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Has The Xbox Failed In Japan?

Posted by simoniker on from the pope-sneaking-into-undergrowth dept.

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."

2 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. RPGs? by hords · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. Appeal by jetfuel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.