| Egghead said: I think its great, remember, Sega also struggled and with the Saturn, and then they exploded onto the scene. In fact the MD had a small but dedicated following which gave the system some amazing games. I think the 360 has done well for these reasons. 1. High attach rate, many games are selling very well in general for the system, the userbase has risen hugely and the sales have also gone up with them 2. Has a hardcore following, which again means strong software sales, but its also lead to MANY Western games being released in Japan with many selling better than they wouldve even on the most popular consoles in previous gens. 3. VASTLY improved the image of XBOX in Japan, which will go a long way with the next XBOX. 4. Has maintained interest, i think selling 3-5k weekly for the remainder of the gen is excellent with bumps. Remember, the last XBOX sold 300k in the FIRST YEAR and quickly died away only selling 500k. The 360 sold 100k in its first year, in fact 50k of that came from the first week of Blue Dragon, and yet has continued to sell at a decent pace. MS does need to try harder, many exclusives have come and gone this year after SO4 with little effort. I think MS needs to make the most of Mistwalker, both LO and BD were succesful and now with 1.2 million consoles, they could do REALLY well. They absolutely have to, because FF13 and GT5 will bury the system and it seems MS are only interested in Natal. |
Definitely agree. Never Give Up. Keep at it just like Sega did (ok wait that doesn't sound right because Sega is notorious for prematurely quitting but you get what I mean. lol). The Japanese are not exactly nationalistic. They like western brands over there. It's just a matter of knowing the Japanese market, giving the Japanese what they want and being persistent.
Looking at the Saturn in Japan, I think it's very clear that Microsoft badly needs a first-party push in Japan. Why? Look at the first-party Sega Saturn games that made the top 50 annual charts in Japan from 1995 to 1997) You'll see the word Sega under publishser a whole lot of times on those charts. The strategy worked. In Japan, 1995 was the year of the Saturn (in the 32-bit race). 1996 was when Playstation took the lead but Saturn was still a very close second. Unfortunately In 1997, things started to fall apart for the Saturn (still doing way better than by MS standards in Japan though. lol. 900k hardware in a year is nothing to sneeze at) and in 1998 it was killed off with the Dreamcast. The downfall of the Saturn can be blamed on Sega's really stupid mistakes. Stupid mistakes that go way back to the 16-bit era. They alienated the Genesis/Mega Drive base in Americas and Europe by killing off the console prematurely (I was pissed off back then when it happened and went with Playstation), they alienated the Saturn base in Japan by killing off the console prematurely and they alienated their international fanbase when they ditched the Dreamcast and the hardware business entirely. Three strikes you are out. (Well the Sega CD and 32X could be considered strikes too. It was way too early for CD technology in gaming and the 32X should have never happened) Sega is like that hot crazy girlfriend that treats you like crap.
Man, Sega historically was one hell of a software company. A shame what happened to them but they did it to themselves. When you look at all the first-party software Sega put out, you can tell that this is why Microsoft isn't doing as well in Japan as they can. They need to really push the first-party end HARD. You want to make big progress? Don't half-ass it. Make the big push. Microsoft has tried a lot but Microsoft hasn't tried anywhere near as hard as Sega has even though Sega has a lot less money. Even in the Genesis era, Sega was producing boatloads of first-party games (see Ultimate Genesis Collection for proof).
