Is Microsoft Pissing Off Japanese Game Makers?

By Brian Ashcraft Published January 18, 2011 |

In the West, Microsoft is king. Well, queen. In Japan, it’s not — not by a country mile. The software giant needs every ally it can find. But even its most ardent supporters seem restless.

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Tokyo-based arcade developer Cave brought a handful of its shoot’em up games to the Xbox 360 instead of the PS3, helping carve out a home-grown niche for Japanese players. Until Japanese developers like Cave got on board, the general perception among Japanese players was that the Xbox 360 was populated only with games foreigners like to play.

But Cave game developer (and all around handsome man) Makoto Asada seems less than pleased with Microsoft of late, his anger being vented at a nebulous “M company” on Twitter.

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When asked directly about the vague outbursts, Asada tells Kotaku, not attempting to fan the flames, “There’s a limit to how many unreasonable requests you have to respond to and we hope they realize that soon.”

Continuing, he adds, “We’re frustrated at having to fix things as a result of human error on Microsoft’s side.” Cave did not elaborate any further.

Cave isn’t the first Japanese game studio of late to have run-ins with Xbox Japan. Only seventy-nine days before creepy cute Japanese shooter Gal☆Gun was to hit shops, Microsoft called a meeting, resulting in the game being altered. While Xbox Japan is not specifically mentioned, an Alchemist tweet from November seems to hint that the company is perhaps now targeting families from now on.

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In Japan, where Microsoft’s game machine is continually outsold by the Nintendo Wii and the PS3, Xbox Japan needs every friend it can get.

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