Xbox One sales decline in Japan despite a ¥5000 price drop

ZhugeEX writes: "It’s no secret that there has been a huge shift away from traditional console gaming in Japan. Revenue generated by Mobile games now has a majority share in the Video games market whilst revenue generated by traditional console game sales have dropped considerably."

[SaveFerris]

Xbox One still has Scalebound to release and that might sell some units, and Forza 6 has only just been released in Japan too.

[fermcr]

Unless Microsoft comes out with more games that interest the Japanese, they might as well forget Japan.

Scalebound is not going to be enough...

[Lon3wolf]

They tried that with the 360, it didn't work sadly.

[Gazondaily]

Mate, they need to start handing those out for free. Seriously. AND on top of that build a shed load of Jao games. Only then will it stand a chance there.

[ABizzel1]

@Lon3wolf

The 360 ended up selling over 1 million units thanks to that effort (closer to 2m actually).

That was up from an estimated 500k from the original Xbox, so over 3x sales improvement.

The XBO is on track to sell worse in JP than the original Xbox, so yes they need JP games......That being said you have to begin to wonder when does the payoff come, or when does this become a burden, and honestly I'm @fermcr on this. It's time for MS to ship 100k units to JP each year and call it a generation over there, because there's no coming back.

[breakpad]

even PS4 struggles a bit in Japan and if they dont open up their wallet to build AAA and really money -worthy games i dont see anyone to thrive there ....they say that moblie gaming has conquered all the other types of gaming ..but this is partly true , mobile games thriving because the lack of quality in console games ...in previous gen of consoles we saw only o 2-3 quality Japanese games (MGS4 ,Dragons Dogma, Demon-dark souls...and MH3 on Wii).. all the other cheaply, generic made JRPGs were nt enough to draw the attention of japanese consumers ...with PS4 there is still some hope , but Xone is just hopeless even from X360 they should have stopped Xbox brand releasing consoles and games in that region

[hulk_bash1987]

3 console cycles in and Japanese gamers aren't sold on Xbox. I don't think its Microsofts fault either, Japan just isn't buying into the brand. Scalebound will sell some units, but if The Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon didn't do well for the 360 I doubt it will be any different in the case of Scalebound. That's just my opinion, only time will tell.

[NeckBeardBSMTDweller]

Japanese consumers really are not the target market for the XBOX brand. Yeah it would be nice, but at the end of the day..... it doesn't matter.

[SaveFerris]

I think that's partly true, but it is also that perhaps the Xbox brand seems to appeal to more Western tastes (USA especially). Mobile gaming is becoming more popular too due to changing lifestyles and the cost of gaming, and this isn't just happening in Japan.
Things are changing in the video game world, mobile gaming is continuing to rise, VR gaming is coming soon, and who knows what will happen to the home console in the generation after next?

[BitbyDeath]

Xbox in Japan has the same problem as Vita in America, if you don't show continuous support then of course not many people will buy it.

[bf000777966]

203 units is good enough for them. 2x better than the 100 unit record they hit during summer.

[nunley33]

That was pretty funny, @200 sales doubles their sales lol.

[FallenAngel1984]

Wow that's an insult to injury. Japanese gamers don't want Xbox One at a cheaper, if at all. There's not much that can change its fate

[user9950279]

not really. A better analogy is beating a dead horse.

[Crashbandicoot77]

I'm not surprise especially in Japan

[RAM0N]

Lol

[Crashbandicoot77]

Why didn't the article just say all consoles? Must not be true for Nintendo and Sony

[KiwiViper85]

You are so subtle. Why are you here?

[Spotie]

Why are you?

[KiwiViper85]

Because I'm an Xbox Fan...

Why are you?

[Spotie]

Reading about the industry.

[Wenapee]

Why not read the article?: quote: "The ¥5,000 price cut for the PS4 allowed sales to jump up to 46,177 unit sales for the week which makes it one of the best selling weeks this year for the PS4"

[Software_Lover]

Why does this get posted? How about post when Xbox sales in Japan go above expectations.

obvious is obvious

[ZhugeEX]

Well usually you'd expect a price cut to increase demand. In this case it didn't happen.

[Software_Lover]

It's Japan. It's Xbox one.

[Why o why]

Lol, software

[MRMagoo123]

Because if they did that there would never be an article about xbone sales in japan.

[RosweeSon]

You just hear nothing at all otherwise I don't think it's ever gonna turn around in Japan. They don't like the Americans way of doing games consoles, they barely like their own way of doing it haha. Handhelds all the way in Japan. Even Vita does well.

[nunley33]

Because bf000777966 talked about their 203 units being 2x better than the 100 unit record they hit during summer isn't anything to write articles on. That does go above expectations but really, that article would get the same reaction here.

[S2Killinit]

It fell to what exactely? There were about 220 consoles/week. Are you saying they sold less than that?
Edit: 203 compred to 230. They dropped by 30 units. I guess the ones who bought it werent really concerned about price anyway.

[DeadManMMX]

They should be using Japan as a test area for a discless slim Xbox One with a subscription plan. Also stacking the system with games Japanese players actually want to play. Even if it took two years to launch they shouldn't have launched till they had a desirable price point and an actual line up of East friendly games.

[level 360]

Gotta agree Microsoft/XBox ONE needs more games.

[Bobafret]

Clearly they do not want it MS, time to pull up stakes.

[kazman]

how is this news again and again? no I'm serious why does this get approved? we all know Microsoft wont matter in japan and 14 years later guys still post the same stuff for hits. but hey if its news to you

[Fz6soldier]

One thing that could be hurting Xbox in Japan is the size of the console. Japanese are into simple and compact. They like compact, small houses, small cars, small game consoles. Japanese love Apple, one thing apple is good at is making things compact. In 2010 I was sitting on a plane next to a Japanese citizen, and he was using a MacBook Air.

[SegaGamer]

This is so poor. They have sold under 60,000 Xbox One's in Japan since it was released over there. I don't think i can remember a time where sales have been so poor for a console from one of the leading gaming counrties.

It's been a year and they haven't even caught up to the Xbox 360's launch week in Japan yet.

This goes beyond being poor, the Xbox One is a joke in Japan.

[TwoForce]

Like i said, that's way too low. MS need more jrpg.

[badz149]

but nobody is gonna make JRPG for a console that don't sell! why risk it when you can at least have way bigger audience with the PS4 or the Wii U?

it doesn't sell because there is not enough Japanese-style games and there is not enough Japanese-style games because it doesn't sell!

but honestly at this point, I don't think even Japanese-style games are gonna save the Xbone anymore because I think it's the brand itself that is not attracting the gamers over there. we always thought that non-Japanese games are doing badly in Japan but look at Mad Max on PS4, it still managed to chart at 11th for being what is is and that's saying something!

[feraldrgn]

Losing even more money on the Xbox Japan division I guess.

[bluebenjamin]

Pack it up don't waste the money

[Tzuno]

Put a Jrpg on a X1 and it will sell like cakes

[SegaGamer]

I don't think it's just JRPG's that they need, they need games that have more of an asian feel to them, pretty much all Xbox One games feel very westernised. The Xbox One has nothing that would appeal to a Japanese gamer.