| damndl0ser said: Well, at first I would say there isn't much that Microsoft could do to change things in Japan that they haven't already tried to do. Japan is a very finicky country with weird tastes and wants. But with the recent TGS, lines were over 2-3 hours long for Kinect and that shows me that at the very least Kinect has some of the Japanese peoples interest. I would imagine that if Kinect doesn't push 360 games in Japan, nothing will. Kinect is going to be very quirky and this is something that the Japanese people may jump behind. So while I don't think it will make a huge difference. I do believe it will help with overall sells.
People blame RROD, lack of exclusive rpg titles, and a few other things for reasons why the 360 isn't succeeding in Japan, and I say they are wrong. Microsoft really has tried to cater to the Japanese people this entire generation and they just don't want to have any of it. Its sort of like trying to sell an American car in Japan, it just isn't going to happen. So I do believe that at least with gaming and cars the Japanese people are xenophobes. Other than Iphones and Ipods what else thats "American" do the Japanese people really dig? No I am not calling the Japanese people racists. |
Racism implies a belief in your race's superiority over all others and explicit verbal interactions against other races. This is not the word to use concerning Japanese and video games.
I would use the term xenophobic, which one can cogently argue the Japanese most certainly are when it comes to consoles and video game software developed outside of Japan. Just look at the Japan pre-order charts, how many non-Japanese developed games do you see? Furthermore, how many million plus sellers in the West and everywhere else do you see selling in comparable numbers in Japan? Good luck googling that.
My opinion, Microsoft should stick to what they are doing and forego the Japanese market entirely for Brazil, China (when they allow consoles to be sold as they are currently banned) and India instead. Much larger populations in up and coming emerging markets, thus forth no need to cater to the Japanese crowd. Save the catering for Nintendo and Sony.
