The issue was that the Japanese would of gladly recieved the orig. Xbox had it been a little nicer looking, and had more Japanese fare.
The Xbox 1 did rather well the first 3 months on the market, selling over 300,000 units (give or take). Which was pretty impressive.
The issue is, aside from the initial launch, everything else sucked: it had no games, and got a very bad image due to the crappy design of the big black box.
Fast forward to a sleeker, better X360, and it still faces a bad battle because the predicessor was so nasty. Had Microsoft of launched with the 360 (in terms of games, and design), I think Microsoft could of carved a good, 3-5m LTD userbase in Japan for the Xbox 1, and woulda well been on their way to fighting Sony tooth and nail for #2 in Japan.
The 360 has seen good succuess when it has good games, but it still has marketing and brand nightmares: The people love the innovations of the Wii, and the brand name appeal of the PS3. Hardcore gamers like the 360, but it has yet to woo over core gamers in Japan. Fortunately, the Multi-Platform lineup has kept the 360 viable this year with Armored Core, Devil May Cry, and even last year's Sangoku Mousou 5, but the 360 needs more.
The 360's last hurrah is this year. If it can show positive gains this year (200k+), I think the 360 stands a good chance of setting a positive precident for the next Xbox in Japan. It won't have the horrid image of the Xbox #1, and will atleast of had the positive backing of good J-Devs like Capcom, Namco, and Mistwalker.
But I wonder how the next 3 years will transpire: MS still seems intent on wooing J-Devs like Nippon Ichi, and now we believe that MS keeps signing time-exclusive deals like with Tales of Vesperia. So this year will be exciting. I keep updating my weekly analysis of the 360 and Xbox's sales in Japan. It's trending OK this year, but not fantasic (similar to 2006 + about 20%). Big question is if NG2 and TOV can get the 360 to break 7.5 or 10k/wk in Japan.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
