Time flies, huh? it's now been five years since the Japanese developer PlatinumGames last released a new(-ish) game on Xbox in Nier: Automata, and in an interview earlier this week, the team was asked why this was the case.
In response to the question by Video Games Chronicle, PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba initially explained that, as a developer, the team "don’t really have any say or choice on what platforms we’re going to release our games on."
So, VGC went on to ask why The Wonderful 101 Remastered and Sol Cresta — two games that were published by PlatinumGames — still didn't end up on Xbox, and Inaba blamed a lack of "hands on deck":
"The reason is simply that we couldn’t make it in time as we didn’t have enough hands on deck. Basically, we were just too busy to include Xbox into our platform support. That’s pretty much it."
Inaba went on to state that PlatinumGames is interested in supporting "as many platforms as we possibly can" in the future, and "teaming up with Microsoft to put content on Xbox" is definitely something the CEO is still open to.
"Personally, Xbox is a very important hardware platform moving forward, and we definitely want to keep Xbox in our sights moving forward for our titles. We want to release our titles on as many platforms as possible moving forward, so we definitely have Xbox in mind."
The games that Xbox owners have missed out on include the aforementioned Wonderful 101 Remastered and Sol Cresta, along with Astral Chain, the cancelled Babylon's Fall and the highly anticipated Switch exclusive, Bayonetta 3.
Maybe we'll finally see some of these games on Xbox one day... we're keeping our fingers crossed!
Are you hoping to see more PlatinumGames titles on Xbox in the future? Let us know down below.
Comments 50
Didn't even know their games hadn't been on Xbox...can't say Xbox is missing anything from their latest batch of releases
That smells like a load of B.S. to me. What sort of excuse is "we didn't have enough hands on deck"? Is Platinum an Indie developer working at their mom's basement? I don't buy it. They could always hire manpower to port their games to all major platforms if they want to.
Either they don't want to release games on Xbox (which could be a valid business decision if their games simply don't sell enough in the platform) or they want Xbox to pay them for porting their games.
Bit of a bs excuse to me, I would have bought any of their games, as usually they are spot on. But whatever....
*****, but I do hope they release Astral Chain for other platforms
The original Bayonetta on Xbox 360 was and is still the best one in my opinion.
@Nighto4 Astral Chain will not come to other consoles or PC. The IP is now owned by Nintendo. They changed copyright from PG to Nintendo I believe
Of course XBox doesn't get Astral Chain and Bayonetta 3, why would it? Astral Chain was developed together with Nintendo and now the IP even belongs 100% to Nintendo. While the Bayonetta IP belongs to Sega, 2+3 only exist because of Nintendo.
But they definitely could've released The Wonderful 101 on XBox too.
We got nier replicant remake though?
@anoyonmus I know but still
I don't know why they aren't just more honest about Nintendo making exclusivity deals with them, the whole excuse of them not having the ability to make ports is just lame.
Xbox users missed out on babylons fall ,Oh no .....thank you u saved us money, ,saves us buying a game thats already got a shutdown date
It is a shame Xbox missed Wonderful 101, it’s their best game by a country mile.
I do hope we see more Platinum games on Xbox for sure, they’ve got some sadly low lows, but their highest highs puts most of the game industry to shame.
What exclusivity deal? Nintendo owns Astral Chain and finances the development of Bayonetta.
Both Sol Cresta and The Wonderful 101 were released on other platforms as Switch too. Both are on PC. Shouldn't be that difficult to port them to XBox.
Let’s be real here what IPs have Platinum related that aren’t exclusive in the last five years? Wonderful 101, Bayo/Vaquish anniversary, Nier Automata, and Sol Cresta. Only 2 of those didn’t come to Xbox eventually. and I really think they are talking about Wonderful 101 remaster. Which had its own politics associated with it.
People really need remember Platinum mainly works on other people owned IPs.
Honestly, their games being on Switch is smart considering it’s the king of the game in Japan but their titles would be nice on PC and Xbox in addition to their PlayStation offerings. I seriously love my PC / Xbox w/ GP ecosystem. Now if only MS could convince the Big N to let GP come play over at the red camp. But fat chance.
"We were just too busy to include Xbox."
But still ask for Microsoft's money 🤣.
Xbox is hardly missing much
The end of that was a bit misleading, of course Bayonetta 3 is Exclusive to Switch as mentioned, but even IF Xbox was being supported then that doesn't mean that Astral Chain and/or Babylon's Fall would've been on Xbox to begin with 🤷♂️
As far as I know, Astral Chain is the exact same situation as Bayonetta (funded/co-published by Nintendo) and the same for Babylon's Fall but with Square Enix/Sony 🤔
I'm actually surprised no one has mentioned this, but what has happened between Platinum Games and Microsoft?
SCALEBOUND!
Microsoft pulled the project late and that was Platinum's last partnership with them. Can't say that hasn't had a significant level of impact on their relationship.
Nintendo has also been funding and publishing most of their recent efforts Astral Chain/Bayonetta 3. As well as Sony/Square on that disaster Babylon's Fall made be their C squad.
Sounds more like they're regretting abandoning Xbox now that it is kinda on an upswing.
@Trmn8r I think there’s some truth to this. I don’t think Phil Spencer has been receptive of their gestures either. I remember reading an article a couple years back where they invited him, had a guest package waiting for him and everything, and then nothing happened.
But also, is Xbox really missing out on Platinum? Imo, Nier Automata was sort of like the fluke hit they’ve had and they partnered with Square for it.
Except for Astral Chain, we didn’t miss much, and Bayonetta was always a Nintendo exclusive.
@somnambulance we didn't miss out on Babylon's Fall yeah. But they actually do have a good pedigree: Neir Automata, Bayonetta, Astral Chain, Vanquish, Wonderful 101, MGS Revengeance, Madworld.
We got the trash Nier games but no Bayonetta or Astral Chain, it sucks for Xbox but at least i played those on my switch
@Trmn8r ooooh, I forgot Reveangence was Platinum. Alright, I accept my jumping the gun
I get the sense Microsoft has been hesitant to associate with PlatinumGames since the fiasco with Scalebound, and I'm sure that hasn't helped strengthen their pre-existing relationship.
They seem to work really well with Nintendo, though.
Wasn't Scalebound complete and ready to release? What actually happened with that because I remember it looking awesome.
@Cherip-the-Ripper Nier Replicant isn't made by platinum games.
@TheGrimOne It was never completed, it got cancelled due to Microsoft wanting certain things in the game such as the use of Unreal Engine (an engine that PlatinumGames had no experience in) and PlatinumGames adding features that didn’t really need to be there like multiplayer. Matt McMuscles made a great video on it https://youtu.be/nhlJdfkhOK8
@Magabro While they aren't a small indie company. When you're an independent company you can't just just go on a hiring spree without resources to do so... Platinum Games isn't excatly financially stable and was basically surviving pay check to pay check until Tencent gave them funding. The cancelation of Scalebound would have put them out of business if it wasn't for the success of Nier and Astral Chain.
I don't know why. I thought that PG and Xbox were very bound by scales.
@anoyonmus it's possible that Nintendo give them the rights back of Astral Chain, just like what happened to TW101
they intentionally skipping xbox. wonderful 101 remaster was launched on kickstarter and they made no perk about xbox port
@Martsmall bruh stop you weren't gonna buy it even if it did come to Xbox. You were gonna wit patiently for gamepass.
@Doublecell and you know this how ? And when did I say I was waiting for it to go on gamepass ?
Do yourself a favour and go sit somewhere and know less then u thought u knew ok
Somewhat of an odd excuse. Some of their games are pretty good. I enjoyed Mad World back on the Wii and played the original Bayonetta and Vanquish to death on the 360, good times. Nier Autumata is great, but I pretty much ignored their games when they partnered with Activision with those TMNT and Transformer games. Definitely looking forward to Bayonetta 3 on Switch.
rather than make a rubbish game Babylon's fall why not port one of the good games to xbox you will probably make more money doing that
"Xbox is a very important hardware platform moving forward"
But not important enough to support if we have to select to miss a platform out all together to save time
@AverageGamer oh what a surprise 😲
Really hyped for Bayonetta 3
Well, at least they're moving forward...
Supported PG on all 3 platforms. Madworld, Bayonetta series, Vanquish, wonderful 101, … Skipping Xbox will bite them in the ***, at least, the way they are trying to explain this (If it were an Indie dev okay but …) + they need to make new quality games. I hope this isn’t about Scalebound either. That ship has sailed.
Would be awesome to play Astral Chain or Wonderful 101 in Xbox Game Pass someday.
If the whole deal with Hellena Taylor (Bayonetta) was Platinum's call, Platinum can keep their titles.
Platinum currently in hot water with the VA of Bayonetta 3. 😬
@LukePS7013 ahh fair enough. I didn't realise it had been cancelled. Thank you for the link, I'll have a look now!
With them saying they are open to a takeover bid then trying to get back to Microsoft and then the voice artist saying she was only offered $4000 and tells ppl to boycott the game , does Anyone else think it's the beginning of the end and they are in REAL financial trouble ?
Xbox is the smallest market and I have no doubt has provided the lowest sales of past titles.
Whilst no one has a complete perspective on scalebound, it seems from what we do know, Microsoft decided they wanted to dictate what the game would be, and Im sure that the way that buisness concluded left a very sour taste.
As a buisness man the man is bound to say hes open to xbox, be silly not to. I suspect out of the three format holders its the last one they would approach.
Is xbox misssng anything? Not a lot now, but Bayonetta 3 clearly shows the mad creativity and ability to nail a game still exists at Platinum.
PS destroys Xbox in Japan. Japanese game development culture also always seems to lean "domestic first". If they have limited resources, it makes the most sense that they would focus on Xbox last. Platinum is a super talented AA developer that pumps out some AAA quality titles that appeal to a demographic that's just under the mainstream market and finances them with some questionable games born from licensing and publisher deals. Their resources aren't infinite.
Such a shame that Bayonetta 3 is locked to the switch. It belongs on PC too
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