The Xbox 360 and Japanese Nationalism

Ant writes "4 Color Rebellion has a transcript of a segment included with its recent Podcast. The piece concerns the launch of the Xbox 360 in Japan, a launch that's amounting to one of the weakest in Japanese gaming history. The authors look into the reasons behind the failure, and try to dissuade gamers from some poorly thought-out rationalizations for the console's lack of success." From the article: "McDonalds knew that some of its tastes would not appeal to the Japanese so they changed their menus. Along with the standard Big Macs and fries they also have Teriyaki burgers, fried shrimp burgers, and other things for the Japanese pallet. They didn't force the American tastes on the Japanese and thus, they thrived. Now look at the Japanese Xbox 360 launch lineup. First person Shooters, sports and car games. Games that sell really well in America but other than the car games are not to the Japanese taste. Had they launched with RPGs, simulation games, party games, gambling games and fighters, they might have done a whole lot better. McDonalds changed their company for the Japanese taste. Microsoft tried to change the Japanese taste for their company."

Comments

XBOX360 Culture

[Henry V .009]

Microsoft has released a bunch of games that appeal to the "frat boy culture." I don't know the best way to describe Japan, but I don't think they're real heavy on that.

Re:XBOX360 Culture

[garylian]

That might have something to do with the fact that they consider their target group to be frat boys and HS kids.

I think good RPGs and SIMs take more time to develop, since you have to worry about storylines and character progressions. In FPS, you shoot to kill, and only aquire a small handfull of new weapons. In driving games, you drive fast around relatively static road courses. BFD.

What is funny is that the XBox was considered superior for RPG type games by a lot of folks I talked to. More titles were offered there than PS/PS2. When I considered getting a console, my friends all said "Go XBox. You like RPGs, dude." Then I got electro-shock therapy, and stuck to my PC games. Why have a high powered gaming PC and then spend cash on a console?

Besides, did you actually think M$ was going to work hard at getting out a set of games they didn't anticipate would sell well in the U.S. ready for the Japanese market? If nothing else, Gates has shown a willingness to turn his nose up at anything to do with the non-U.S./Canadian world. Sure, he wants their money, but he's not going to change his ways for a "smaller market". Though how he could think the Japanese console market would be small is beyond me.

Nintendo isn't mad

[AmiMoJo]

Perhaps now people can see why Nintendo isn't (completely) mad, when it comes to the Revolution. They don't need the best graphics or a million button control pad, they just need something that has interesting and easy to access games.

American, and to a large degree European gamers seem to be interested in graphics, action and above all easy games. Most western games now are little more than interactive movies, very easy to complete (except on the hardest mode which is often impossible, 100x harder than normal). You just play through the story line and set pieces.

Re:Nintendo isn't mad

[Anonymous Coward]

"Most western games now are little more than interactive movies, very easy to complete (except on the hardest mode which is often impossible, 100x harder than normal). You just play through the story line and set pieces."

Uh.... how is that different from Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy or many other Japanese game series? In fact Japanese games tend to be "interactive movies" much moreso than American games.

Way to rant!

[b1t r0t]

He spends most of his time on this topic just ranting about "wahhh wahhh wahhh racism racism look here the japanese buy lots of american stuff" and only a little time on the real reasons why the Xbox failed in Japan and why the 360 is gonna fail along with it.

And all that without even going on about the badly chosen name. To someone in Japan, "X" means failure, and is pronounced "batsu", which is a penalty you have to take after a failure. And the kanji for bad luck (kyou) is an "X" in a box. Yeah, let's slap a 360 on it, to make it sound like "failure comes around again". And release it with weak software support so that it really is the "penalty box".

Hell, if no other reason, they should have delayed the Japanese release to make sure there weren't any hardware problems, like, say, overheating? Hardware problems with the initial run of Xbox systems, and Microsoft's failure to respond properly, was one reason the main reasons behind the Xbox failure.

Re:Not saying much

[phoenix.bam!]

Are you seriously blaming the japanese game developers for the XBOX360 sucking?

That's insane.

Of course there are no games from Japanese developers when they know there is going to be no demand for the system. There is more money to be had from developing games for the gamecube and ps2.

Now it is true that the lack of developed games for the Japanese market is a large part of the xbox failure, but this is entirely Microsoft's fault. Either subsidising or completely funding some Japanese games may have created a market for the XBOX360, but "Generic FPS 3:The Return of the Main Character, Again" with upscaled graphics certainly isn't an intelligent launch plan for a gaming culture like Japan's.

Teriyaki burger

[clambake]

That was is SO ironic considering teriyaki is something that Japanese resturants, almost exclusively, do not serve. It exists, it's a real Japanese word, but you won't find Teriyaki ANYTHING *except* at McDonalds.

Re:Japanese video games are BIASED, so who cares??

[Filip22012005]

The FACT that XBOX 360 with the SAME launch titles would have done much better if it simply had a Nintendo or Sony stamp on it PROVES that the Japanese are closed-minded when it comes to the video game market.

Unfortunately, your fact relies on counterfactual history (the XBOX was not released with the same launch titles but branded by Nintendo) makes your whole chain of reasoning very shaky.