Opinion: Microsoft's High Hopes In Japan

If the Xbox 360 Media Briefing, held in the Cerulean Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya earlier today and covered in detail elsewhere, could be termed anything, it would be 'hopeful'. The 90 minute briefing, helmed both by Takashi Sensui, General Manager of Xbox Japan, and in parts by an ever-ebullient Peter Moore, was intended to show that it was business as usual in terms of Microsoft's Japanese strategy.

And, in many ways, the company's admirable intent is still in place - but the results are starting to show, and it simply hasn't worked so far. Peter Moore made a point to stress, more than once, the 10 million Xbox 360 owners that the company expects to be in place by the end of this holiday season. But the unspoken elephant in the room is that only perhaps 250,000 of those (if Microsoft's value for money Core price point and Blue Dragon bundle deals start seeing fruit) will be purchased in Japan.

[Funky Town_TX]

The first, and only console that plays games in HD out of the box. This still will not help against the PS3 in Japan.

[xrobbanx]

The Japanese people are gamers and suckers for RPG if these fine RPG´s doesnt get their atention to this price nothing will

[Dusk]

Microsoft is caught in a catch-22. Everyone will agree that Japanese gamers do not like western games. Japanese companies didn't really support the Xbox, so it had very little Japanese games. Now Microsoft is throwing lots of money at Japanese developers and there are actually a good amount of quality Japanese games coming out for the 360.

The problem is that if these games don't sell systems and therefore sell copies of games, Microsoft isn't going to keep paying these companies to make Japanese games for years and years, all the while losing tons of money. Japanese gamers don't want to buy the 360 because they don't want to be stuck with a sytem that only has this first batch of Japanese games.

The only way it will work is if a lot of Japanese gamers (like a million or two) take the risk that a million or two other Japanese gamers will also take the risk with them. Without all these Japanese gamers taking the risk, there's a good chance Microsoft will eventually stop paying most of the Japanese developers, who will then therefore stop making Japanese games for the 360 because it just wouldn't be worth it. In addition, Japanese gamers will have two other console options that they know for sure will have an ass-ton of Japanese games and of course, both of these are Japanese made consoles.

Personally, I think the only way Japanese gamers will take the risk on the 360 is if they buy multiple consoles, like a Wii and a 360. However, the Japanese market is the smallest of the big three, behind both Europe and NA, and I'm not sure how likely it is that Japanese gamers will buy multiple systems.

[clayton]

But with Lost Odyssey blowing away FF graphically and gameplay wise and you have blue dragon which is another exclusive(both are being published by microsoft) I think this will sell alot of consoles in Japan, I really want both of those games, especially Lost Odyssey, I have to see what the fuss is about. Appently you won't being able to tell the difference between cg and realtime.

[THE TRUTH]

But I haven't seen anything about Lost Odessy that "BLOWS" FF13 out of the water. TGS will have both games avalible in some form so we shall see soon enough

[Dusk]

I agree that these games look great and I mentioned quality games in my previous post. My point, however, is that these games need to sell 1 to 2 million 360s in Japan for the Japanese developers to keep making games for the 360 after Microsoft stops paying them lots of money to do so. 1 to 2 million Japanese gamers need to take the risk that more Japanese games will continue to be released on the 360 for its entire life cycle. I'm not sure there are that many that are willing to take that risk when there are 2 other Japanese made consoles that will absolutely have an ass-ton of Japanes games.

[TheMART]

Japanese game producers also see that the games don't have to end on the Japanese market. Ninty Nine Nights for example, officially for the Japanese market, sells well outside worldwide also.

Japanese people are just waiting to compare all consoles I guess and that will be nice to see this Christmas

[TheMART]

Just wait a little bit on Christmas.

The last games announced like Blue Dragon, Lost Oddysey and others are really the type of games that Japanese people love.

I am curious about this Christmas for real when Japanese see this great games and having the choice between all consoles. I think 360 will really get a take off with the new content although Japanese people will always be a kind of strange and especially after I've seen the trailer of Lost Oddyssey well whow this could really kick it in higher gear.

Although I know how long MSX lived on (and I guess still lives on) in Japan after it already died long before that in the rest of the world.

The special pack this Christmas with Blue Dragon included could also get to buy them the 360 and a Wii over the PS3

[Dusk]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant Japanese developers making Japanese 360 games for the Japanese market. They will always make western games like Dead Rising, etc. because those will sell on the 360 no matter what. Japanese gamers don't like western games, though. Japanese games need to be continually made for the 360 in order for Japanese gamers to want to buy one. If there aren't that many 360s in Japan, Japanese developers won't make Japanese games for it because most of those Japanese games don't do well in the west.

[Marriot VP]

Ehhhh, Cerulean Tokyo, I may just have to move there.

Microsoft will never leave japan, it's their duty to get those japanese developers to jump ship or go multiplatform. Their not leaving.

[kmis87]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=...
Do! Do! Do!

[Captain Tuttle]

I can't get that tune out of my head. The last commercial reminds of "Hard Days Night"

[BIadestarX]

People in Japan are not buying the 360 now not because they don't want it but because they want to pick the best console... Which one is the best console? Not everybody is into going into blogs and keeping track of the industry like most of us here. What they see is, one next gen console is out, two of them are pending, and they want to wait to see which one it's the better choice. I already own a 360 and so far that's the best choice. Some PS3 fans will wait for it no matter what... but once the 3 systems are out and the rest of the world can compare them, that’s when the best system will start selling like crazy. This happens all the time with new products.. why do you think Sony it's being giving promises(even when some are not true) and trying to hype the PS3? They want people to wait, that way they have a better chance people will buy their product. the same way I'm not buying an Ipod cause I want to see what zune has to offer; this does not mean I will not endup buying an ipod. Some people are just waiting to see what the 3 have to offer even though the 360 may be on the top of the list, other expect a price drop, or even a game to be bundle. After nov that’s things get real. You can’t expect Japan to just run towards the 360 when all they are accustom to hear is Nintendo and Sony.

[Funky Town_TX]

Xbox 1 was was superior to PS2
xbox1 was cheaper (4 controller support, built in ethernet, more analog buttons on controller, HDD built in).
Sony forced you to build up the PS2. This was okay with the Japanese. If all the games on PS3 were on 360 it still would not matter. It's called brand loyalty. PS3 is bigger than the 360, has no japanese RPG's at launch(lots of western games). PS3 will kill the 360. M$ should just save millions and come back home and focus on the 30 million sales at home.