Microsoft and Xbox have never been known for having a wide range of Japanese titles, or specifically JRPGs, in its games library. Japanese developers have always gravitated towards making JRPG titles for Sony and Nintendo, with iconic titles like Persona, Dragon Quest, and countless others, a majority of which do not release on the Xbox. There have been a few exceptions like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, which was released for the Xbox 360, but Japanese titles have been especially scarce for the Xbox One.
However, it looks like all that could soon change. Xbox Head Phil Spencer recent post on Twitter hinted at the possibility of more Japanese developers participating in Xbox’s E3 2018 plans. When asked about whether JRPGs will have a presence on the Xbox stage this year, he replied: “As of now, yes. Things can change but like last year I wanted to make sure we supported our Japanese publishers on our stage and this year we are working to do the same. It’s important to us.”
That’s not all as Spencer also tweeted that Sega “has a lot of good franchises that would be cool to see come over [to Xbox One].” It would be nice to see some of Sega’s best titles like the Yakuza franchise finally finding its way to the Xbox. There’s not much currently being offered on the Xbox One for JRPG fans, as recent major releases like Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have been platform exclusives.
The last major JRPG release for the Xbox One was probably Final Fantasy XV and that was over two years ago in 2016. The Xbox family of consoles have been well-received in Japan compared to Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s devices. If what Spencer says is true, we might see more JRPG titles for the Xbox in the future and possibly some exclusives.
