Will it make a lasting effect? Absolutely not. All of these games will be release on the ps3 and JP will buy it.

None of these games will sell well anywhere esle but japan so i dont understand this closed door dealings. O well when these fail even microsoft will stop paying for exculsive JRPGS.

When they release on ps3 later and sell double they will no where to put HD JRPGs.

Good job MS for trying in JP but it wont do anything intill they get full support from most JP companies..... and with 600k install base the sales wont really turn them.

I think it'll actually have more of an impact than some people think simply because there will be a steady stream of major RPG releases at the end of this year.  This is different from before where there was a major release and then nothing for months to help keep or build momentum.

Tales of Vesperia
-Aug 2008

Infinite Undiscovery
-Sept 2008

Last Remnant
-Winter 2008

Fable 2
-Winter 2008

Mass Effect
-Winter 2008 

Also on top of that is Star Ocean 4 being announced as coming for the Xbox 360 and being at least a timed exclusive for the system.  That announcement could help make the system look even more attractive for people looking at the system this Fall/Winter.

@ Legend
not one of those games will sell more then 200k lifetime in japan. each can sell almost a mil n ps3.

After this run fails there will be no more JRPGS to fund lol.

That sounds more like wishful thinking than anything.  If MS thinks that JRPGs are important to its long term strategy, then there will be plenty more JRPGs on the Xbox 360.  It seems like the Xbox 360 is the best console if you like JRPGs for this generation (except, of course, the DS).

Another "WTF" move by Microsoft. SO series, very niche outside of Japan, it might sell a few thousands more consoles for Microsoft, it will do absolutely nothing for it in Japan.

Could this money to buy time-exclusivity be better spent? Absolutely. European Market is still up for grab, why is M$ wasting so much money in Japan, a place that has clearly rejected xbox?

 To be fair, he's talking about SQUARE ENIX here, not just some JRPG developer that few outside of the internet know of.

Anyway, I think Star Ocean will sell very well (for the 360), probably 150,000 or 200,000, with maybe 40,000 consoles moved.  After that, maybe an increase of 3-400 a month

i think japanesse are xenophobic and that's why the xbox does not succeeds there,
a friend bough a Japanese wii and is the only wii that cant change language, so that convinced me that they really are xenophobic

Dno,

Your statement is rather fanboy-ish, and incredibly stupid, not based on any sort of reasonable logic or analysis.

 The Playstation 3 (if you haven't noticed) is doing very poorly in Japan. Not as bad as the 360, but still getting it's rear end handed to it on a silver platter. 0 Playstation 3 games have performed upto any sort of decent level of sales. So if this is the trend, then why are you randomly expecting given RPGs to sell well above the level of every other Playstation 3 game? 

Don't get me wrong, the PS3 version of a given RPG would sell better than the 360's version in Japan. But to assume that a game that'd do 200k on the 360, would do 1m on the PS3 is absolute garbage, and destroys the purpose of this website (after all, you didn't bother looking at PS3 sales before posting, did you?)

Lets take a look at Playstation 3 games, shall we?

Disgaea 2 (PS2): 150,000+ Units

Disgaea 3 (PS3): 105,209 Units (selling under 700/wk) 

Dynasty Warriors 5 (US Name): 910,000+ Units

Dynasty Warriors 6 (US Name): 410,000 Units

We could keep playing this game. Nevertheless, PS3 games aren't living up to PS2-like sales. So why should we randomly expect RPGs to sell at near-PS2 levels on the PS3? Won't happen.

Kingofwale - What would MS buy in Europe to make it compete better? The price drop has had a huge effect on the market, and has made Microsoft (somewhat) viable in the market..Methinks that MS should focus on Japan a little bit, and then drop the price in the US for a huge win.  

Because Japan has also rejected Playstation 3.  That market is up for grabs for the HD consoles, and overall, the Wii has the PS3/360 so crushed that the race for first is all but over.  Now on to the cripple race.