Why Did Xbox 360 Fail in Japan?

[kain_kusanagi]

theprof00 said:

kain_kusanagi said:

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.

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/blog.php?b=652

It's simply not true. Maybe in one or two locally owned stores, yes, but likely those stores are just pandering, not setting the tone.

As far as getting the Japanese to like western games, yes, that will be a problem, because they have different taste. Again, look back at Fifa in America. .7m compared to 5m in Europe. Fifa is an amazing franchise. Who do I blame here? Nobody, because there is nobody to blame and it's onyl the culture that is not really into soccer.

As for why we enjoy Japanese games, maybe that just says more about the Japanese ability to reach multiple markets than it does about our ability to accept foreign products. Many foreign companies enjoy success in Japan, but they really have to tailor the product.

Edit: also, the word you're likely talking about is "gaikokumono" which just means foreign product, though in English we would say shit, because the translation is "stuff".

Yet that's is not how my Japanese college friend describes it.

Your sports analogy isn't as accuret many would assume. Every sport has it's region. Soccer is more popular outside of the USA, but it really is the only sport that has world wide fanship. Most sports are as tied to their culture of origin as brands of beer. But we are talking about a ball game. Reduce soccor down to it's basics and it sounds a lot like football's basics. Get the ball to the other side of the field. In that regard sports games are popular everywhere.

Video games should appeal universaly in Japan like they do in the rest of the world. Why are the Japanese the only ones that don't want to play the rest of the world's games? My Japanese friend and the respected gaming industry veteran Keiji Inafune agree. The Japanese don't want to play foriegn games because they only want stuff made in Japan.

It took a decade for Japan to catch on to what the rest of world was enjoying in Apple's iPhone. But it finaly happened. Maybe the Nextbox will be able to do what Apple finaly did. I don't know. The Japanese have to be willing to try something new and keep an open mind to having fun regardless of the products country of origin. Keiji Inafune seems to think that it will be a difficult mountain to climb even though he likes the Xbox and enjoyed western games himself. He knows Japanese culture and he believes they aren't buying the stellar western games because they aren't Japanese.