The REAL Reason for Poor Japanese X360 Sales.

[fooflexible]

With poor X-box and X360 sales many people keep asserting that Japan simply won't buy an American console. I figured it's high time to clear up this false notion by looking at the facts. Ipod is a huge success in Japan. If the notion that Japan only buys Japanese products was true, Sony's mp3 players and such would be the number one seller, not Ipod, yet Ipod is kicking butt. And it's not just the Ipod, it's Coca-cola that's out selling Kirin and Asahi colas. They're eating at McDonalds, they're wearing Levis. They watch more American movies then Japanese; they listen to American bands as much as they listen to Japanese bands. In fact the real kicker is that that they already are using Microsoft's very own software all over Japan (Windows, Office, etc..) So America is not the problem. Microsoft isn't even the problem. And that just leaves two other candidates: The Product, and the Marketing. If you look at the product its clear from the get go that it was never geared toward the Japanese audience. DOA was the only prospect the Japanese had. Even myself who owns a 360 I'm quite a bit disappointed in how little variation there is in the 360's line-up. Yet there is a lot of positive elements to the system. It's price for the graphics is good, despite the line-up at launch it now has far more to offer the Japanese. So why is it still selling poorly? Marketing. Marketing controls audience perception, and that requires a significant understanding of that audience. Microsoft couldn't expect to release Blue Dragon, announce Lost Odyssey and expect all to be well. Their problem with marketing goes back to the original X-box they time and time again told the Japanese public that the X-box was for America and not for the Japanese, for example the X-box World Collection was a series of games released in Japan, they were literally the American game in all English and no means of translation. What's that all about? I know Japan has picked up quite a bit of English but still. A lot of Americans know Spanish, what would you think if a bunch of games came out in Spanish? You'd feel like it was a product designed for the Hispanic community, that they were not intent on focusing on you as a customer. So the system needs not to just have a few good exclusives it needs to look like it was designed for you, like they are dedicated to the Japanese audience. Now look at their Japanese commercials: Here is a 2007 Ad, and it looks awful what's with everyone dancing? Granted I'm American, and I know much of Japanese ads are crazy(seen many through fansubbed anime) but this one in my opinion is just bad. YouTube Commercial 1 Here is another lame ad from last year, it seems they've attempted to use a pop band to gain the attention of the Japanese gamer. Summer 2006 Do Do Do Ad Now to make a comparison here is a Nintendo ad:(which In my opinion is a great ad): Nintendo Japanese ad You can see there is something great missing from the x360 ads, it fails to come across as convincing. I think they need something wild and creative, that also takes a moment to show off the games that matter in Japan, something that shows they're there for the long haul. As of yet they still seem to be missing that. Hopefully with Eternal Sonata and Long Odyssey they get a new ad campaign, that goes further to connect the X360 with the Japanese market.