From September 21st to 24th, the Tokyo Game Show takes place. As the largest video game fair in Asia, many companies don’t want to miss it, which is why many game announcements and novelties are made, especially targeting an Asian audience. That’s why, in addition to announcements that come to us little by little, we also have some larger conferences. For example, the one from Xbox. Since they are keen on breaking into the Japanese market, they attach special importance to this event and allocate more resources to it than one might expect.
This year has been no exception. And the most interesting part has undoubtedly been the games that have been confirmed to be coming to Game Pass that we didn’t know about.
From Capcom, they have announced Ace Attorney Trilogy for September 26th. Additionally, they have announced that the next compilation in the franchise, Apollo Justice: Trilogy, will be released for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in early 2024. On the other hand, SEGA has made two announcements. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will come to Xbox Game Pass on its release day, November 9th, and Like A Dragon: Ishin!, the spin-off set in feudal Japan from the franchise, will arrive on the service at some point in 2023.
Unfortunately, while the Game Pass announcements have been exciting, Xbox’s own announcements have been forgettable. They showed a circuit from Forza Motorsport, the Hakone circuit, provided more details about the new location in Fallout 76, Atlantic City, and confirmed that The Elder Scrolls Online will have a Japanese translation available on November 15th. Not much of interest for us here.
On the other hand, the third-party announcements have been more interesting. They’ve shown more of previously announced games like Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 3 Reload, Palworld, Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai, and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. But there have also been updates on known games. Exoprimal has showcased its second season, Party Animals has confirmed a collaboration with Ori, and the second DLC for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, titled Conqueror of Jiangdong, has been confirmed. Additionally, Octopath Traveler II will arrive on Xbox and PC consoles in early 2024.
There haven’t been many new games, but there have been some very interesting ones. On one hand, they’ve announced My Lovely Empress, the third part of the My Lovely saga, an empire management game coming to Xbox and PC consoles in 2024. On the other hand, they’ve announced Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi, an adventure and action game about two siblings exploring temple ruins inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Hosoda. However, the biggest announcement has been Hotel Barcelona. It’s a crazy hack ‘n’ slash game born from the minds of Swery65 and Suda51 that will have us facing the most notorious serial killers in the U.S. with our past selves.
With that, they’ve concluded forty-five intense minutes, clearly targeted at the Japanese audience, but with some very interesting things for us as well. It was an intriguing conference that leaves a positive impression about the future of Japanese franchises in the Xbox ecosystem.
