continuing, Yamashita adds, “Microsoft also has a minimum order quantity for their games, and their whole structure isn’t really geared toward niche games or smaller games like Japanese titles, so they’re not really supportive of Japanese games or developers.”
NIS America releases most of its games on PlayStation platforms, but has released several of its titles on PC, including Yomawari and Disgaea 2, and two already on Switch. Next year will see The Longest Five Minutes getting a PC and Switch release.
As MCV points out, NIS America isn’t turning its back on Xbox One and the company said it will keep an eye on what consoles its fans are using.