Why Japanese Gamers Don't Buy Xbox

When Microsoft announced it was developing a video game console, the industry was skeptical. In the '90s, Microsoft was known for its software, not its hardware business.

Almost two decades later, Microsoft's Xbox has become a popular brand, holding its own against Sony and Nintendo.

But there's one market where Xbox hasn't been a hit with consumers — Japan.

[Spurg]

They did not enter the Japan market with the right mindset. I mean botching up a meeting with Shinji mikami that could have potentially made RE4 an Xbox exclusive show how poorly MS was at that time.

With Phil Spencer they could do so much more and should try to sway Japanese developers into publish on Xbox.

[RpgSama]

Dude, stop it, Spencer is just another Suit, he ain't no saviour, people need to stop it with this false narrative that everything would be rainbows and roses with Phil Spencer from the start, they ALL follow what Microsoft decides, now it's services, the whole of MS went in that direction.

P.S: Wait till E3!! /S

[WickedLester]

Spencer has coasted and gotten a pass from Xbox fans for simply NOT being Don Mattrick. However once you get past that and look at the facts, you'll realize he really hasn't done any better than Mattrick did. In fact, I'd say X1 had better games at launch when Mattrick was in charge.

[Notellin]

@wickedlester I don't think there is a worse executive in the industry than Mattrick. Honestly companies benefit when he is forced to step down or leaves a sinking shit to tank another company.

[thatguyhayat]

Wickedlester

You're not wrong. Phil Spencer is just a PR man and the fans just gobble up what he says. MS may as well trademark *wait till next E3*

[battlegrog]

I dont think u realize the difficulty that was ms as a entire company for a bit and it happens to most bug companies. Top heavy to many people not in touch. The guys not corporate guy. If u do research u will know how much has change for the entire company and he was part of the push.

[S2Killinit]

Spencer has led the most miserable generation ever for xbox and he has been in charge for the majority of it. Think about that.

[RpgSama]

Phil Spencer's been Xbox man in charge since March of 2014 a good 5 and a half years ago and before that he was already the General Manager of Microsoft's Game Studios since 2008 (in that sense he's largely responsible for the lack of games and quality of actually released ones), but people want to make it seem as if he still hasn't had the time to make an impact.

[Eonjay]

The reason is the 360. The high failure rate of the 360 turned them off.

[NLink0714]

People here all busting on Mattrick but are forgetting that when he ran the show the 360 had killer exclusives and deals to make it an awesome system. Sony is literary doing that for the PS4 and people are acting like it’s “new”

[rainslacker]

@Lester

Not a fan of Mattrick, but he had more games in the works under his reign than Spencer's been trying to make the past few years. His vision was also clear....although the vision itself sucks. Spencer likes to obfuscate the vision so the Xbox console faithful don't realize he's making Xbox into a service based product.

Spencer isn't unlike Mattrick though. Mattrick also dialed back the late gen 360 support to front load a new gen. Spencer just didn't bother with the middle of the gen support like Mattrick did, and Mattrick only dialed back support in the last 2 years or so. Spencer dialed back support within months of taking over.

Oh wait....sorry, forgot it takes time to make games. 5 years isn't enough.

[WickedLester]

@rainslacker

Consider this, MS has not announced a single new IP since 2015 when they announced Sea of Thieves! Not ONE...SINGLE...NEW....IP! Yet since 2015 MS has released the X1S, the X1X, the X1SAD, the elite controller, the elite 2 controller, and the adaptive controller! MS has literally released more HARDWARE in the last 5 years than they have software! That's insane! It's also inexcusable and I continue to be amazed at the pass that Spencer is given by Xbox fans! As a PlayStation and Nintendo fan, I would be absolutely furious if that were the case with either of those platforms! Yet somehow Spencer and co manage to continue to "dazzle" Xbox fans with distractions like backwards compatibility, crossplay, and Game Pass.

Xbox's best man in charge, bar none was Peter Moore. That's when Xbox was cool! It's not been the same ever since he left.

[Godmars290]

Just as MS has always focused on PC gaming even as a console maker, once Halo 2 made the Xbox's name, online multiplayer became the only thing they'll legitimately consider. Anything else, single player gaming, was just a lure.

That kind of thinking has blinded them, especially about the JP market which, like the rest of the world, has more varied tastes.

[RpgSama]

"But there's one market where Xbox hasn't been a hit with consumers — Japan."

Actually in Europe neither, taking out the UK the Xbox as a brand has never been a success.

[milohighclub]

I can assure you this has less to do with how they entered the market and more to do with their ancestors getting nuked by America.

[Dragonscale]

There are quite a few popular us brands in Japan its nothing to do with WW2 tbh. More like Japanese gamers prefer Japanese games of which there arent many on xbox and also mobile gamings popularity doesn't help xbox over there.

[rainslacker]

Kind of odd, since I don't ever really feel I've ever once seen anything that suggests that Japan holds any kind of animosity towards the US, or it's products because of WWII. Not to say that Japan doesn't have a healthy dose of xenophobia as a cultural thing, but overall, Japan is pretty open to products from other parts of the world....including the US.

[neutralgamer1992]

Spurg

Phil has had a lot of say since 2008 especially when it comes to games. The only good thing he did this Gen was buy more studios but that's after closing other studios and canceling games

Best thing a Xbox fan can say is always wait till next E3. 5 and half years of being in charge so with these excuses. Ps3 made a comeback to outsell Xbox 360 in 6 years. The way ps3 started was much much worst than launch of Xbox one yet somehow Sony figured it out and made excellent games yet Phil had talked about doing a lot of stuff without much substance

On topic

Because gamers works wide trust Sony and Nintendo way more than ms when it comes to software support. Ms/Xbox is trying to he buddy buddy with all the GAAS publishers who want to charge gamers for everything

Sea of thieves launched like any games from Ea, ubi or Activision. State of decay 2, crackdown 3 etc list goes on and on

[rainslacker]

Yeah, they could do that. And just like every other time they've done that, it will fail to do something, and they'll drop the attempt. They're 2 for 2 on their attempts in the Japanese market, because no matter how much MS might pay to get some Japanese content, Nintendo and Sony still get significantly more.

I don't think that there is a single 3rd party game that they could get exclusive for Xbox that would sway the Japanese market that much, even if they were the heavy hitters.

Spencer has been to Japan a few times now to talk with Japanese devs or publishers. It wasn't to try and capture the Japanese market, rather to get the japanese games in the western market. They don't even seem to be trying to get the more Japanese feeling games, rather the Japanese games which seem to be trying hard to make them something that will appeal to the western market.

[SegaGamer]

From what I have seen, there just isn't room for Xbox in Japan. The market is pretty full. Playstation, Nintendo and mobile gaming gives them everything they want out of gaming.

[SixEye]

Well yeah playstation, Nintendo and mobile all have a lot of Japanese games it the reason they sell well if Xbox had the same amount it well do better like the others devices.

[RizBiz]

That's pretty much true for the entire world. There just isn't room for XBox.

[rainslacker]

Nintendo has the portable players on lock, and even Sony did decent with the Vita over there. Sony and Nintendo are the go to's for home consoles. So yeah, what chance does MS have, since there is really no way they'd ever receive the same kind of support that Sony and Nintendo get just because they actually are successful in those markets.

Even if MS wanted to spend the kind of money to get the games which would get the system sold over there, I can't imagine it would be worth the money they'd have to spend. Any attempts at getting Japanese games on the systems is more to entice the western market, and those that like Japanese games in those regions. They didn't do great this gen with 5pb. Last gen they started strong, but then gave up too soon. They have never, and are likely to never, be considered a console for the Otaku gamer, and if all they're going to try and get is some niche games, or the western targeted games, then it's not going to bring the variety that going for Japanese released games can actually add to a systems portfolio.

Gumby is also right in some of his predictions. Home consoles in general haven't been as popular there since last gen.

[2pacalypsenow]

Cuz the Japanese are loyal and they already have Nintendo and Sony.

[SixEye]

They only loyal becuase Nintendo and Sony offer the Japanese games most Japanese gamers enjoy if xbox had this games too, it wont be a problem.

[rainslacker]

Generally, I'd say being loyal is more a happenstance of providing the consumer with what they want. National pride can only take you so far, because people aren't going to typically drop a lot of money on things if it doesn't give them what they want.

MS found out first hand this gen that national pride isn't going to sell their systems in the US...although I wouldn't consider the US consumer high up on caring about where something is made.

[PhoenixUp]

“Today, Microsoft still struggles to sell consoles in Japan. Of the 46.9 million Xbox Ones sold worldwide through the second quarter of 2019, just 0.3% of them have been in Japan, according to the International Data Corporation.”

Yo the IDC knows that Xbox One sold about 47 million units and nobody is making articles about that?

[2pacalypsenow]

It’s cuz nobody cares

[PhoenixUp]

Plenty of people do care. Xbox One is still a major platform and it’d be nice to know it’s lifetime sales from time to time.

[Knushwood Butt]

I care.

[PhoenixUp]

Apparently 2pac thinks you, me, and all the kind of people that document sales info are nobody

[2pacalypsenow]

@PhoenixUp

You said it

[XiNatsuDragnel]

So it won't matter if Japanese games on Xbox; because JP gamers won't buy Xbox and vice-versa just won't sell to Xbox Fans who are sport casuals, dudebro shooter people. So they are niches in all fanbases, of course, no arguing that but I'm saying that Xbox is fighting a futile battle regardless of any strat they take because they have a full-market of PS and their diverse lineup, Nintendo and switch who cover bases, and mobile apps with anime games to cover the rest. I'm sorry Microsoft but stop trying to sell Xbox in the country instead, just go the third party assist route to gain money making software like the software company you are.

[yellowgerbil]

Because Asians are smart

[cfc83]

Japanese people put Japanese products first. Imagine Americans only bought American products. You'd probably call them names and chuck in a Trump remark.

[djplonker]

Well they make stuff worth buying..... I cant think of anything that I have or would buy that was made in the us (apart from media).

Growing up and seeing nintendo / sega / playstation kinda drilled into me that the japanese are probably the best country in the world for making household tech.

[rainslacker]

I personally don't care where something is made, so long as it's something I want to buy. There may be exceptions if it comes to exploitative practices....like say conflict diamonds or something. I may be hesitant about electronics made by low wage workers in China, but realistically, I'd be greatly limiting myself in my choices if I stuck to that...and even if I did try to buy American, it's not like Xbox would alleviate any guilt or principals I may have on that front.

@Cuve

"Just like Americans put USA companies first"

LOL. Are you serious? American's put price vs. value first. Most of the crap that American's buy isn't made in America, and often isn't even from an American company. Hell, Samsung is the most successful and popular electronics/appliances maker in the US right now. Nintendo and Sony are beating MS handily in the console space. Wal-Mart is selling clothes made from all over the world, and brand is barely a thing. American cars were not popular for almost two decades, and Honda/Subaru were crushing it until American manufactures started making good cars again.

"Why do you think xbox only sells in the US"

Because that's where MS focuses most of it's marketing.

[CuVe]

Just like Americans put USA companies first... Why do you think xbox only sells in the US? PS4 destroys xbox outside the US.

[DarkZane]

PS4 is beating Xbox One in the US too and by several millions units. It's gonna be the same for the PS5, it's gonna beat Scarlett in the US as well. The PS3/360 generation was just an anomaly and happened because Sony screwed up real bad and Microsoft padded their numbers with RRoD replacements. Yet Sony still ended up beating MS that generation.

[KillBill]

Pure and simple it was marketing. I lived in Japan during the period Microsoft tried to make a foot hold in it and they did near everything wrong.

[Mopedgames]

News flash it's not just Japanese gamers. Go to Spain and try to find an xbox on a shelf in a retail store... good luck!

[Ristul]

Lets face it, xbox is mostly just popular in it's home turf, and even in america we have now seen ps4 overtake xbox one. I think it speaks to the quality of Sony's products (we have not seen a red ring of death type system failure rate on playstation for example) and then there is the quality of exclusive first party games and even third party exclusives. Sony is just unmatched in that department. Nintendo is also in a good position in Japan, with their new system being a portable two-in-one type of offering.

[ABizzel1]

1. Because Japan is primarily a mobile dominated market due to work, school, and public transportation being huge time consumers for the Japanese market.

2. It's also dominated by Nintendo franchises, which are staples to Japanese pop-culture.

3. PlayStation is the better of the 2 home consoles in the sense that it receives far greater Japanese developer support, while the Xbox platform is skipped over entirely without MS making a deal for exclusivity with a developer. If it's not a AAA JP developer game, then it often skips Xbox.

4. Nintendo and PlayStation have been the standards for over 15 / 20 years there, and it difficult to bring an upset to a market that has been dominated for that long.

5. Xbox just doesn't offer a lot of games or franchises that appeal to the Japanese gamers, and going back to my 3rd point, Sony does and an entire studio dedicated to Japanese experiences, so Xbox is an overall lesser experience than PlayStation as a games console specifically in Japan.

[william_cade]

People like to play games and Xbox (game wise) doesn't produce anything special. After, PC, PS4 and Switch, Xbox is redundant an not very stylish.

[TheHan]

It’s simply a cultural thing, they just refuse to accept America culture

[Applejack]

Ignorance is bliss.

[Knushwood Butt]

Designed in California, made in China.

[TheHan]

No matter what you say, it’s a culture thing. Anything with a hint of western American culture 90% of the time doesn’t work out over there.

[InKnight7s]

Being in Japanese shoes, mostly into JRPGs, school monster stuff, appreciate arts and deep weird stories and weird characters, like EXP and leveling, skills and spells and easy systems. Oooooor plumber short guy with his awkward brother or Weird silent shield guy named link but the game is Zelda oooor Pokemon. You can easily notice Xbox doesn't fit in in anyway. 360 did at first but was just a phase that ends within 2-3 years.

[Juusterey]

I think watching that tokyo game show where assassins creed and call of duty were shown would explain a lot
the crowd was dead, those games were nothing to them

[Smokehouse]

Japanese don’t buy anything that isn’t Japanese.

[Silly gameAr]

Oh, so that's why businesses like Apple and Mcdonalds are struggling in Japan, huh? foh.

[Smokehouse]

nice examples 🙄 I’m speaking generally of course. What’s “foh”? F**k outta here? Why would you be angry about what I said? You gtfo crybaby.

[Imortus_san]

Xbox 360 had a many japanese games, and the best shoot en ups in the market, most never leaved japan and that's the problem, xbox will never sell well in Japan due to Racism and Patriotism. Any japanese games that release on Xbox must release outside of japan for it to ever became financial viable.

[Juusterey]

so xbox fails in japan
because too many japanese exclusive games?

[S2Killinit]

Its the actual and perceived games that xbox and its base is associated with.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I could state a possible reason, but people will scream I'm xenophobic like last time.

[Applejack]

I know where your going with this and it’s not 100% untrue. But I’m pretty sure the major reasons are that Sony have more appealing games than the competition and Japan has become more of a mobile market.

[CyberSentinel]

Why should they trust the Xbox brand?

[milohighclub]

Remember that time when america nuked Japan...? I wouldn't buy from a country that did this to my ancestors either.

[Zeegamereh]

Well I mean they were the bad guys during that time so 🤷‍♂️

[Atticus_finch]

That's a bad excuse. German cars are sold all over the world and many American companies have succeeded in Japan. The problem with Ms is that the they dont appeal to anyone who's not a Bro dude.

[Silly gameAr]

Do we need a explanations or excuses at this point?

[Bleucrunch]

Its pretty simple if you ask me, Microsoft went into Japan thinking they can treat the gamers in Japan with the nonsense crap that they spew to us gamers in the states. That is one thing I admire about the Japanese when it comes to gaming, they WILL HOLD you accountable.

Unlike in the states where we gamers are constantly being used abused and robbed. Unfortunately the casual gamers in the west are the dominant gamers and their ignorance allows companies like Microsoft to do what they do...In Japan, they not trying to hear that and go for alternatives.

Alternative that know the market, culture and people they are trying to sell their products to. Microsoft even after all of these years, STILL do not get it.....damn shame.

[Tross]

Not enough games that Japanese gamers like to play. The Xbox brand has that problem in the West too, but it's tenfold in Japan.

[Rachel_Alucard]

They have a special law in Japan that prevents American companies from buying Japanese companies, because they will ship the work overseas and the economy will crumble. They culturally are taught to avoid American business because it hurts their quality. American game development focuses on making as much as money as possible with the least amount of effort, whereas a Japanese game focuses on making something to bring in people naturally instead of psychological manipulation. Merchandise also is a huge thing Japan buys, but in order to sell that you have to make characters that people want to invest into, and the west just can't compete.

[Knushwood Butt]

Er, Nintendo focuses on making as much money as possible with the least amount of effort.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Not really. They don't fill their games with repetitive loops then try to sell you the cure. Their money comes from merchandise and game sales. Nintendo actually takes having a bad game seriously whereas Ubisoft just doubles down on predatory psychological tricks to win.

[Juusterey]

They don't have lootboxes and millions of skins though

[Knushwood Butt]

I do agree with you to a certain extent, and find your posts interesting, but Nintendo does as little as is possible. Practically none of their games have voice acting, for example, because doing that in multiple languages costs a fortune. Heck, why even bother with a script when you can just use cute noises that don't even require localization.

[drunkenspy007]

I remember them trying to get into the JRPG market with Blue Dragon, what a horrible concept that turned out to be. Always a bunch of old white suits with no clue about the market, they just know it makes money.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Making sure that the Japanese buy more Xbox consoles, I'm sure, was part of Trump's new trade agreement that was just signed with Japan. America first!

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Nope that's for dairy @research

[DEEHULK88]

It's not a Japanese product and Japan like China supports their own first. Apple is in 5th place in China now behind 4 Chinese phone makers.

[Smokehouse]

Exactly and there isn’t anything wrong with that. They just recently opened up to using outside game engines like unreal. In the Japanese corporate culture it all had to be homegrown. It’s why Japanese netcode was always ass, it was built for Japan and not an international scale. Good luck trying to explain that to the idiots on here though.

[rlow1]

Lots of clueless people here, American companies have done well in Japan. Windows dominates the computer market there as well.......So Ms isn't an unknown company to Japanese consumers.......Also Ms has put a lot of effort towards Japanese gamers since the Xbox launched......The first console was big and controller (the Duke) was massive and Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were already entrenched in their home territory. Also, a lack of must have games.........Japanese taste in games are also different and they love portability.....so I really think that this combination is what has made it very difficult for MS......if your thinking brand loyalty that plays a factor to a degree..........But one only has to look to the launches of the iPhones over the years, especially in the early years......Xbox has been innovative.......but I think their is multiple reasons and not just one smoking gun.

[DEEHULK88]

That's a software isses which is something that their companies don't excel in and that is also why pretty much every mobile company all over the world uses Android from Google to power their phones.

[rlow1]

I agree MS missed the boat with phones, that's for sure and having more games that appealed to Japanese gamers would also help. Though they have tried on the past......but to say they be don't Excel on software

[DEEHULK88]

Rlow1 I am talking about computer OS software which is why Microsoft windows still powers most computers in the world. It is also the reason that Android powers most of the phones in the world. Japan and China are not great at developing Os software. Japen and China but their own first with the exception being computer software.

[FanboysKiller]

Not just in Japan, ms needs to change their mindsets , the notion of "if you are playing on xbox then you are a no brainer " are everywhere, ms needs to change that type of mindset before thinking about sales.

[Retroman]

Probably because Japanese consumers "Only" support Japanese products.

[DreadGara]

Cut the crap Xbot boy's, stop defending this turd, system on life support already, Japanese aren't interested because it's Junk and that's why.....move along everyone, nothing new to add for this article.

[Thundercat77]

This is not just a Japan thing. Xbox is not popular outside the US and even on the US, is loosing against its competitors

[SugarSoSweet]

A lot of Japanese are ultra-nationalist and won't buy anything Western over their own products. Nobody wants to admit it but it's true.

[ILostMyMind]

Perhaps it is better to ask why Americans do.

[Kaedro]

Because they're smart

[RizBiz]

It isn't just the Japanese who don't buy XBoxs. That's why it's totally not been able to "hold its own" against the competition. It's in dead last. I guess M$ gets a participation award for trying? Though, they definitely don't try very hard.

[SixEye]

Most Japanese gamers are most in to the jrpgs games and them novel anime games, Sony Playstation has a lot of those games in Japan some are released only over there and sell well. The xbox doesn't really have this type of games that most Japanese players enjoy and is the reason Xbox doesn't sell well over there, well if xbox had more japanese games it be a different story.

[stonecold3]

a lot of jrpg games dont sell well and the system is nonexistent in japan they might as well try open a japanses few studio that could cater to Japanese people it may sell a quiet few units there as long they cater the Japanese people they would need more then jrpg to dothe work get game that might hype the japaenese gamer attention but it would need to do with right marketing

[AuraAbjure]

When I lived in Tokyo 10 years ago I bought a used Xbox 360 for $100 (equivalent) from an electronics store and they gave me a 10 day warranty. It got the red ring of death on the 11th day so I took it back pronto and they said "Nope your warranty expired too bad."

It was fun trying (and failing) to open it up and fix it myself though and getting yelled at by my friend who wound up trying to fix it for me as I played PS3 in the corner lol.

[Petebloodyonion]

The reason is pretty simple, the Japanese don't buy foreign products, it's in their culture.
Remember the gold old days of RARE on N64 well Conker, Banjo, and all RARE games were a complete flop in Japan.
Tomb Raider? Failed
FIFA? Failed

Actually just ask GOOGLE " Insert the name of European or American game" is popular in Japan? and you will be treated to was less known and popular in Japan or just go watch VHGZ chart and type yearly sales and you will see that foreign games are quite rare on the charts.

[AK91]

Aren't Japanese gamers more into mobile and handheld devices?