I don't think it's just a matter of money. I'd say it also has to do with Microsoft's stance on key issues in the gaming industry.
Even if Microsoft reversed its mandatory 24-hour online requirement and game-sharing limitations for the Xbox One, the fact that they were even considering such policies makes it obvious that MS is willing to be more strict on issues like DRM and used games.
This alone would make Microsoft's console more attractive to EA compared to Sony's.
Japanese developers are too "prideful" to make games that sell in the west? Seriously? Is this for real?
How the hell are we to judge whether Japan's market is suffering from "stagnation" or "low quality" if 99% of Japanese titles never even make it here? The problem with Japanese developers is not that they don't make games that cater to westerners, it's that they don't bother to bring their games over to the west. PERIOD. On the off-chance that they do, they never market their titles to make them known more, and they frequently allow the content of the games to be altered over here to make them suit the western audiences "tastes" to where they aren't distinguishable from western titles.
You call this "pride"? What a crock full of shit.
If they really did have some pride in what they do, they'd wouldn't be afraid to bring every single one of their games over with no alterations or censorship in their international localizations, regardless of whether the content appeals to a western audience. If they had some pride in their work, the Japanese companies would make every conceivable effort to change the western audiences' tastes to be more like theirs, NOT THE OTHER GODDAMNED WAY AROUND.
They definitely should be more efficient about making games in general, but they need to focus on what they're good at doing and sell it to the world exactly as they do in Japan. After all, what's the point of having a Japanese developer release something here if all they do is copy something that US/European companies have years of doing without introducing something unique?
Look not to what Capcom's been doing--Look to Konami instead. In TGS 2010, when the developers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance were asked about what they thought about Japanese companies releasing games to an international audience, they said while it is beneficial to do so, Japanese developers shouldn't just copy what western companies can do--They have to do what they're good at doing and make something that only a Japanese developer can make and can't be easily be replicated by western developers:
Looking at all these user-created comments, it's clearly obvious that most people who came to this page haven't even bothered to read the article itself.
I've got the PC version and it runs great on my computer.
However, unlike some of those of us who own the PC version, I'm actually buying this. But what about all those mods and expansions that the 360 version doesn't have? I've got an answer to that: They're worthless!
Most multiplayer servers implement a tremendous amount of mods, plugins and other crap that screw with the experience of the game. When you enter a server, you've got to navigate a huge maze of signs and other stuff that the admins want to force you to see. Once you get into the world, you can't build anything right away because everything is protected--You have to go miles away from the spawn to avoid the protected areas and actually get started (often times the admins and VIP players often build huge walls/structures that block your path), but even then, there's nothing to be found because everything's been scavanged by thousands of other players! It o If you want to do anything in a major server, you have to play by some awkward economy system that differs from server to server, which often forces you to give real money to the server admins for resources and VIP status (so much for the 360 version being more expensive than the PC version). Not to mention, you have to deal with hackers, as well as arrogant, immature admins that try to run their servers in the most inane ways when it comes to the PC version.
Really, the only "mods" that actually do no harm are the texture packs and the character skins, but getting none of those are worth the sheer amount of trouble of dealing with the aforementioned gameplay-altering mods, which often hinder new users when it comes to players in multiplayer servers. I'd love to play an online game of Minecraft in a console version that doesn't have all that crap.
The 360 isn't going to do fine with just JRPGs under its belt, it also needs to penetrate the console visual novel market in order to fully grasp the Japanese audience: Why the hell doesn't anyone else realize this?
GrgSpunk's comments