Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Japanese Release Cancelled

[Imported Goodness] It's well known that the Xbox brand has failed to gain traction in Japan, but it's always had an extremely hardcore, if niche, fanbase of gamers. Today they'll be disappointed to learn that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition has had its release plans dashed indefinitely.

[BigBosss]

That's a sh&*^ go :/

[Articuno76]

Agreed. Not entirely sure what you mean, but agreed.

[Metallox]

I don't get sh&*^ of what you are saying, but there you go, an agree.

[bouzebbal]

at the same time this gen they have been giving middle finger to asian gamers at every single occasion. they skipped all TGS, they aren't working with any japanese publishers. Why even bother in first place...

[Gazondaily]

I think the Japanese gamers have been giving a middle finger to the Xbox One. With the 360 they made some effort but to no success whatsoever. I'm frankly surprised MS even bothered launching the console there at all.

I imagine the Japan Xbox HQ to comprise of a room with one guy slumped on a chair trying playing paper basketball. He must be very good at it now.

[LexHazard79]

@abzine, i wouldnt call it giving the asian gamers the middle finger. lets be realistic for a sec. the xbox brand is shit in asia especially in Japan. why then is that in one breath you make fun of Xbox in japan..like they should forget about Japan. Now they dont want go release Ultimate Gears and its a slap in the face to asiAn gamers. Give me a break..its wasted resources,they need to pull out of Japan all together. Just my take.

[SaveFerris]

I suppose Japanese gamers could import it, though without subs or dubs I doubt many will.

[Articuno76]

The other potential alternative is if the upcoming PC version somehow clearing certification where the console version failed. But I'm not sure how many people Japanese people would play this on PC.

[Erik7357]

I would almost say there are more xbox gamers than PC gamers in Japan....which is pretty bad 😞

[donthate]

There aren't that many people that own an Xbox One in Japan that this even matters. Surprised MS even bothered to consider it.

I mean Japan is a market that has zilch acceptance for a foreign console, and now they are in a decline so I don't even see the point of MS even being there anymore. Better to support other Asian countries like China!

[Erik7357]

It's not that....its just western games aren't really that appealing to them and that's pretty much what all of Microsoft's games are.

[freshslicepizza]

"It's not that....its just western games aren't really that appealing to them and that's pretty much what all of Microsoft's games are."

then why are eastern games appealing to western cultures? this has always struck me as odd how videogames can be divided based on culture. it's all an expression of art.

[donthate]

Fries1223:

"It's not that....its just western games aren't really that appealing to them and that's pretty much what all of Microsoft's games are."

The Xbox 360 had massive amounts of games appealing to the Japanese crowd, and more major ones than the PS3, yet it sold significantly less than the PS3 while having all the advantages on the better performing 3rd party games.

Japan consistently has a preference for Japanese consoles.

[PhoenixUp]

Oh wow Microsoft has absolutely no faith in the Asian market, and for good reason

[Jayszen]

Maybe the Japanese market has not bought into Xbox because Microsoft has failed to show any faith in the market. Releasing a console alone is not enough and just because Xbox One did not have the sales they wanted, Microsoft has gradually reduced all interest to what is now zero. Well, globally, the Xbox One had problems right from the start but looking at the US and UK market, things are now better because Microsoft has made an effort with gamers, devs and indie game makers. It is clear that Microsoft no longer consider Japan a viable market and are reducing presence but refuse to say so and also cannot be botheed to try and turn things around.

Whether a product is foreign has nothing to do with acceptance in Japan - plenty of foreign products do really well in the Land of the Rising Sun. Take Apple for example, or brands like Burberry - there are many examples of US and European brands that really do well in Japan. The Japanese will embrace a product if it is well designed and caters to local tastes and takes care not to condescend to the market. I say this with experience and knowledge of the Japanese.

This annoucement is dubious. Japan has planty of homegrown games that are as violent if not more than Gears of War and to me at least this is just and excuse not to waste further resources on a market that has not responded as expected.

[Jayszen]

PhoenixUp - "for good reason" - Aren't Japanese devs making 'Scalebound' and 'Recore'? There is no good reason other than Microsoft does not wish to make the effort to get to know what the local market wants and then deliver. There are plenty of Japanese gamers who play COD, Assassin's Creed, etc. and may also appreciate 'Scalebound' and 'Recore' but at the rate Microsoft is abandoning Japan will probably not get to play them unless they import them.

[Haru]

Japanese are smart and the make wise decisions most of the time, that's why they prefer Nintendo and Sony over Microsoft It's not that they don't like western product they do for example iPhone is the best selling phone in japan but Xbox isn't really that great it's weaker than the competion and has zero rpgs on it Xbox is surviving mostly because of USA it's doing horrible anywhere else

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Why waste the resources at this point?

[Rookie_Monster]

This is the reason for the cancellation:
"After conducting a development investigation into all the necessary changes that would have to be made in order to get all the content in Gears of War: Ultimate Edition,including new content [to this remake] to pass ethical conformity standards we have concluded that the task would be insurmountable. As such, we have made the choice to forgo a domestic [Japanese] release for the game."

Ethical conformity standards? Is Japan kind of like Germany and Australia then in their content approval process?

[N0TaB0T]

"Trigger Warning"?

[TwoForce]

Oh really ? There are bunch violence video games in japan. And you don't know. Anime In Japan are also have mature rated. Japanese never like western games form microsoft. For example, Bloodborne is very violence game and It also made by From Software. That game never get ban in japan.

[Metallox]

What are these ethical conformity standards in the first place?

But, no, Japan has received more violent games than Gears. That shouldn't be a reason.

EDIT: Just saw Microsoft's justification and the author's additional information. And well, it makes sense, but still, who knows.

[GameBoyColor]

Sounds more like bs from MS and they wont admit that they are abandoning the console market in japan

[Rookie_Monster]

Don't kill the messenger, I am just posting what is in the article.

I have no clue what the law is for violent video games in Japan either or what ethic conformity publishers have to follow so I am just asking and want to find out muself. :/

[MasterCornholio]

It isn't because of that. Given the way the system is selling in Japan Microsoft probably thinks that the costs of translating the game isn't worth the sales that it will get them. It makes perfect sense.

[IIFloodyII]

No, Japan have very little restrictions there, when it comes to entertainment, they only recently got a little strict, when some animes got a bit too creepy with the almost child porn, but they still didn't outright ban them from doing, as they said it would curb free speech.

[Knushwood Butt]

Beheadings are a no-no in Japan, and extreme violence is toned down in games, but for this case the reasoning smells of BS. The original games are all available in Japan...

[Articuno76]

"Is Japan kind of like Germany and Australia then in their content approval process?".

Whereas I can't speak for the specifics of the approval process the broad answer is "yes".

It's not uncommon to see PC games, for example, being mostly region-free with the specific exceptions of Japan and Germany, likely because they have similarly demanding certification processes.

But that's not to say the certification process is the same - a panel of judges might see two games that look simlilar to our eyes but seem quite different too them through their cultural filter. Or they may flag different elements of graphic violence as being "too much" (for instance, some countries are fine with violent bloodshed, but depictions of decapitations cross the line).

[TwoForce]

Well, there is goes. Goodbye Gears form Japan.

[Youngindy21]

If Xbox wants to cater to the Japanese market they gotta start releasing those stupid Japanese games that Japanese people are obsessed with like Playstation does.(i.e. Senran Kagura, Hyperdimesion Neptunia, Monster Hunter, Gundam, etc) I don't know that Japanese people will ever like the same types of games as Westerners.

[SuperStatePro]

Maybe a tentacle rape game or two.. A dating sim. Um, any game with dudes with huge spiky hair. Etc etc.

[Haru]

I'd choose any day one of 'these stupid japanese games' over stupid western shooters like Halo or gears at least they have more gameplay instead of just brainless shotting and kililn' monster and aliens over and over again

[SuperStatePro]

I wouldn't doubt it, looking at your stupid comments.

[StormSailor]

This is the Xbox division starting to cut spending. Even if Japan is a drunken market with mobile garbage, there is no excuse for this. They are still one of the largest markets. Recently Western titles like GTAV, Batman, Skyrim, The Last of Us and other games sold very well there.

[LAWSON72]

Have you seen Xbone sale numbers in JP, they are a joke. Those games sell on PS4s not Xbox Ones. Vgchartz has 50000 sold units, whether you believe that or not is up to you however fact is the thing is irrelevant and probably never will be relevant in JP. That being said they could have at least did a digital copy.

[Relientk77]

This will help Xbox in Japan

[The_Truth_24_7]

LMFAO!