McDonaldsGuy on 28 February 2015
- Microsoft failed in Japan because Japanese people do not buy American products
Not true. McDonald's, Apple, and Levi's (just a few examples) are HUGE in Japan. McDonald's for decades was the number one restaurant in Japan, and is still top 3. Apple destroyed Sony in Japan and has a 40%+ marketshare there. So how come these companies succeeded were Microsoft failed? Simple: they adapted to Japanese customers, and didn't expect them to adapt to them. For example, McDonald's sells teriyaki burgers there. Microsoft expected Japanese gamers to buy non-Japanese style games. The Xbox 360's Japanese launch titles were abysmal and didn't appeal to the Japanese at all. And for about a year there were hardly ANY games - much less ones that appealed to Japanese - for about 3 years. By the time it got Japanese style games by the dozen (Star Ocean, Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, etc. etc.) it was already too late.
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis sold only around 4 million in Japan, simply because it didn't have that many games that appealed to the Japanese. The Saturn rectified this and had MANY games that appealed to the Japanese, and therefore sold 6 million despite it flopping everywhere else. The Xbox 360 just did not appeal to Japanese customers because games like Gears of War, Halo, and Fable are niche (and that's just putting it mildly) there. - Nintendo abandoned the hardcore, and non-gamers abandoned Nintendo later on
I made a thread about this before, but a lot of people believe that Nintendo abandoned the hardcore - even Nintendo themselves said that they abandoned the hardcore audience with the Wii, and were planning to make the Wii U more for core gamers. This is not true. The Wii U has not even reached Dreamcast sales yet, it's pretty clear that hardcore gamers do not care for Nintendo much anymore. The GameCube had a TON of great games - Resident Evil 4, Wind Waker, Eternal Darkness, Mario Sunshine, Viewtiful Joe, MGS: Twin Snakes, Metroid Prime, Mario Kart DD, and SO many more and was only $99 yet hardcore gamers still refused to buy it.
So Nintendo focuses on a new audience, a blue ocean audience. They are far more receptive and Nintendo's Wii becomes a phenomenon. Then Nintendo for whatever reason abandoned their blue ocean audience in 2010. A lot of people say they went into smartphone gaming. While true, Nintendo could have at least tried to compete. There was never a Wii Sports 3 even though Resorts sold by the bucketload; never a Wii Dance; or a Wii Fit 2. Nintendo decided then to focus on an audience that rejected them in 1996 and now their console is getting destroyed sales wise.
There's two from me. What are some more?
