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Forums - Sales Discussion - Moore: Sony's Business 'Crumbling' in Japan

 

==> I must admit that this guy is right.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=16809

Moore: Sony's Business 'Crumbling' in Japan

The 360 isn't doing so hot in Japan, but Microsoft's Peter Moore says Sony should be more worried about the PS3's performance in Japan than Microsoft should be about the Xbox. The Xbox exec said that Sony's plan in Japan is "crumbling" right now in the face of Nintendo's Wii.

There's no question that the Xbox business has struggled from the get go in Japan. According to the Famitsu Marketing Data Service, the Xbox 360 has only sold 122,565 units through the first half of the year in Japan. With this data in mind, therefore, it's a bit ironic that Peter Moore, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Interactive Entertainment, should comment on Sony's recent success or lack thereof in the land of the rising sun.

 

 

But comment he did. In an interview conducted at E3 last week, GameDaily BIZ asked Moore about the state of Xbox in Japan and he decided to turn the question on its side, taking aim at his competition. When asked specifically about the importance of Japan to the global console battle, he fired back, "That's probably a better question for Sony who's getting outsold by what, 6-to-1? You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling."

 

He added, "I built a business plan [for Japan], but I don't think my expectations in Japan were anything close to what Sony's expectations are. They are failing. They're missing their plan by much more than I'm missing my plan."

 

Of course, we wouldn't be so bold to say that Sony's business in Japan is "crumbling," but the numbers do show that the Wii (as alluded to by Moore) outsold the PS3 by 6-to-1 during the month of June. The disparity isn't quite as great on a first-half basis. The Wii has sold around 1.78 million units in Japan during the first six months of 2007 compared to just 504K for the PS3. Still, the expectations for the Xbox and Xbox 360 have always been somewhat low in Japan, and certainly Sony could never have thought that their new console would be outsold at such as clip by Nintendo's new Wii.

 

Speaking of business plans, Sony has talked up its so-called 10-year plan for the PS2 and now the PS3 on many occasions. Moore questioned their approach, however.

 

"I'm not sure what their 10-year plan is," he said. "It's like they just said, 'We have a 10-year plan' [and that's it]."

 

Moore envisions the Xbox 360 sticking around a lot longer than the original Xbox, which was abruptly cut off after about 4 years. "I think the plan we have built, that calls for cost reductions in hardware, clearly gives us an advantage in price that actually allows us to get to [lower] price points much sooner than Sony will. They can have a '10-year plan' all they like, but it's executing that plan and getting to the mass market with price points [that matters], and I feel a lot closer to being able to do that than they do right now."

 

He continued, "So we see long-term growth, we see connected entertainment through Xbox Live continuing to grow, the games we have both in depth and breadth feel good... so yeah we've got a plan and it's a long-term plan. Nobody knows how many years; it's easy to say 10 years. Their plan I'm sure is being rejiggered as it is because it was their plan to sell 6 million units during the fiscal year and I don't think they did that."

 

The complete Peter Moore interview (full transcription coming soon) will go into detail on the hardware problems/warranty extension, appealing more to the casual base with the 360, Halo 3 sales, why Rare isn't doing the next Viva Pinata, and more.



Time to Work !

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If only Peter Moore hadn't said such things this might actually be taken seriously ...




explain to me Dolla Dolla plz
I didnt take ur point.
thx

Time to Work !

That was a nice read with the early morning before work coffee, thanks :)



libellule said:


I thought you were a sony fan :p



carlos710 - Capitán Primero: Nintendo Defense Force

"Wii are legion, for Wii are many"

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Moore has a few dumb quotes to hide stupid MS faults, but he's certainly no dummy. He knows whats going on, good and bad, and unfortunately for him - he gets to be the whipping boy for all things stupid by MS.

But either way, his past few interviews where he's been able to speak his mind, have been done very very well.



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

Basically, what Peter Moore says, I believe, is on the mark. Sony is definitely not where they want to be in Japan.

But, Peter Moore doesn't have room to talk when his company is doing considerably worse in Japan. I guess we should give Microsoft a break because they have severely lower expectations? *shrugs*



I think he can say this comment and not like a fool. He knows Japan has never been an area for the Xbox and this has been known for awhile and they are working on fixing it. Meaning it should come at no surprise to MS themselves meaning worrying about it isn't as bad. But Sony struggling there, a prime market for them, is different as they always have done well there and they should be worrying about the lack of their success.

I think he has rights to say this considering the circumstances.



Exactly. MS' business in Japan is hardly crumbling - it's almost exactly what it's been for the last six years.

No one can seriously deny that Sony should be more worried about the Wii's success in Japan. It's not hurting MS any, as they wouldn't have moved many more consoles over there.



The question for Sony is... What are you going to do now, that's different then you already have done to get people in Japan to buy more PS3's and to buy games with the PS3's?

So far we haven't seen Sony's plan to reverse this trend. This years E3 may have had lot's of flash and glitter but if anything it completely left out the stuff that interests people in Japan. I saw a lot of FPS's though... and that's stepping on Microsoft's territory, not Nintendo's.

It seems that we've been getting a lot of news today in favour of the Wii... is this a coincidence? Even Kwaad's post on Wii game sales have shown a huge positive for the system as the Wii has a good attach ratio and it's selling systems like crazy. I think Kwaad forgot his calculator (Sorry Kwaad don't mean to point you out) before he posted the thread and from what I've seen he hasn't quite realized that his thinking has been for the most wrong. Although he did bring up some good points which brought up some good discussions.

So I gotta ask... "What does it all mean?" right now all signs point to a huge Wii success... Does anyone have a time machine?



Prepare for termination! It is the only logical thing to do, for I am only loyal to Megatron.