If the image doesn't work, feel free to view it here: http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/829/xboxjqa5.jpg

At any rate, I figured there might be a few people wanting a more in-depth look at the succuess and failure of the Xbox and Xbox 360 in Japan. As we can see, the X360 had a horrid start in Japan, failing to match Xbox's 2003 numbers as of now (but eventually overtook the Xbox's numbers later in the year). Whereas the X360 has nearly surpassed both years combined.

I think the main reason the X360 is doing so much better is the mere fact that the software is available and decent. Blue Dragon, Armored Core, Gears of War, Idol Master, Trusty Bell, and others have been able to push the software very well. For the first Xbox, you can see that when the games were there, so were sales. N3 for X360 last year was big also.

Argh its too small. Click the link for a better, full-sized pic.

Looks like X360 is doing slightly better than Xbox. It might even reach 1 mil... Eventually ...

Its not doing "slightly" it's beating it 2:1 vs. the Xbox's best year.

There are only 3 weeks the X360 of 2007 was beaten - 2 weeks by Xbox due to DOAX Volleyball, and Dino Crisis, and 1 week by X360 2006 due to N3. That's pretty convincing, since most of the year, the X360 has beaten both combined sales. Not only this, it's "bottom" of sales is around 2050 units, the lowest of the year. This is in stark contrast to Xbox's lowest of 800, and X360's lowest of 1050.

I'll be putting up a total gross sales chart as well, like the one in my avatar to further show how the X360 in Japan is doing quite well.

1m is pretty much a lock, save Microsoft just totally pull out of Japan next year. The X360 will be anywhere from 650-750k by EOY, leaving only 250k needed for 1m...And with an even better year next year as far as releases go (DMC4, poss. Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant, ect), it should do even better next year than this year, as there's even more good software for the X360.

That'd be true if the initial base wasn't so low.  If MS manages to double sales every genenration it'll only take around 25 years to reach market dominance at that rate (ie, with the the Xbox 1800).  That's assuming MS is doubling sales and not merely adding 500k hard core gamers per generation.  Also this is assuming that MS isn't simply selling the 360 to Xbox owners at a much quicker pace, someting suspect is more prevalent in Japan with the obsession to have only the latest electronics.  Time will tell, but one thing that can be said is at least MS is moving in the right direction, unlike Sony, and is in a position to make another go at it next generation.

alb, I understand and agree with that point, about MS only doubling the market. However, the X360 stands in a great position vs. the Xbox, and doesn't look to just double it.

Consider this: The Xbox sold around 300k systems it's first year (March to December), 90k it's second year (Jan-Dec 03), 30k it's third year (Jan-Dec 04), and a measly 15k it's fourth.

That stands in comparison to 70k for December 05 (pitiful, obviously), 200k it's first year (2006), and should stand to hit 350k this year, and seems to have enough steam to garner atleast 300k next year, and so on. It's possible that MS could triple their base there this generation, or more, if sales kept up. Sales have doubled this year vs. last year. What if they doubled, and hit 700k next year, and 1.4m the year after? Possibly unlikely, but again, the 360 is tracking for improved years vs. decreased years like the Xbox had.

I think the 360 will eventually sell around 2m to 2.5m in Japan. Instead of a few games released a month they need to at least triple that, then the sells of the system would double or triple each month.

Reason why Xbox360 is doing better this time around?

Three words: Do! do! do! 

Nice work man!!!
When will you update these numbers?
Monthly or weekly.

 i liked this commercial!

I'll update next week once we get MC data or Oblivion's HW numbers.

But a quick recap on this last weeks data:

MC cited sales of 2,664 units last week. This is in comparison to the X360 (2006)'s sales of 2,246 units, and Xbox (2003)'s 1,239 units.

Total count for the entire year thus far:

Xbox 360 2007: 126,559
Xbox 2003: 69,636
Xbox 2006: 63,896

So the X360 this year has *almost* (within 7,000 units) sold more than both other years combined.

Oblivion should give it a real good boost. With MC tracking 2,664 units sold, I'd say it's likely that the X360 will hit 4,000~5,000 units for the week. This is good, considering the X360 last year sold 1,025 units at that week.