Reasonable said:
I doubt the 360 will see many boosts from game launches now. For anything multi-plat the PS3 is more likely to get the boost, and with the whole blow-up around ToV, etc. I suspect any future 360 jRPG exclusives will be met with caution unless they are very clearly really exclusive. Aside from that nothing in the pipeline for the 360 seems likely to appeal in Japan. (EDIT - maybe Natal, but I think it's going to arrive too late after Wii and by then PS3 will have similar system with EyeToy & Wands so I doubt it will help 360 in Japan much either). MS gave it a very good push, and the 360 has done well to clear 1M in Japan, but I think with the PS3 Slim in place, and a steady flow of titles now arriving on PS3 the 360 is now going to remain way behind PS3 and Wii in weekly sales for the rest of this gen in Japan. Still, every week's 2K to 4K increases the install base overall, so I doubt MS will be too upset because at the end of the day they at least made a bit of an impression this gen instead of simply floating face down in the water (in Japan obviously, before someone slams me with US sales). |
Well MS is having savage cut backs, last-gen they were very willing to try new IPs, this gen they were doing okay until about last year. Even games like Magna Carta 2, Forza 3 and most likely NNN2 didnt or will not get proper marketing. Also, a Mistwalker game couldve been ready for this year, buts its obvious the cut backs have something to do with it. After all, its MSs only proven weapon for Japan, and even Lost Odyssey which didnt get the massive push like ToV/BD/SO4 etc did went onto sell very well.
The reason those games didnt do well past their first day is that the vast majority of 360 owners have PS3s. Weve seen it before, but with BIGNAME franchises like Tekken, the 360 doesnt sell 1 copy for every 3 sold on PS3, however with most other multiplats, we see the 360 actually holding on quite well as even seen with Bayonetta.
Whatever it is, i think multiplats will help the 360 give it some long term sales there, and i think that if they can hold on to 3-4k for the rest of the generation theyve done well for themselves. However, theyll need big exclusives once in a while to keep momentum. I mean if they can get it to be seen as a cheaper PS3, but also with a lineup of its own games, it wont do so badly.
Unfortunately though, like the rest of the world, MS is resting too much on Natal, and its a wildcard, and even then, if it succeeds itll only help the 360 limp along instead of dieing out.
