JP 360 price drop is moving consoles

[MontanaHatchet]

mrstickball said:

MontanaHatchet said:

mrstickball said:

dbot said:

selnor said:

dbot said:
So the 360 is supply constrained in Japan, and Microsoft cuts the price? Poor marketing or is someone not being truthful?

 To inform you, the 360 will have a big shipment on 11th. Seems M$ need to make sure they send more 360's to Japan regularly now. Seems to me Price cut is in tie with the big shipment.

Thanks for the information.  The 360 moved 860 units in Japan last week.  I hope that shipment isn't too big.

It seems that it's a large shipment - Microsoft has had 3 weeks to send new units to Japan. Why do you hope the shipment isn't too big? Afraid that it may start selling well, and beat out the inferior PS3?

 

Wow Stickball, even I have to stand in awe of that trolling. It's not even stealthy.

Anyways, if the only evidence this man has of the 360 selling well is that he saw 4 people buy a 360...call me unimpressed. I was in a Best Buy for an hour during the Halo 3 craze, and I only saw 2 people buy a 360. From that, I could infer that Infinite Undiscovery and the 360 price drop in Japan is going to move more consoles than the Halo 3 launch. I'd like to see you prove me wrong, unless you went to a store in Japan and saw 1 person buying a 360.

 

My whole point was (which I should of fleshed out more) was/is that Sony really isn't trying as hard as Microsoft or Nintendo in Japan. Both the X360 and PS3 are in dire straits: Horrible sales, no momentum after big games, ect.

Sony does.......What? Wait for a few big IPs in hopes they work? Wait for X360 RPGs to go Multi-Plat?

While on the other hand, Microsoft buys up every 3rd party game that could cater to the Japanese audience (within financial reason), and at least attempts to woo the market away from the big N.

 

Of course, neither company is doing what Nintendo is: Actually understanding the market. Nintendo is obviously catering to the Japanese user base more than anyone, while MS steals the Otakus away from the Playstation, and Sony gathers up the 2nd place scraps, gamecube style.

 

And look at what that has does for Microsoft. They win the occasional "once in a blue moon" week over their competitor who isn't trying nearly as hard. Look at how much money Microsoft is pouring into Japan. Buying off developers, dozens of price drops, bundles...and this is the best they can do? Brand name is definitely part of it, but in the end, it's pretty much hopeless for Microsoft in Japan.

As for Nintendo, they've managed to appeal to the market everywhere. Look at how The Big N is slaughtering the competition in PAL and America. They've managed to appeal to each market with relatively the same games. As for the "Otakus," how significant are they? Not that I know the definition, because no site can give me a clear one. The "Otaku" crowd is growing increasingly small and while that insignificance doesn't seem to matter to Microsoft, it matters to Nintendo, who you mentioned actually understands the market.

By the way, Sony gathering up the "2nd place scraps" is better than Microsoft, who has to feed on the 3rd place scraps, just like his older brother had to do last generation. I wonder how it must feel for Microsoft if no matter what they do, Japan won't accept them and they'll never have even the slightest bit of market significance there. Laugh all you want, but at least Sony has the PSP.