Why Did Xbox 360 Fail in Japan?

[kain_kusanagi]

theprof00 said:

kain_kusanagi said:

I have a college buddy who's native Japanese and lives near Tokyo. I asked him once why Japanese gamers don't play Xbox. He told me straight up that the Japanese pretty much consider western games to be garbage. He said video game stores stock western games in bins labeled "foriegn shit".

Can you imagine that happening in the USA? Of course not. We love Japanese games as well as games from any country. How is it that western games like Halo can be so popular in evey part of the world EXCEPT Japan? While in college my Japanese friend played Halo with us. He wasn't good at first but he got better and loved it. But he was the type that wanted to try American things and see as much of the USA before going back. From what he's told me I don't think he represents the majority of Japan. The majority seem to agree with how Keiji Inafune so gently puts it. They don't want it if it isn't Japanese. Hopefully one day they will open their hearts to the amazing games that they are missing. Untill then MS will just have to bite the bullet and continue to futily support the Japanese market so they can secure the best Japanese games for the rest of the world.

So, in your opinion, Japanese did not support Xbox because the xbox did not have enough japanese games, right? So then what's so perplexing about Japanese gamers? Think about it like football and soccer. Football sells better in American and Soccer in Europe. Why would you put a console out in Europe and expect people to buy football games? Why would you even think this is narrow minded?

Tell me, do you play games like monster-hunter, bullet-hell games like ikaruga or perfect cherry blossom, dragon quest, final fantasy, hot shots games? How about visual novels? Little Busters? Tsukihime? Touhou? What about DBZ, One Piece, Pokemon, Animal Crossing? Do you play any of these?

EDIT: Just noticed this line "We love Japanese games as well as games from any country". Umm no. We like what suits our TASTE - no matter where it's from.

No, what I find perplexing is that the Japanese are the only major gaming market that turns their nose at the great games that the rest of the world loves.

For your information I do like some of the games you listed as well as anime and manga. I own Ikaruga on Dreamcast and several Final Fantasy games as well as countless other Japanese published games. I have yet to play Monster Hunter, but I plan to get one to try out. It looks cool. I'd say I probalby own more Japanese developed games and other media than western stuff, with the exception of Hollywood films. I own more manga than comics. I own more anime than cartoons. I own more Japanese games than Western games.

My Japanese friend and Keiji Inafune seem to agree that you will have a hard time finding a Japanese gamer counterpart to a gamer like me. For pete's sake, the dump awsome games like Halo and Assassin's Creed into bins labled "foreign shit".

Of course there is going to be differences in taste. But good games should sell anywhere gamers guy good games. Japanese gamers don't want it if it's foriegn, they don't give it a chance. There's a difference between playing a game and not caring for it and refusing to play it because it's foriegn.