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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."
I don't think the XBox is failing for any reason other than Japanese pride. My perceptions (ICBW) are that Japanese markets are extremely tough to nearly impossible to break into because of Japanese National pride... I can only equate it to the xenophobia of Russians in the 80s or only buying American-made cars instead of foreign cars.
Japan might have a bunch of pro-Japan and subtly anti-foreign (US) propaganda, but hey... it's strengthening their economy and weakening ours... I'm not suggesting that we all go throw away our PS2s and GCs in favors of an XBox, but I predict that American electronics will never penetrate Asian markets until it's vastly superior and blows everything else out of the water, (which is impossible to do in a hardware war)
...but I ramble...
If I'm not mistaken aren't RPG games huge in Japan? The X-Box is pretty lacking on this genre at the moment. That was the same reason I held off on buying an X-Box (except I had to get Ninja Gaiden.) I don't think they researched the Japanese market as well as they should have (controllers, game genre's, etc.) Plus they are taking on the two most popular console makers still around that are both based in Japan. Get Sqare/Enix to develop an RPG (good luck) on your console and you got it made in Japan. Maybe Fable will help turn things around a little. I know I'm looking forward to that one.
Very good. With products like the Xbox, I wouldn't be suprised if the Japanese started getting a low opinion of American products...
On an interesting side note, I've heard that the letter X is supposed to be bad luck, and that, since the Japanese are super-super-superstitous, it would be like naming the Xbox 13666box here or something. That's probably another excuse, like the whole "Japanese people don't like American stuff" crap, but it's still pretty funny.
In a Japanese game shop, you see racks and racks of attractive PS2 games with a wide variety of genres from war-simulation to dating (sometimes both in the same game), GameCube and GBA titles galore, shelves and shelves of used PS and DC (and even Saturn games). The packages are very attractively illustrated in a Japanese aesthetic, and then... In the corner, this radioactive-green glow emanates from the XBox shelf, an ugly contrast to the pastels and rich colors of the other games. The games themselves are FPSes, sports, a platformer here and there. It's simply not attractive compared to the competition, in a country where such a thing really matters.
The last time I was in Japan (last summer), there were more new Dreamcast games coming out than XBox games. That's encouraging to a DC fanboy like me, and indicative of the XBox's acceptance there.
Tecmo is arguably the only important Japanese developer that takes the XBox very seriously. Everyone else ports to it or releases a game or two just to cover their bases.