Lolcislaw said:
MontanaHatchet said:
Lolcislaw said:
360 did very well overall in Japan, i mean it is an american product directed at a very narrow group of consumers yet it sold more then 1.2 milion in its lifetime, outselling its predecessor considerably. You have to put Xbox 360 into context while discussing Japanese Market.
As for the future? There will surely be another Mistwalker game this generation, that will surely sell well, and who knows maybe they will get some extra JRPG's soon. Japan was never a priority for MS |
No, that's not putting it in context. That's just damage control. The 360 has done terribly in Japan no matter how you put it.
The 360 launched before the PS3 and Wii in Japan. Microsoft got tons of JRPG exclusives (Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4, Lost Odyssey, etc.), and even dropped their console to really low prices. They spent tons of money to not only wins the hearts and minds of Japanese developers, but Japanese consumers as well. And it hasn't even outsold the Wonderswan if memory serves (I'm trying to find Vgchartz's shipment information). Besides, Japan was always a priority for Microsoft. They wouldn't have launched their console there, slashed the price heavily, and bought off tons of developers if it wasn't.
If I was Microsoft, I'd try my hardest to win over Japanese developers, and then the gamers will follow. That's Sony did it, and that's how Nintendo did it.
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And all those efforts have tipled original Xbox sales in Japan, ther was never a real chance for MS to outsell Nintendo or Sony, it was about becoming a visible brand there. And it did succed especially among so called "hardcore" gamers because of its JRPG offerings. Maybe they should have tried harder securing game in other genres.
For me they did a decent job in there, "terrible" i think is a bit of a strong word.
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They tripled their sales from the Xbox to the Xbox 360, yes, but their brand is still very much in the realm of irrelevance. It wasn't about outselling the Wii or PS3, it was getting some kind of presence there. They still don't have that. Their software sales in Japan are nothing to brag about (the PS3 has FF13 at 1.7 million, the Wii has Wii Sports at 3.65 million, while the 360 only has Ace Combat 6 at 220k after a big re-release), and the 360's hardware sales are still not anywhere near an area of relevance in Japan.
I don't mean to rag on the 360, because I love the console and I think Microsoft worked really hard in Japan. It's just doing badly there. But like I said, if they work really hard to win over the developers, the games and gamers will follow. Hopefully Natal can help them out in the region.
