The 360 has passed 1 Million units sold in Japan this week, and that is seemingly being listed as a reason for 360 fans to celebrate.  However, the fact is even though it has already been on the market one year less, the PS3 has sold over 3 times as many consoles in Japan as the 360 (3.02 PS3s to 1.01 M 360s).

    Microsoft put forth their best effort in trying to attract Japanese developers to the console.  And they seemingly spent a lot of effort to attract key Jrpg franchises to the 360 last year.  However, the 360's audience in the West isn't really made up of fans of these types of games and none of the 360's jrpgs had really astounding sales in Japan.  Compare the sales in Japan for the premiere jrpg developer in the world Square's 360 exclusive Star Ocean (generally one of their most popular titles that isn't a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game) to a new ip from Japan's second or third most popular jrpg studio Level-5 on the PS3 White Knight Chronicles.  Even though White Knight Chronicles only received average reviews at best, it still outsold both Star Ocean and an exclusive game from Namco's Tales studio Tales of Vesperia that also appeared exclusively on the 360.

     It is clear from the success of White Knight Chronicles on PS3 that both Vesperia and Star Ocean would have sold many more copies in Japan on the PS3 than they did on the 360.

     With no big jrpgs announced as coming to the 360 this year and with the 360's sales in recent weeks seeming to be falling back into the sub 5,000 per week range (although some predicted last year that the 360 would start to sell 12,000+ units every week in Japan), and it being almost a given that major titles like Final Fantasy XIII and Gran Turismo 5 will probably both be coming to the PS3 exclusively in Japan by the end of 2009, it appears that the PS3 will be closing this year with an advantage of almost 4 million more consoles sold in Japan than the 360 has (I predict that the PS3 will have sold close to or more than 5 million units in Japan while the 360 will still have sold less than 1.25 million units there).

     With such a disparity between the two consoles in Japan, which will surely prompt most Japanese developers that want to make HD games into developing exclusively for the PS3 (when you know you are going to sell 2.5 million copies on the PS3 as opposed to 250,000 on the 360, you would surely choose to work on the console that can provide the most sales), do you think it would be in the 360's best interest to try to pull away fom promoting the console in Japan and more into trying to persuade more Western developers to  make exclusives for the system?

You forget that Japanese devs are pondering breaking into the western markets as they grow bigger. So there is a disparity in Japan; who cares? The big money is in NA and EU and that means multiplat even if a game sells like ass in Japan on 360.

Japan is such a miniscule part of the big picture anymore. It doesn't really make sense to give that region as much weight as we did in the last generations. Their games are mostly a dying breed. Save for just a few benchmark titles, game making really is a dying and antiquated art over there. I would go so far as to say they are becoming game makers for a very niche market because they refuse to adapt to a changing market.

MS has arguably shown better advances in Japan this generation than the other 2 established brands. It wouldn't make sense for them to pull out now.

However, the fact is even though it has already been on the market one year less, the PS3 has sold over 3 times as many consoles in Japan as the 360 (3.02 PS3s to 1.01 M 360s).

Is not 3 times as many =P

and no the very fact the PS3 has only outsold the 360 by 2 million is a feat in itself.

So by your logic SONY should pull out of the Americas considering they are getting pummeled there???

love how SONY fanboys love to jump on the 360 when its not selling well. It has been a huge accomplishment for 360 in Japan. From the last gen:
XBOX = 500 000
PS2= 23 000 000 + more
Thats a 1:46 ratio for every Xbox sold in comparison to the PS2

Now
X360 = 1 000 000
PS3 = 3 000 000
Thats a 1:3 ratio for ever X360 sold for ever PS3

You are calling that a failure. Then the PS3 must be a bigger failure in your eyes as well.

I'll admit I only skimmed your post. Something that stood out was "Japanese developers that want to make HD games into developing exclusively for the PS3 (when you know you are going to sell 2.5 million copies on the PS3 as opposed to 250,000 on the 360,"

Which ps3 game sold 2.5 million that only sold 250k on 360? And as fastford said above me, japanese devs are trying to penetrate the western market, which currently is being topped by the x360.

"..love how SONY fanboys love to jump on the 360 when its not selling well."

Like that shoe dosen't fit perfectly well on the other foot aswell. Mmmhmm. Still valid point on the numbers part.

GTFO I say....

Spend that money you've wasted in Japan in the US\EU on more moneyhats\incentives for more exclusives.

It's too late for jap developers to ignore the 360 even if they did pull out (proper developers like capcom etc). They'd be missing out on big bucks if they did.

its too late to turn back now but i do think they should of thought out a better japanese stragety.

Dark Chaos - 360 without japan 29 million. ps3 without americas 13 million... seriously ps3 sales in americas are easily more justifiable. and a couple of flaws in your comparisons 1. ms pulled xbox off shelves prematurly. 2. ps2 was on shelves for over 8 years now 3 360 has been on shelves for a year longer. so it isnt really 1 360 to every ps3 sold.

at the bolded.  How is that justified?  All the PS3 fanboys (excluding CGI-Quality) saying the 360 is a BIG failure in Japan while claiming the PS3 is a success in America.  How the hell you get that?  PS3 is only ahead of the 360 by only 2 million in Japan while losing big in America with over 8 million.  I think the 360 is more of a success story in Japan then PS3 in America.

      I would say that in the US Japanese developed multi-plats are more likely to sell more on the 360.  However, in Europe they are more likely to sell more on the PS3 or for there to be a tie between the two.  However, when a big Japanese exclusive like FFXIII or Versus FFXIII come along in Japan they are likely to get one to 2 million sales that the 360 doesn't get.  FFXII had 2.42 Million sales in Japan on PS2.  The PS3 versions of REV and SFIV have still sold more worldwide than the 360 versions.