Xbox Live Expands Into New Asian Territories

Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for its story discussing Microsoft's further expansion of their Xbox Live online service into Asia. The piece notes "plans to launch the... service in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore this April... following last October's launch in South Korea", and points out: "These regions are among some of the most broadband-enabled in the world, and online gaming on the PC is already a hugely popular pastime, a fact which Microsoft hopes will play to its advantage and give it an edge over Sony's PS2 in the territories." It goes on to mention that "the launch of Xbox Live in South Korea... has not been the massive sales catalyst that Microsoft might have hoped for", and ends by reporting that Xbox managers intend to "work with game development studios in Korea and Taiwan who are creating content that is more relevant to their local markets."

Comments

American made games

[LordNimon]

One of the reasons I got an Xbox instead of a PS/2 is that I don't like Asian-made games. Too many of them feature child or child-like characters, which I can't stand. Sure there are exceptions, but I get the impression that Xbox games are more geared toward "older players" (i.e. close to age 30) than PS/2 games are.

I hope that trend continues. Fortunately, I just got my Xbox, so I have tons of games I can still buy.

Umm, smart move?

[irokitt]

It makes sense. Asia is a big market. But the thing I wonder about is whether Asia will really buy American-centric X-Box games. They're mostly a rts/rpg crowd from what I understand, and the X-Box is sold on the premise of "HALO RULES D00D!" So Microsoft will have to throw some energy into making Asia work for them.