360 to outsell the ps3 again in Japan?

[Lord N]

mrstickball said:

Goddbless said:
A year ago this would have been an easy question but now it actually has merit. Things change so quickly in this industry.

It's not so much that things change quickly, as it is that Microsoft did what was needed to make themselves competitive...Unlike last generation.

It's not that hard for a system to do well in Japan, or any country, really (provided there aren't strange circumstances such as mainland Europe's dislike of the X360 due to their hatred of Microsoft and their quality controls).

If the Playstation 3 had made the same moves - Bought up big 3rd party IPs, made aggressive pricedrops, and marketed properly, they could of been competitive with the Wii, but they didn't. Likewise, if the Wii had done the same, it'd be selling 70,000 a week and not 30,000 a week.

It's all about positioning, and Microsoft is trying to position themselves as the Otaku console in Japan, and not the Playstation 3. And unlike Sony, they are doing a pretty good job at securing a litany of JRPGs, western games, and other niche products that the Wii and PS3 have overlooked.

 

This is so shortsighterd it's not funny.

Buying up third-party IP's really makes little difference. If it mattered, then MS would be on top in every region considering that they've got by far the most money, but instead, they're in 2nd in the US and last in EU and Japan.

Nintendo and Sony don't need to buy up third-party IPs and developers because they already have a presence in Japan. The DS and PSP will most likely end up the #1 and #2 consoles in Japan at the end of the generation. The handhelds are are far more responsbile for the home consoles not lighting up the sales charts in Japan. The Japanese at the moment simply prefer the handhelds more. It's got nothing to do with a lack of money-hatting by Sony and Nintendo. As a matter of fact, all of the money that MS had fed to third-parties for such minimal gains is a big part of the reason that the 360 has failed to turn a consistent profit.

Why is this even in question? After all of the buying of JRPG's, all the 360 has managed to do is outsell a poorly-selling console a few times(the PS3) and outsell the Wii once after it had seen a drop in sales. This alone speaks for more than words can say.