Editorial: Developers slam Capcom in recent issue of Famitsu

In the most recent issue of the popular Japanese publication, Famitsu, many Japanese developers such as Konami, Square Enix and Namco Bandai, slammed fellow Japanese developer, Capcom, due to a recent comment by Capcom in which they stated “Japanese developers are cold to developing on the Xbox 360”.

Takashe Nozue had this to say,
“Xbox 360 has limited potential and therefore only deserves limited development”

Tetsuya Takahashi (Namco-Bandai) also made similar comments, citing “poor Xbox sales as a reason to limit development on the console”.

I hate the fact that Japanese developers are so damn stubborn and resistant to give the Xbox 360 a try. That's why it's doing so poorly in Japan, because developers won't give it a shot. The Japanese culture as a whole has been resistant to try American products for years now, so this comes as no major surprise, but when one developer takes a chance on the console and makes a statement that is entirely true about the general mood of Japanese developers, they are berated for it.

I think this is complete Bullshit, and I will address both of these statements in order.

“Xbox 360 has limited potential and therefore only deserves limited development”

They're blaming the Xbox 360 for its "Limited potential" (in Japan). The Xbox 360, as all other consoles, has limitless potential. It all depends on whether or not the developers are willing to find and make use of that potential in their games. As a whole, Japanese developers have not been trying to pull that potential out of the Xbox 360. How can they honestly say the Xbox 360 has limited potential when they themselves have never even tried to exploit the Xbox 360 to its fullest?

“Poor Xbox sales are a reason to limit development on the console”.

Now they are blaming the 360 itself for its poor sales in Japan. How is a system expected to do well in a foreign market when the people in that very market refuse to give it a chance? If Japanese development support picks up, then sales will pick up. You can't have one without the other and it's a shame they are too stubborn to realize that. When the 360 sees some of the top quality development that they’d give to Sony and Nintendo consoles, buyers will reciprocate and purchase the Xbox 360 and those games.

Bottom line, Japanese developers, YOU are to blame for the 360's lack of appeal in Japan. If you don't support it, don't expect it to do well on its own and damnit, don't blame Capcom for taking a chance on it and succeeding. Capcom is absolutely right; they are cold to developing on the 360. They basically just admitted it in those statements they made. I applaud Capcom for calling them out, it's about time someone slapped those developers with a dose of reality.