Xbox One Probably Screwed In Japan, But Check Your Nationalist Bull**** At The Door

Some people claim that the Xbox fails in Japan because it is a Western product. How much truth is there to this claim?

[Snookies12]

Apple does fine over there... Just throwing that out there. So of course it's not that "it's an American product so they don't like it." I'm not sure what the deal is with Microsoft and Japan, considering the 360 had some JRPG exclusives at first over there. Yet it still didn't succeed for some reason.

[knifefight]

Well it does talk about everything you mentioned ^^;;

It comes down to this: "Are you noticing an unfortunate pattern here? These releases are coming several months, if not years apart. That pattern can't sustain any console at all."
The releases of the system-sellers were few and far between. Then when everything else started going multiplatform, well....

[jc48573]

it's the games. MS keeps shelling out games Japanese people are not interested in.

[RememberThe357]

Well there was some nationalist bias back then. The culture has been changing over the years though, especially with the success of the iPhone. Japanese nationalism is as much of a secret as American nationalism, they love their culture as much as we love ours.

[Baka-akaB]

Before claiming there is nationalism involved , therer should have been proof they were catering to the need of their target public . They dfinitively werent . The 360 didnt launch with blue dragon , lost odyssey , or vesperia , before someone else drop their name . Those games came in quite too late .

It launched with a frickin' fps (perfect dark zero) among other unwanted things

[abzdine]

Xperia Z is the best selling phone since release.
PS4 will be all over the place in Japan and the reason who 360 didn't succeed with all these RPGs is that MS paid to get the game released early and gamers know that when the game releases later on PS3 it will include more content and better graphics (Star Ocean, Tales of...)

[dbjj12088]

Someone reads articles before commenting! /s

[GameSpawn]

Nationalism is part of it and there is no denying it. Apple does well because of it long history of being "artsy fartsy" and the Japanese have fanaticism for everything Apple (it's pretty to them).

Seriously though, Apple's products WORK. The do what they need to do with minimal bullshit. I have always hated Apple for coming off kind of snooty and having blatantly over-priced products, but I am willing to admit that they at least have a really good product.

As far as gaming consoles were:
Nintendo (Japanese Co.)
Sega (Japanese Co.)
Sony (Japanese Co.)

Gaming consoles now:
Nintendo (Japanese Co.)
Sony (Japanese Co.)
Microsoft (American Co.)

Based on the past I wonder which ones the Japanese will favor? Obviously, not the one that has always been portrayed with big red devil horns over them. Not the one with a billionaire that got his billions through shady back stabbing means. Not the one that is currently run by a pompous bald moronic idiot that wouldn't know what the market wanted if they were screaming it directly into his face. Not the one that is spinning around more than a carousel.

Two big things in Japanese culture are the reason for Sony's and Nintendo's dominance in Japan:
Honor and Loyalty
The Japanese have a strong sense of honor and have already established much loyalty for Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft has not given them any reason to gain loyalty from them. Microsoft has had to much consumer distrust from the Japanese (or many others for that matter) to put faith into their products.

[Donnieboi]

I'm American, and I still prefer Japanese games. Well the few that make it to the west, and didn't try to pimp itself out by over-westernizing itself (like resident evil 5 & 6 -_-)

[nukeitall]

Nationalism BS?

This is Japan, the most nationalistic country in the world.

If there is a product that is equivalent or similar enough made in Japan, they will pick that first. Honor and loyalty is exactly that, to their own country!

The only way MS would succeed there is if, Nintendo and Sony seize to exist.

Get educated!

http://www.japantimes.co.jp...

The fact of the matter is Japan, unlike many other countries still face strong nationalism issues which makes them overall much more sensitive to staying with their own country.

The constant threat of China and Korea. Did you know for instance that American cars sell extremely well in China, because the Chinese remember what the Japanese did to them?

Ask a Japanese what kind of TV they got! Is it Korean?

[knifefight]

So you're taking newsbits about extremists who dislike a country with whom Japan has a very longstanding feud, and you're trying to make it reflect the whole country? Nice try, but no dice on this one, champ.

That would be like someone looking at America's annual public gun massacre and saying that the whole country is a bunch of gun-toting crazy people. It would be like trying to paint all of Germany as racists hate mongers because of the lingering remnants of the Nazi party. You could take a look at North American groups like the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church and write the exact same news story you posted. Same goes for the "Tea Party" that thinks the US has a Muslim Terrorist president. Do those groups accurately reflect the Unites States? Of course not.

http://www.peopleofcolororg...

So how about checking your nationalist BS at the door?

[Trunkz]

"Microsoft is likely to lose the Japanese portion of the console war, but it's got nothing to do with the address of its home office."

Yeah, it's crappy pricing compared to the PS4 is one of it's biggest weakness, especially around Christmas time, that extra $100 can easily buy you a game or an extra controller for PS4.

[wishingW3L]

this guy clearly has no idea about the huge advantage the X360 had in Japan and it still lost. The X360 was cheaper, it was smaller and its Japanese library of games was way bigger than the PS3's or Wii's for years to come. It was more than just Vesperia, Odyssey and Blue Dragon, the X360 had many more exclusive Visual Novels like Stein;Gate, Manic Shooter like Donpachi and many other games that never made it out to the West like IdolM@ster. The author of this piece should make a better research next time.

[Narutone66]

Yeah, but you just can't ignore the infamous RROD. Asian people specially Japanese don't put up with things that easily broke.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I recall the PS2 having a bunch of disc drive issues but that didn't stop it from dominating in Japan.

[worldwidegaming]

once you make a big mistake like that you will see lots of bowing and saying sorry. we all know America does not deal in "Sorry"

[jetlian]

japan didnt want to buy it simple as that. They didnt want to make games for it unless MS paid for it. Blue dragon sold like crap on 360 when compared to ds version which came out later!

xbox original oh its to big. ps3 was bigger oh japanese house hold got bigger to accommodate/s

xbox 360 rrod yet ps1 and 2 had high failure rates only thing was internet wasn't big enough to a mass a lot of attention

now its ps4 is cheaper yea and when 360 was 1-2 hundred cheaper didnt matter lol

now its ps4 is more powerful and will get better MP games. When 360 was getting the better MP it didnt matter!!

they dont want to buy it simple as that

[HammadTheBeast]

Actually, Japanese devs made no games for the Xbox 360.

[hankmoody]

Blue Dragon? Bayonetta? Come on, man.

[Belking]

BS.

[Baka-akaB]

Almost all of those games werent there when it launched . And some of those catered to an even more fringe niche , like those schmups .

And it's not as if the game you mentioned werent successful , when they came out . For the most part they had success .

[swerve121]

Its just like there cars and such you'll never see no one driving a Cadillac in Japan. They believe alot in there own stuff. Because the Xbox is a American product going against a Japanensse 1 they will never support it. The iPhone does good because small and works for people who travel from Japan 2 America.

[worldwidegaming]

Now we are getting somewhere!
This is the case in most of Asia. The Japanese that I have met and talked with in Yodobashi kamera told me they do not want to buy American game systems."they said NOTHING about games.
They prefer to support their home console. Even if Microsoft and various companies cater to such a small country as japan, risk will be too great.
The Apple argument is all people can say
"comparing a smart phone to a console does not make sense and if you think so apple has a new controller coming out!"

[Baka-akaB]

It is far more irrelevant and arbitrary to claim that , with a product that has yet to cater to tastes being ignored (or a better one) . Such case simply hasnt presented itself . When you'll have that , then you guys will have a serious point .

Meanwhile Apple and few other examples are still the proof US product can sell fine on their soils

[GraveLord]

Xbox doesn't fail because it is a western product, it fails because it fails to appeal to the Japanese gamer while Playstation and Nintendo have been appealing to Japanese gamers for years. They know what they want, Microsoft doesn't.

[Angeljuice]

@swerve121

You won't see a Cadillac anywhere outside America, because they are crap. American cars are poor quality, cheaply made and use outdated technology (some new 'muscle' car's still use the same type of suspension lifted from the horse and cart for goodness sake (leaf springs on mustangs etc)).

Ford's sell well internationally because they are completely different to the models you get in America.

I'm English and would always veer towards Japanese tech over American tech simply because its generally much better quality. There are exceptions, like Apple, but they tend to be overpriced.

[swerve121]

I must agree they do have alot of better tech. But if the US had better tech they still would support it. And thats just keeping it real

[Angeljuice]

I'm not so sure about that.
I know I may be taking the car analogy too far but British cars like Jaguar, Range Rover, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce and Bentley all have a strong market in Japan, as do the German Marques like Mercedes, BMW and Audi. Ferrari and Lamborghini do well for the Italian manufacturers.

The reason for this is quality. The Japanese make high quality, mass produced products better than anyone, so to break into their marketplace you need to show them something they can't do better themselves. Then they can't get enough of it.

[TheKingslayer]

I'm sorry. Japan has never accepted most American brands. Many have tried, worked with all types of credible people in Japan to shape content, games, and products. Unless a trend happens, or some cult fandom. Xbox as American made product will not succeed. There have been many games released in Japan for, by Japanese developers.

The Xbox 360 is a great console. Lost Odyssey wasn't just a random JRPG. It's one of the best games released this generation in terms of quality. The Japanese, and those that support the argument that Microsoft does not cater to them. Can no longer hide behind that argument. It's nationalism, and it's time we all accept that as a fact.

[swerve121]

Glad to see someone else has common sense. They could give you the system free and all you have to do is buy games and they still wont support it.

[Hicken]

They support stuff that's worthy of supporting. Not too many companies over there pulling a Microsoft and getting away with it.

[MikeMyers]

Even the iPod took longer to gain traction in Japan. Sony's MP3 player was still outselling the iPod in Japan while the rest of the world jumped on the bandwagon.

As far as gaming devices go good luck trying to compete with Nintendo or Sony over there.

I imagine PES sales dominate in Japan compared to FIFA sales even though the rest of the world favors FIFA now. Same with Forza and Gran Turimso.

What is interesting is countries outside of Japan are probably more likely to buy JRPG's than Japan gamers are with regular RPG's even if they are translated. I don't think it's to do with quality but rather xenophobia.

[knifefight]

Re: "Sony's MP3 player was still outselling the iPod in Japan while the rest of the world jumped on the bandwagon."

Hahaha, it's like the whole middle of the article was written just for MikeMyers.

[swerve121]

Hey @GraveLord did you forget that Playstation and Nintendo are Japaneses systems? Our country lets people be free on what system they wanna support and so on. Try crap in Japan talking about freedom and see what happens

[worldwidegaming]

Japan is sure not America! "No dance after 12am friend!" WTF? you telling me I cant dance anymore, but I did it last week!?
Yeah, people believe the rules are the same everywhere. Look at Samsung and Apple fighting all over the world. you can start to see a trend.
Why would Japanese bother buying? games!?
You have people in America already pre-ordering for stuff we really do not know is any good. But we are hyped right!?
(we are still getting tricked on CGI and trailers!)