Do you think MS will even bother launching in Japan given the negligible amount of units they'll sell there? Will it be worth it if they do?

Next gen I can see microsoft do all or nothing in Japan. They'll either go crazy and buy Japanese devs, get popular Japanese games as exclusives, etc. etc., or they'll do absolutely nothing. I think they'll do the latter, because I don't think they'd ever get a return on their investment if they did really push hard to get a meaningful presence in Japan.

What do you think chartz?

Will they? Probably
Should they? No

stupid question, if M$ had that kind of attitude i doubt we would have seen the xbox360. although im going to doubt things will het much better unless Sony just completely screw up and devs dont support Nintendo

Yes they will. Compared to the original Xbox the Xbox 360 did gangbusters in Japan. MS also knows that they need Japanese games on their system to compete in the rest of the world too. I expect MS to put as much or more effort into Japan as they did this gen and we will see the Xbox brand continue to grow there. The Japanese are slowly starting to adopt foreign tech so MS needs to keep pushing until the Japanese finally get what the rest of us already know. Halo kicks ass.

Launching the 720 in Japan is a waste of time of resources.

I actually expect microsoft to put less emphasis on japan because they will have come to terms that things aren't going well there. Thats not to say they won't care. Just it won't be a top priority. What they will focus on is europe and that is really the best place to chance it.

I don't think they shouldn't release in japan because it will effect overall lifetime sales and there is a niche audience for it there. But they won't put as much focus on it there because if they won't accept kinect they won't accept anything from them.

Another console.. another chance.

They should honestly re brand it in japan

sushi box

They have to: Japan = Games.