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GameCube Outsells PlayStation 2 In Japan

Posted by simoniker on from the not-something-you-see-every-day dept.

Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their article discussing the latest Japanese console hardware sales, in which it's revealed that the GameCube marginally outsold the PlayStation 2 this week, by 35,600 units to 35,300 units, largely "thanks to the release of Namco's RPG Tales of Symphonia", whose success we mentioned a couple of days back. Unfortunately, the third major console fared less well: "The picture was a little less bright for the Xbox, which slipped behind the PSone in the rankings again - selling 650 units to the PSone's 960. In market share terms, it was only one tenth of a percentage point ahead of Bandai's SwanCrystal. Ouch."

4 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Response to marketing tactics? by the+Man+in+Black · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Normally I would applaud any failure on Microsoft's part, but in this case I see it more as a Japanese backlash to and American company attempting to gain a foothold in the historically closed Japanese market. Anyone versed in the auto industries similar attempts over the years will understand where I'm coming from.

    "Buy American" is just a slogan here in the States, whereas the Japanese consumer is much more likely to support the home team, especially in something like consumer electronics. Is this a good/bad thing? Doesn't make a difference, and it's their choiice what they buy and don't buy. I'm just saying this to say that maybe we should pay more attention to sales data here in this country as an idea of how popular the Xbox is.

    --
    El riesgo vive siempre!
  2. Stop the Bleeding!!! by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 5, Insightful
    650 compared to 35,000??? Those are not good numbers. My first reaction to seeing that was to wonder why Microsoft wasn't pulling out of the Japanese market. But I suppose that the Microsoft thinking is that you've got to get the name associated with console hardware so that XBox2 has a better shot. Of course, I think that could really backfire on them. It seems that once you have a console that doesn't do well, you've got a stigma attached. Look at Atari, they reigned supreme but then fell off the face of the planet with the 5600 and that stigma stuck with them as can be seen by the Jaguar. I don't think many consumers took the Jaguar seriously. Likewise with Sega - their SegaCD and 32X hurt sales of the Saturn and subsequent sales of the Dreamcast. Obviously there were more issues involved in these instances but it seems like once a company is seen as a hardware loser, it is very hard to get back in the game on the next go-round. So what can Microsoft do to sell the XBox2 in Japan? Anything?

    It's a tough question. Of course, maybe someone at Microsoft will see this post and say, "Uh oh, this Acidic_Diarrhea guy on Slashdot thinks we're in trouble in Japan! I better call Bill."

    Or maybe not...

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    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
  3. Not only Tales of Symphonia... by GrosTuba · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Another great RPG was released very recently, which quite boosted Nintendo's both living-room and handheld consoles sales : Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles

    In fact, in the charts I read, the GBA SP was first, followed by the Cube, and then by the PS2, and I just thought FF:CC might be more than a bit responsible for this...

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    Who needs a .sig anyway ?
  4. The numbers don't mean much by lightspawn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If we were talking about overall sales, that would have been remarkable. But let's face it: Most of the people who want a PS2 already have one. I bet a large number of PS2s sold now actually replace worn-out (played-out?) units.

    In contrast, since the Gamecube is much less popular overall, there are many more potential new owners. RPG fans, for example, who must have every major new title, or fans of the "Tales of" series. They might have never seen the "need" to own a cube before.

    It's completely possible that the nokia n-gage will outsell the GBA - for the first week or two. It still won't mean the GBA is dethroned.

    I'll probably pick up the new 'tales of' title once it arrives here. I loved the way the last title I played in the series (Tales of Eternia) let you save almost AT ANY POINT (unless you're in the middle of a fight or a puzzle). It worked great because when you restored the game, you'd continue at the last save point, but you never had to keep playing until the next save point even when you needed to stop playing, under penalty of losing all of your progress (levels+items+puzzles etc).

    Slightly off-topic stupidity:
    Tales of Destiny was published in the U.S.
    Then Tales of Eternia was published in the U.S. as "Tales of Destiny 2" to capitalize on name recognition.
    Now a sequel to Tales of Destiny, called "Tales of Destiny 2" is available in Japan. Is this title going to make it stateside? What will it be called?