daroamer said:
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It's not style its brand and the bigger brands that matter. Sure, 360 got a boost from getting some early timed exclusives but once the game was up that they were timed and the big franchises like FF were exclusive that was it for jRPGs, for example. It didn't have MGS or Gran Turismo.
My point - for others asking same thing 'cause I'm not going to post multiple replies - is that the 360 has less games they want, with less titles from big franchises, and too many games they don't want - like Halo, etc. vs the PS3 in the region.
Tales, Star Ocean are all multi now and the only real 360 exclusives for the region are small. Consider that vs Metal Gear solid being exclusive (up to now), Final Fantasy (at launch) being exclusive, Gran Tourismo being exclusive and so on.
So if I'm in Japan why should I get 360 for say Blue Dragon and miss Final Fantasy? Or get 360 for Forza and miss Gran Turismo. Add to that brand perception favours the PS3 (but not due to origin country but historic franchises/titles), the fact I understand paying for Live doesn't compute locally in Japan and the 360's known franchises/reputation is Western centric (Halo, CoD, Gears, etc) and the result is obvious. Factor in that historically the 360 had a poor reputation for reliability and the console just doesn't seem appealing for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with it being from a US company.
Brand and image are what count - something MS know and covered well in US/Europe to see big growth from Xbox, but Japan has eluded them. I thought when Tales, etc. was exclusive 360 might gain a true foothold but it's clear to me that once it became clear locally that they were timed exclusives and it looked like all major franchises would be available on PS3 too that was the end. Failing to have FFXIII at launch was also a huge blow for 360 in the region, plus the fact MGS had already launched on PS3.
I'd agree than in principle 360 has plenty of titles for Japan, but it doens't have the biggest ones nor they key franchises nor the right brand image. However, none of this has to do with it being from US. It could be from Japan but if all else was equal - image of being FPS centric, Halo / CoD centric, missing key franchises at launch like MGS4 and FFXIII, unreliable, etc. then it still wouldn't sell.
The arguement the 360 has titles reversed would imply that the PS3 should be more accepted in the US - after all it has great titles in all genres, arguably similar features at a better price (free PSN vs paid for Live) yet is sells less than 360. Because its Japanese? No, because 360 has better brand perception currently and more popular franchises such as Halo.
Which is why the whole "it's the fact it's a US console" is a myth regarding 360 in Japan. It just launched with a weak brand, failed to get key franchises when it mattered most, wasn't reliable enough at the right time and couldn't shake of a brand image deliberately pushed by its own company and now it's so far behind it's unlikely anything (includig Kinect) can reverse the trend.
EDIT: let's put it this way, if I argued that PS3 has Killzone, Resistance, etc but not Halo and that you should swap from 360 to PS3 would you? That's the question for 360 in Japan. Would you swap from Gran Turismo to Forza, would you swap from Final Fantasy to Blue Dragon? If you are US based and won't swap from 360 to PS3 to get similar but less popular franchises in popular genres why should you expect the Japanese to swap to suit your tastes? Just as you might prefer Halo to Killzone they prefer Gran Turismo to Forza. That's just the way it is and that's why the PS3 is more popular than the 360.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
