Does the 360 need Japan?

[god-of-gamblers]

There will be no 'hollow' victory for Nintendo. They don't need to dominate the entire market to make a ton of money, yet they are about to pass Microsoft despite releasing their console a year later. A hollow victory for Nintendo would be the last generation, where the Gamecube was profitable for Nintendo but not as successful as they probably hoped.

Any major market 'matters', in terms of adding to your totall install base. The more owners, the more games can be sold to them. If Microsoft sold 100 million consoles in USA and 0 in Japan, Japanese devs would still develop for Xbox.

There is divergence between regions, as different regions favor certain types of games. But there are also the big sellers that appeal to all gamers. But gamers' preferences determine what developers make, not what Microsoft or any other company wants to do (breaking off chunks or whatever, which doesn't really make sense.) Microsoft can of course play to their strengths, but that is already reflected in the games that are avaiable and being developed for the XBox (or any console for that matter.)