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Has The Xbox Failed In Japan?
Thanks to GameSpy for its article interviewing Microsoft executives about the Xbox's popularity in Japan. According to the article, 400,000 is the 'magic number': "...the number of Xbox consoles Microsoft has sold in Japan since launching the system in February, 2002. It is roughly the number of copies of Grand Theft Auto that Capcom has sold into the Japanese market. And, historically speaking, it is the approximate number of 3DO consoles in Japan as well." Apparently, "'That is the yogei-acceptable number in Japan'. [The term "yogei" refers to foreign or Western.]" However, Mike Fischer of Microsoft suggests that "game developers are tired of Sony's dominance in the market, and that that more Japanese-appropriate hardware will lead to better sales in Japan which will lead support from companies like Square/Enix which will then lead even greater acceptance in Japan."
If you count the GBA, it's in 3rd.
System Total Sales in 2004
GameBoy Advance SP: 971,900
PlayStation 2: 960,500
GameCube: 321,400
GameBoy Advance: 117,300
Xbox: 16,500
PSone: 8,300
WonderSwan Crystal: 4,700
Solidly in 3rd is struggling to hold onto 1/3rd of the #s for #2.
It is easy to see the impact of the quality RPG.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
If a man speaks in a forest, and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?
The Yet Another Uninformed, "Japanese Hate American Products" That's Why The XBox Failed Rant.
The truth is, the X-Box failed in Japan because of Microsoft's failure to sufficiently respect the Japanese market, not because of some supposed contempt for all things American on Japan's part.
Think about it: Microsoft was launching a product (whose internal codename was Project Midway, for christ sakes. PR mistake Numero Uno, when that leaked) that was much larger than was convienient for your average Japanese living room, where horizontal space is at a premium vs vertical space (you didn't thing the small horizontal foot prints of the Cube and PS2 (when standing on its side) were an accident, did you?). On top of that, they launched with a very mediocre line up of games that largely didn't appeal to the Japanese market (after all, for a long time Halo was the only bright spot in their US line-up, and First Person Shooters aren't even remotely as popular in Japan as they are here).
These problems probably would have been recoverable by Microsoft, were it not for their fatal mistake: The XBox, on launch in Japan, turned out to have severe problems with its drive; it was scratching the hell out of game discs only days after purchase. Microsoft's response? An imediate recall on first learning of the problem? An immediate apology on the part of MS Japan for the damage done by the machine (the traditional response by a Japanese company in such a situation, and one the public would expect)?
Nope. Just a shitty press release stating "It is up to customers to mail their consoles back to us for repair. The scratch does not affect game playing.", and when the media began reporting this recall they followed it up four days later with the anouncement that "An apparent misinterpretation of information on a Microsoft Japan Web site resulted today in a media report of a recall of Microsoft's Xbox game console in Japan. This report is incorrect. There is no recall of Xbox in Japan or any other market". Fuck you, Japanese consumer.
Selling (what was percieved as) a low quality, defective product to the public and then showing an enormous amount of disrespect for them by failing to own up to and apologize for their mistakes did a hell of a lot more damage to XBox sales than anti-Americanism ever did. Indeed, blaming it on such smacks of the same cultural contempt that led Detroit to attempt to sell cars in Japan in the 80's with the steering wheel on the wrong (left) side of the vehicle, and then blame their lack of success on Japanese people hating American products. The lesson, therefore, isn't the ignorant and trite canard that "Japanese hate American products" but rather the same as the lesson of failing products everywhere: Know your market, and respect what they prefer rather than expecting them to want what you tell them to want.
"Are you trolling. Xbox has Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Shenmue, Star Wars, D&D Heroes, Phantasy Star Online and a lot of other rpgs."
Every single one of those games is on AT LEAST 1 other platform already.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
Only one of the listed games was released into the Japanese Xbox market; Phantasy Star Online (Ep I and II).
That's right. The Japanese have no Morrowind, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, or any other RPG that some westerners find so entertaining.
Even Sega developed Shenmue II didn't come out there. Why? Probably because it wasn't much different than the Dreamcast version which came out years before. We should also note that while the updated PSO came out for both GC and Xbox, it's "Episode III" sequel is only on the cube.
Microsoft is banking on True Fantasy Live Online to sell systems/Live subscriptions to the Japanese, but it's really too late. Microsoft just needs to have a presence in the market until the Xbox Next comes out at which point they can try again.
For now though, they must just accept that the Xbox has failed.