Japanese Developers Rush to Xbox 360

Okamoto hints that previous announcements are just the beginning of Microsoft's Japanese campaign.

By anyone's measure, the performance of Xbox in Japan has been pitiful. Top selling Western games like Halo 2 and Fable move meagre amounts and the console itself is in less than half a million homes. But it's going to be very different for the Xbox successor.

The Street Fighter series made Okamoto a household
name - well, some households

Microsoft announced earlier this year that it had signed three of Japan's top developers to create exclusive titles for Xbox 360. Getting Hironobu Sakaguchi (best known for the Final Fantasy series), Yoshiki Okamoto (Street Fighter II) and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez) on board was a confident and forward-thinking move for Microsoft, but it seems that it was only the beginning.

Several other developers are already working on Xbox 360 games, Okamoto has revealed in an interview with the official Japanese Xbox site. He didn't name any names, but the creator's enthusiasm points to big things being afoot at Microsoft.

"If the current line-up [of games] in development for the next-generation Xbox was revealed it would not only surprise users, but the entire industry," said Okamoto. "There probably wouldn't be anyone [in Japan] that would still be uninterested in buying the next-generation Xbox when they see the line-up."

It's an impressive statement, to be sure, but one that still needs to be backed up by the games themselves. And for that we'll have to wait for E3 in May, where Microsoft is set to reveal its next-generation plans.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games