Xbox Had Embargoed Persona Dev's Metaphor: ReFantazio After All, as Fantasy RPG Is Confirmed for PS5, PS4

I wonder what Microsoft achieved by putting embargoes on games we all knew were coming to playstation anyway.

What a way to waste money.

Atlus and leaks, name a better combo.

(It is pretty funny that this leaked days ago, though. Suggests that the Xbox embargo could have gone on for a while yet.)

And this is why embargoes are dumb. And that goes for Sony and Nintendo too.

@AndyKazama Nah embargoes are dumb only when MS does them

Didn't Push Square publish a warning article saying this would happen in the hopes of squashing panic among Persona and other fans? 🤔

I mean... It's pretty desperate when you have to pay or legally bind people to pretend your console is more worthwhile than it really is. Put that effort into making games instead of pretending you have exclusives, Phil.

Yeah, there was absolutely no chance this was ever gonna be exclusive to Xbox, despite the money Microsoft have I'd be surprised if an Atlus RPG is ever exclusive to an American console. The fee Microsoft would have to pay would be astronomical.

In saying that it's embargoes like this that make you wonder how much money Microsoft is willing to waste.

Weird practice, I don’t see the sense in it?

@__Seraph They lost billions on the original Xbox it sold so badly, and I guess they just kept on going like that. It's less like they entered the entertainment industry and more like they just try to trick people into giving them money by manipulating perceptions. All companies do that but they also back it up with actual reasons to part with your money rather than deceptive, pretend reasons.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.
@BusyOlf Probably so Sony can't send a "look what's coming to PlayStation" tweet after the Xbox showcase.
You can imagine those Microsoft boffins at the meeting, "right how are we going to stop Sony do these tweets"...."I know we will have a 24 hour embargo".
"Oh Phil you are a genius" shouts the entire room.
Meanwhile Phil has a smug grin on his face (you know the one).

Kerfluff over nothing apparently. Japanese studios like Atlus don't ignore their target market, especially over JRPGs.

And no one was shocked ... people who cared about this game knew there was a stream for the 20th and most likely the announcement was going to be there (and people who didn't care well there were ok lol).
That's why there wasn't anything like "fans worried" if you were worried you failed as an internet user 😂

@mwatcher precisely.

Noce, can't wait for the game 😃

I said yesterday that metaphor retanfazio was coming to the PlayStation anyway.but good to get a confirmation.word up son

@Triumph741 Only xbox does these things

@Tzara Sony is embargoing PC announcements for some reason.

Switch-only fans are still waiting for some ray of hope lol.

Pitchforks away everyone.
I don't see a problem with announcement embargoes of only a few days. If people are so impatient and jump ship to Xbox and ditch PS in that timeframe then there they deserve everything they get. I can't actually believe that anyone has done that although I guass a few overly dramatic YouTubers have probably threatened to.

It is kind of a waste of money for Microsoft to embargo platform announcements. I guess the thought process is to generate buzz for Xbox?

It's like when everyone thought that UE5 was only possible on the PS5 because the SSD was faster than the Series SSD. And for a few days afterwards, Epic wasn't talking. In fact, I think people still thought UE5 wasn't possible on Series consoles until the Matrix Demo came out.

But the second it's announced for other platforms, it really doesn't matter anymore. I wouldn't even call it a scummy move, just kind of a pointless move.

@CaptD Phil wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with an old xBox game whilst having both hands in each of his trouser pockets?

I honestly thought this game was next gen only and would skip last gen. It definitely doesn't increase the chances of it coming to Switch same with P3R but Atlus is weird when it comes to releasing games on platforms so who knows. Same company that didn't even bother to bring Soul Hackers 2 to the Switch and look how that turned out for them lmao.

@Triumph741 Are they? I'm curious what games they have embargoed an announcement for PC as they usually state on their trailers if it's not available on another platform until a certain date and then you can usually expect it to release on at least PC or Xbox after that. As far as I'm aware everything that was shown at their showcase that wasn't a straight up PS exclusive was announced for other platforms straight after the show finished.

lol Xbox, after Sony showcase, remind some games coming to Xbox too and its fans rejoiced. What a low and cheap tactic! Making games exclusive for a year is one thing, embargoing the news of games being multiplatform is such a ridiculous tactic. No sure why they want to waste money for that. I mean I never have a doubt. Given the scarcity of exclusives, Microsoft would put it on banners if it is truly exclusive.

Hope it was worth the dough, MS.

2024 is already starting to look pretty stacked with JRPG goodness. Can't wait

As expected. This sort of exclusive embargo deal is so odd to me. I get why companies pay for exclusive titles. I even get why companies pay for exclusive little tidbits like skins or a small side quest and whatnot. It's all to drive people that company's specific platform.

These embargo deals however basically do nothing as far as I can tell. I guess maybe they think they can get a few panic buyers to get an Xbox if they think for a week something might only be available there? Seems like a waste of money for not very much profit.

Then again Microsoft in particular does this a lot so I guess they see something I don't.

@MayaMousavi They did yeah, it was pre-prepared and ready to upload as soon as the showcase finished. I hope this doesn't start a trend where everyone starts doing it.

@CaptD the grin where his mouth and chin become one,that one

Scummy tactics ,as was the ms tweet after sonys showcase,i hope Sony respond in kind ,after all these lift,please Sony buy take two,square,capcom and cdpr 😂😂

@UltimateOtaku91 It not a waste of money. There plenty of people that pay so little attention to gaming that 1 trailer can easily sway them into thinking a game is exclusive to a single platform. For these kinds of people, the first few days of a game announcement is very crucial as most of them won’t do any further research until a month before the game comes out.

@tallythwack I've got no problems with them sending out an announcement after to say these games are also coming to Xbox, it's fair game and should be expected. Stopping a competitor from subsequently being able to do the same thing is a proper scummy move though.

@AverageGamer But for this game it's atleast 12 months away, same with Persona 3 Reloaded. No one is going to go out and buy and xbox during those 48 hours for a game that's over a year away and is announced for other consoles two days later.

It would make more sense for timed exclusivity or an embargo that lasts until a month before release.

@AverageGamer The type of people that pay so little attention to gaming that one trailer would away them aren't likely to be the type of people that will sit and watch the showcases where these games are announced though. By the time these games are even on their radar it will be much closer to release when and trailers or advertisements will show all of the available platforms.

So both Persona 3 and FFVII rebirth are releasing early 2024. Busy months.

@Martijn87 For PS owners. Not so much the other two.

Good to see the game multiplat, and I am glad that more high quality jrpgs on Xbox alongside PS and other platforms.

Xbox was smart to get marketing, as its all over their Japanese adverts even post embargo which will enchnace the brand presence there. It won't sway the likes of us lot who already own a PS5 here, but there many many other casual gamers outside the echo chamber who will have a cheap way to access this kind of game (XSS). For me as a multi plat gamer I welcome all platforms upping thier game.

Now let's get FF7 Remake on Xbox since most here believe 3rd party exclusivity is bad for gaming.

@tallythwack No leave those studios where they are. Untouched! Sony should just let Xbox have their dig at them and respond with exclusives that will drop soon. We all know most of the games from 3rd parties shown at the Xbox showcase were will be on PS. No need to state the obvious.

@UltimateOtaku91 I have a Feb 23 date for P3R. Nothing yet for MET.

@Sifi Timed deals is something they both do. A small difference though is that Sony is transparent on how long the deals are. It's up to the developer/publisher to announce where the game is going AFTER the timed dealmis done. Xbox doesn't say when their deals are up. Just like Cuphead, Warhammer, etc. Same with Nintendo. 🤷🏾‍♂️

@Darylb88 How do you know that's the date?

@Sifi But will that work, within days sony will have their own branded trailers for these games just like they did with Perosna 3 and 4 re releases a few months ago. People who visit youtube will find out pretty quickly it's not xbox exclusive.

@UltimateOtaku91 I work on the digital side of a business that sells a wide range of products including games. Usually when the publisher sends across information it will include dates, visual assets, promo material which will they be formatted to the website at the correct time. I basically do the copyrighting for the gaming section. What I can see is Feb 16th 2024. They put Feb 14th 2024 before but it has been just been updated and may be again. I can't say I am suprised as Sega usally do 3 month stagger dates. They did the same with P5R Oct 21st port last year and then Jan 18th P3/P4 port this year. Even Yakuza 8 has a provisonal date on my back end system (March 24)

@Sifi They absolutely do, look at any of their announcement trailers, it always has text saying something along the lines of "not available on other platforms until..." Or "console exclusive until...".
Even FF7R released on PC after the initial stated 6 month period.

@Kevw2006 They may not watch the stream, but they’ll browse through YouTube and see that Xbox dropped trailers, and not PlayStation/Nintendo (they still don’t have trailers dropped on their channels, and the Altus West channel still only mentions Xbox and PC in their release videos)

@UltimateOtaku91 It not about rushing out to buy consoles in 48 hours… These people may never buy the console at all. But it make the Xbox brand look like it gets more “exclusive” games then it does. Which may sway them to buy it in the future. Why do you think PlayStation paid so much money for marketing rights for stuff like Destiny and CoD. It make the game looks exclusive to their platform.

@Darylb88 ah I see, you could become a potential leaker then 😉

Got any dates for Granblue Fantasy Relink yet?

@UltimateOtaku91 IDK, Just this one major PS blog has two articles talking about the Xbox being relevant for a Japanese game, basically. Seems like well spent money.

"It would make more sense for timed exclusivity or an embargo that lasts until a month before release."

Yeah, but due to the marketshare difference paying for exclusivity is too expensive to be viable, and we don't know how long the embargo was supposed to be for, this was accidentally outed buy the Korean division sticking a logo on a trailer, not an official unveiling. I'm sure it was supposed to be longer.

The bigger question is do they even have to pay anything for these embargoes since Atlus keeps breaching the contract and leaking them? Might be all free.

@NEStalgia Well yeah if I was Microsoft I'd be demanding a refund lol

@UltimateOtaku91 Just says Dec 23, not sure if that is a placeholder or not. Cygames usually come in pretty hot with dates.

Well, there you go

@UltimateOtaku91 tagging you but this applies to many others here: I doubt MS paid simply for this embargo. As far as we can see, MS negotiated the entire marketing deal for this games, not unlike they did for Cyberpunk and how Sony has done with Hogwarts and CoD.

The difference is that this deal also had a small embargo clause attached to it. As @nestalgia noted, even with leaks this helps the public know that Xbox is very serious about bringing Japanese titles that are typically not associated with Xbox to the platform.

@Martijn87 Persona 3 Reloaded, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth all in early 2024... I can already hear my wallet crying!

@ShogunRok Monthly PS Plus essential games 🤣

I doubt Microsoft payed much for the embargo if anything, it's probably just in exchange for a spot in their showcase and maybe some contribution towards marketing.

For Atlus it's a win. They get the initial hype, then they get a couple of days of 'is this coming to playstation' articles, then they get to announce it for Playstation. I've paid more attention to the game because of the embargo.

From the Microsoft side of things, they don't want to be promoting PlayStation the same day they're promoting their own games. They want the headlines to be xlook what's on Xbox" not "look what game we're all getting". It makes sense to push back the the PS announcements a couple of days after their showcase.

@pyrrhic_victory Fair!

this stupid embargo only goes to show that MS would have no hesitation in making exclusive deals if they could.

@UltimateOtaku91 Oh I'm sure it's in the contract that if the embargo is breached in any way by official, unofficial, employed, or contracted agents of Sega, the payment is reversed. You can bank on that! Especially after the P5 leak last year!

MS seems so desperate for even just a bit of mind share that they're willing to pay Sega/Atlus x amount of $$$ to make em look good for a few days under the guise that a game is exclusive to XBox.
Of course Sega/Atlus would do that deal...and then make more $$$ by selling their game on other consoles where it'll actually sell.

@Matroska I'd say it's worse when sony pays game developers to specifically keep games off of Xbox *cough ff7 *cough sfv

Lol at so many people here trash talking Microsoft when Sony buys advertisement rights for so many games.

Also a reminder to everybody that the Atlus Persona games shown will be on gamepass so the deal is still better on xbox. And maybe Metaphor Refanrazio too. So us consumers win.

@Darylb88 you'll never see ff7 remake ever on an Xbox system unless Microsoft brought square enix i mean it took like two years to come to steam.

Egs and playstation two peas in a pod when it comes to keeping games off of platforms

@Sifi That's FALSE. Look at all the trailers they have deals on. It's right there.

And Steam. Make it SteamDeck verified next.

How it should be - put games on everything possible and let consumer decide where best to play it.

one of the FEW games i am interested in is also on ps4! well, this might push back my ps5 purchase another 24 months at this rate haha... there really isn't a good reason to own one right now other than an exception or two... hope ff xvi is worth the hype!

@Matroska Tales of Vesperia that one was also really a weird one but I'm happy I got to play it eventually.

@Sifi more likely that it was part of the game pass deal they made ,atlus wont really care because they don't sell well on xbox anyway ,the majority of sales come from ps

@Deityjester Thats not really how it tends to go down.
More often than not, developers or publishers will approach the platform holder for additional funding or development resources, and what the platform holder gets out of that deal is usually some form of exclusivity, depending on the level of funding or involvement.

What everyone seems to think is that the platform holders (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo?) go out of their way to lock down exclusivity, and while that does happen, you would be surprised at how often it is the developer/publisher that starts that conversation.

@thedevilsjester The only game i mentioned which was funded by sony was SFV which they again made exclusive and despite being the biggest fighting game franchise they never got scrutinized like Microsoft have with call of duty.

If Sony didn't pay to keep ff7 off of Xbox explain why it's now on steam but not Xbox, they put it on egs a year after release and a year before it came to steam meanwhile no Xbox release but the prequel and strangers of paradise are on the system 🤔

@Deityjester There are a lot of reasons that could explain it, and without being privy to their private agreements, we can only speculate.

Remember that FFXIV is also not on Xbox, and not because Sony blocked it; but because of Microsoft policies. There are also many Square Enix games exclusive to Nintendo consoles and even a few exclusive to Xbox, so it's not a given that all Square Enix games, or even all FF games will be on all platforms.

With that said, I am not claiming that Sony didn't buy the rights, just that there are many explanations and not all of them are nefarious.

@thedevilsjester Yeah and the explanation for FF7 remake not being on Xbox is plain as day, the prequel being available on Xbox cements my claims if sony had just paid for timed exclusivity then FF7 remake would have came to Xbox just like it eventually made it's way to EGS and steam.

I don't know of any other companies that have deals that exclude games they don't own the ip rights to off of specific platforms permanently besides sony and egs one of those being widely disliked for good reason.