Yeah, you say Japan is a small market now. Wait til the Sony JRPG fans start talking about JRPG sales. They rely mentally upon Japan and you know it.

axumblade

I wouldnt say to no avail, The origional xbox sold 2000 a week in japan, while the xbox 360 since the price drop to 199 last september has been averaging 10,000 a week that is progress, thats a 5x increase in sales from the origional xbox.

the Xbox 360 sold 285,000 after one year in japan, thats 2 times what the origional xbox sold in the same time period.

After 2 years in japan xbox 360 sold 543,000, selling more than 2.5 times more than the origional xbox.

After 3 years in japan the xbox 360 sold 869,000, thats almost 3 times more time than the origionl xbox, so you see each year their increasing their number over the origional xbox.

If Xbox 360 continues to average 10,000 a month for the rest of this year, they will be at 1.5 million by the end of the year.

That would be 3.5 more times than the origional xbox in the same time period,

That would mean the xbox 360 sold 1.5 million versus 400,000 for the origional xbox in the same 4 year time period.

I think as more Japanese {EXCLUSIVES} come to the system, the price drops even further, and word of mouth spreads, the xbox 360 will start selling more than 10,000 per week.

I think the xbox 360 can realistically sell 3.6 million in its life in japan which would mean it sold 9 times more than the origional xbox.

But I think it can sell even more than 3.6 million, possibly 5 million maybe more.

Japan has always been one of the big three (which means it's large enough). This means they are still a focal point of consumption (See Wii sales as well). JRPG's are Japanese oriented RPG's. The Japanese devs need to evaluate where JRPG's are going if they want to hold the attention of JRPG fans in Japan. Nintendo is really doing a number over there. Capcom and Namco are also doing a number in the arcades.

for those saying it's not worth it, it's only not worth it if you only think about this gen. If you are thinking about building up a brand for the future it could be a good investment.

It wasn't worth it and still isn't now.
The XB360 has set an example of how poor big games will sell in Japan if you release them on these consoles.
Typically japanese games are flopping one after another on this console, and even the big guns can't change that.
That's not setting a good precedent at all.
Moneyhatting everyone to release games on your console is not a sustainable business model, especially when your audience keeps shrinking.
I have this feeling that the long term effects will be far worse than what we're seeing now, all of that just for a pitiful short term increase.

Sony moneyhatted before Microsoft. Microsoft is just doing what any powerful corporation would do to get their hands on titles. Someday someone will beat you at your own game. Sony is learning this lesson.

You have the figures ?

S.T.A.G.E.

you tell em man, microsoft is doing exactly what sony did.

Exactly. I don't even want to get started on the most infamous moneyhat of last gen with the four year exclusivity of the GTA franchise.

I'm pretty sure the 360 can't possibly win in Japan against the PS3 now.

1) The 360 pricecut greatly increased sales. Unfortunately, in contrast to US sales after the pricecut, PS3 sales have not really waned and 360 sales are still not strong enough to consistently overwhelm the PS3 sales in Japan. Do you think Microsoft is willing to shell out another drastic pricecut in the near future?

2) If a game is multiplatform on the PS3 and 360, the 360 version almost always gets overlooked especially if there are hardly any differences between the versions. I do not suppose this is going to change any time soon this generation. How can 360 sales benefit from multiplatforms at all?

3) The PS3 still has FFXIII and FFVXIII (both still exclusive in Japan). So far, the 360 has absolutely nothing that is exclusive of the same scale to counter. Maybe this may change in due time. Anyways, the real question is what are the chances that both of those games bomb?