20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan

1up.com has an interesting look at the forces ranged against Microsoft in Japan, as the 360 poises for a major push in foreign markets. From the article: "There are enough reasons (we have ten) to believe things will be different next round, and Xbox 360 will eat away at PlayStation's dominance in Japan. Yet there are those who still believe Japan will never embrace a non-Japanese game console (and we've got ten reasons why these arm-chair analysts are correct.) Warm up your typing fingers as we give you ten reasons why Xbox 360 could kick ass in Japan, and ten reasons why it could bomba bomba in Kutaragi's backyard."

Comments

Kill my karma

[Gizzmonic]

Wireless controllers suck. Why are they going to be mandatory on the new consoles? I look forward to interference and loads of batteries. Fuck!

duh. no games!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Xbox 360 is going to launch with about as many "Japanese" games as the original Xbox did.

While Microsoft has signed on several big name developers to do games, none will have games ready for launch. By the time these titles do come out Sony will have the PS3 and it will be too late for Xbox 360. Also, only a couple Japanese titles really draw a lot of mainstream attention in Japan. The others are somewhat niche. Remember Jet Set Radio? Dead or Alive 3? Yeah, they really helped the xbox out.

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=15 959

Re:duh. no games!

[badasscat]

While Microsoft has signed on several big name developers to do games, none will have games ready for launch.

To expand on your point a little, here's the thing:

It doesn't matter what names you have signed up to make games for you. What matters is the games they actually end up making. This was true of the original Xbox too. The Xbox (and the Xbox 360) has a real reputation in Japan as an American system, for Americans. (They don't really even think about Europe; they just think about where the system is made and its largest market.) So the games they make, when they make them, are tailored more for American tastes. There may be nods here and there to the Japanese, but you just never see real Japanese niche titles, the largest RPG's, or the AAA new franchises debuting on Xbox there. So far, from the "in-development" lists I've seen for the 360, that's as true of the new console as it was of the original.

Development costs for the Xbox, according to the CESA, were more than twice that of the PS2. Given that, Japanese developers were less likely to develop games at all and when they did, they were obviously going to develop them for a market where they thought they'd sell. That wasn't Japan.

Now, MS is in a sort of chicken-or-egg quandary. Developers there don't really seem to have confidence that the 360 is going to sell, based on current Xbox sales and on various surveys (Famitsu's last survey showed only 2% of their readers were interested in the Xbox 360, despite MS's hype machine). So, whether or not MS has "every Japanese game developer" on board, what makes anyone think they're going to develop unique or even popular cross-platform games for the system? They might throw it a bone every once in a while, and of course you'll see DOA4 and Ridge Racer and other stuff that appeals to westerners as much as Japanese, but you will probably not see very much in the way of games that actually sell systems in Japan. Those will still go to the PS3, which is more or less guaranteed success in Japan.

I say it's a chicken-or-egg thing because developers have confidence in the PS3 because they know consumers want it, and consumers want it because they know it will have the most games they like. The reverse is true of the Xbox. The problem for MS is it takes more to change perception than just reversing one of those trends - i.e. they could sign up every developer under the sun, they could announce a slew of huge games just for the Japanese, but the perception consumers have of the system will not change overnight, and developers might again bail. The same would be true on the other end - even if consumers started warming up to the system through MS's marketing campaign, it will take a lot to convince developers that a real, major investment in the system will pay off (especially in comparison to making the same investment in the PS3). And if developers don't warm up to the system fast enough, any consumer enthusiasm will die off.

It is going to be a tough cycle for MS to break there. I'm not betting that they'll be able to do it - I don't give the Xbox 360 much of a chance there.

Re:Um

[Evro]

It's a Zonk article, and it links to 1up.com, apparently some kind of kickback site judging by the rate with which Slashdot links to them.

From what I can tell in his bio, this is now Zonk's full time job... you'd think he'd put a modicum of research into the stories he posts.

I don't blame the Japanese

[alan_dershowitz]

For not wanting to play American games. I Don't want to play american games. I spent my teenage years playing Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star, Mario Brothers, etc. Japanese RPGs are awesome, and their puzzle games are extremely creative. On the other hand, in the USA you get a slightly updated NFL game every year, or shit like BMX:XXX, Gex, and a shitload of terrible movie licenses.

American games feel like they were designed by marketers, not artists, because they are.

It does say they have "all" Japanese publishers on board this time...Maybe it'll be different then, I hope so.

PLEASE NOTE: The preceding was a generalization, there are some good american games. But clearly not enough that appealed to the Japanese market, or me.

--Proud Dreamcast owner, still has some of the best games ever.

Re:Does it matter?

[ureshii_akuma]

It matters to those of us trying to decide which next-gen console to buy who don't like American taste oriented FPS/Sports titles. If the 360 fails in Japan (as the XBox did) we won't see many games that appeal to us. This happened for me with the XBox - great console, but I only have 5 games for it, compared to 20+ each for both PS2 and Gamecube.

Of the 360 "launch period" titles the only two games that look like they appeal to me are either coming out eventually for the PC (ES IV) or from a dev that used to be golden but has been lackluster lately (Rare - and I am not talking about PD:0).

Now, for MS itself, I don't know that it really matters. Sure, they'd love to succeed in that market, but the US/EU market are big enough that they can survive on just those.

Re:Why the Japanese hate US games.

[Neo-Rio-101]

For example, no Japanese that I know will tell you that you're being a penis-brain for being as dense to this concept as you've shown. But I will, because I am an American, and you are a penis-brain for the aforementioned reason.

ouch!

but I don't think we would have received the same kind of reciprocation if I'd been the kind of insensitive, un-"childlike" git you're modeling.

ouch!

I'm sure you could introduce some interesting counterpoint being Mr. Japan,

ouch!

Back to the original issue with the Xbox 360 though... I think that if you actually have to deal with the Japanese as customers (as Microsoft have to), you'll find them tough because they won't complain or get upset or hurl insults. Without any feedback, they'll just stop talking and listening and switch out....

Re:Slashdot a little overzealous in M$ bashing...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot may be a Microsoft bashfest in general, but you forget this is games.slashdot.org we're talking about here. The only place to find more Xbox hype would be the Team Xbox site.

Re:Why it will fail in Japan:

[badasscat]

Given the choice between guilt-tripping about feeding the American Mega-Corp monster your heard-earned yen, and providing needed greenbacks to your local silicon-pimp zaibatsu, the average Japanese will, simply, buy Japanese.

Tell that to all the iPod-owning, Windows-using, Levi's-wearing, Mariah Carey-buying, Starbucks-drinking, Gucci-coveting, McDonald's-eating Japanese people that partake in western products every hour of every day.

Re:Does it matter?

[kingsmedley]

I gathered the following stats from various sources via Google:

USA in 2003:
Population....................291 million people
Percentage playing games......50%
Hardware and software sales...$10 billion

Japan in 2003:
Population....................128 million people
Percentage playing games......37%
Hardware and software sales...$4.1 billion

The bottom line: The average Japanese gamer spent $86.50 on their hobby that year, while Americans only spent $68.70 the same year.

So yes, success in Japan DOES matter. While the Japanese game market has been shrinking since the year 2000, it is still worth more on a per capita basis. And when you have to weigh the cost of building a console at a per unit loss, you certainly want to attract the consumer that, on average, buys more software per console.

Re:So sick of reading this bullshit.

[Reaperducer]

Do you have some stereotyped image of Japanese people squeezed into closets that are big enough for them and their PS2, but small enough that the extra cubic foot of an xbox would cause them to suffocate?

Spoken like someone who's never been to Japan, and never lived in a Japanese home.