Just as early as last Fall, the Xbox One S was reportedly
being marketed in Japan as a blu-ray player. No mention of the console's gaming capabilities was mentioned.
Earlier, we posted Xbox Divison head Phil Spencer's chat with Famitsu
about Microsoft's next-gen console plans but Spencer also spoke about his efforts to strengthen Microsoft's brand awareness in Japan and loosen Sony's stranglehold on the Japanese gaming market.
Spencer reportedly stated, "he fact that over the past few years he traveled to Japan many times to visit many publishers. He is working closely with many Japanese developers. They let him play the games before release, and when they talk to him about their goals, he realizes that bonds are being built through the relationship between platform holder and publishers. He is aware that this kind of relationship is important."
He closed out the interview by remarking, "it’s a pleasure for him to say that the excellent developers from Japan are supporting Xbox. Japanese Xbox gamers will be able to enjoy even more content from their favorite creators in the future, so they should look forward to further developments."
In the era of the Xbox 360, there were several standout Japanese exclusives for the console like Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4 and more. But somewhere in the development of the Xbox One, those JRPG-centric titles mysteriously vanished.