Sony announced a special State of Play Japan livestream for November 11, focusing on games developed in Japan and Asia, hosted by Yuki Kaji, featuring new looks at upcoming titles like Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Phantom Blade Zero, and projects from Capcom such as Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata.
Ghostwire: Tokyo, the spooky adventure game from Tango Gameworks, is finally arriving on Xbox Game Pass for Xbox Series X|S on April 12th. The game's combination of Western gameplay with an authentically Japanese open world Tokyo setting makes it a perfect fit for Xbox's push into the Japanese market. The game also promises to showcase the hardware capabilities of the Xbox Series X|S. Despite comparisons to Ubisoft-style open worlds, the game looks fun and compelling to explore.
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi believes that the decline of unique console hardware, exclusives, and cultural differences is the likely cause of the brief drop in quality of Japanese games during the 2000s and 2010s. He suggests that specific hardware configurations produced by Japanese manufacturers made it easier for Japanese developers to master the hardware, resulting in higher quality games. However, the rise of Western-made games and the shift towards multi-platform releases shattered the trend of focusing on a specific set of hardware constraints. Sakaguchi also believes that cultural differences between Japan and the West make meaningful differences in what kinds of games are made.