| RolStoppable said: I think the HD consoles were rejected in Japan mainly because they didn't offer enough new gaming experiences and games suited for the Japanese market. The gameplay is mostly still identical with 6th gen games and on top of that a large number of games are made with the western markets in mind (reduced risk for developers, going for the largest audience possible). Price and the physical size of the hardware are factors, but they are minor issues compared to the actual games lineup. Due to the games libraries of the HD consoles being very western centric, a similar decline in hardware sales in America and Europe is unlikely. Right now it seems like America is choosing 360 and Europe is choosing PS3, because due to a similar lineup in games and high prices there is not much incentive for most gamers to own both systems. 360 is serving the American tastes better, PS3 has the advantage in Europe with part of it being brand loyalty. |
I think this is a very important point.
The original Xbox wasn't popular in Japan for a variety of reasons, including being physically massive, having a huge amount of shootan games/other primarily Western genres, and a heavy emphasis on online play, something Japan simply doesn't care about.
The 360 is an original Xbox on steroids. More graphics, better online, more shooters etc. A serious attempt was made at getting some of the primarily Japanese genres aboard, and sales have been a lot better than those of the original box, but still pretty weak.
The problem with the PS3 is that it's trying very hard to be another 360, and even though it exceeds the competition in some areas, in doing so has strayed far from the winning formula that made the first two Playstations so succesful.
