The 360's Japanese Status Revisited

Next Generation is reporting on more elements of the Xbox 360's presence in Japan. From the corporate side of things, the head of the Xbox division in Japan can be referred to as vaguely pessimistic. From the article: "Two RPGs from such a prolific fellow as Sakaguchi may strike a chord in Japan, but Microsoft will have to pull out even more tricks with the impending launch of the Wii and PS3, both of which Japan gamers favor over the Xbox brand. Right now, the Xbox 360 can't even make any headway sans next-gen competition. 'Globally we are doing very well but Japan has always been tough,' Huston admitted. 'We launched early and with not enough Japan-specific content.'" They're also running an article looking deeper into the situation, an examination from an outsider's perspective. From that article: "Mr. Huston has also commented that the 360 'launched early,' which is true in many senses of the word -- they launched before all their competitors, they launched early into the popularity of high-definition televisions in Japan, and they launched earlier than any good games. It was widely believed by Microsoft Japan that Dead or Alive 4 would save the system at launch, though really, how naive is that?"

Comments

I'll prolly get modded down but...

[Antiochius]

What Xbox360 presence in Japan?

Yep.... Still dead.

[MaWeiTao]

These stories about the Xbox360's chances in Japan are like exhuming a body just to confirm that it's still dead.

All the defibrillation in the world won't bring that sucker back to life.

Why no staged rollout?

[Pearson]

It's so common for the Japanese consoles to be released in stages to the various markets of the world, that I don't understand why MS didn't withhold the system from that region until they had a compelling package.

Being first to market doesn't guarantee success, and often allows your competitors to learn from your mistakes. Even if MS had a killer line up of Japanese games coming, they now have to fight against a negative perception.

Re:Why no staged rollout?

[Traiklin]

exactly

The one thing I couldn't understand is in all the interviews with higher ups involved with the Xbox line was they always said "The Xbox failed in japan because there wasn't enough Japan-centric games, nothing was made for that region. We have learned from this though and the Xbox 360 will have more Japan-centric games"

So they launch worldwide and what is the selection of games japan has? All American & European centric games, not one that would appeal to the Japan crowd. Yet they kept pushing that Dead or Alive 4 would change all that, everyone in Japan would buy a 360 once that game was released.

after the 4th delay it get's released and sales for the 360 barely move. NOW they are going on about the two RPG's from Sakaguchi, like he is going to suddenly sell millions of 360's in japan just cause of his games.

Sure he made final fantasy (or is it Dragon quest?) but that was how many years ago? when games like that weren't exactly abundant, Now you have so many companies doing RPG's that it's hard to tell them apart at times. He's starting two whole new franchises, They have never released an Xbox game before, no one knows what to expect from the game (there isn't exactly a whole lot to go off of, cause you always can remember Fable, everytime they talked about it they would talk about ALL the stuff in the game, in the videos you rarely saw anything, it was released and had nothing they said it would). So naturally the Japanese are taking a wait and see approach.

Maybe the game will be a great RPG and revitalize the RPG genre (doubtfull), Maybe it will fail misserably, who knows but there won't be any mass 360 movements untill they start thinking more about the region and that they NEED more Japanese centric (aka LONG &/or FUN) games, not countless sports, Racing & FPS'.

It's a cultural thing

[The-Bus]

Let us for a minute forget that Microsoft's software lineup was less than thrilling. Let us also cast aside that the 360 is/was geared (mainly) towards FPSs and online gaming, neither of which are as big in Japan as they are here. Let's ignore that it was a console following up on the catastrophic failure (in Japan at least) that was the original Xbox.

Even if we wipe the slate clean, and a new American company comes out with a system in Japan, and it had some interesting games for that market, the mere fact that it's American causes some contempt among the Japanese. To put it in other terms, this is like asking why Toyotas don't sell better amongst American UAW union workers. Or why France doesn't have a major California wine festival. From my understanding of speaking with people who live(d) in Japan, there is a very big sense of nationalism with video games, more so than in any other country. The three superpowers of the last two decades, Sony, Sega and Nintendo, were all Japanese. It is almost offensive to suggest to a Japanese customer that Microsoft could do a better job than the homegrown heroes.

Simply put, the deck was stacked against Microsoft from the very beginning.

This is not to say that Microsoft is at a complete loss with the 360 in Japan, but certainly some of those resources could be better used at launching that console more strongly in other markets where this console xenophobia may not exist. Maybe India. Maybe it's China. Or Korea. Maybe it's another country. (Look at the estimated makeup of internet-connected Xbox 360 owners around the globe). My guess is Blizzard is not focusing on Japan as WoW's third biggest market.

It would take some amazing feat, like Zelda, Biohazard and Dragonquest all launching only on the next Xbox, for Microsoft to be anywhere near the top in Japan. That's not going to happen, so you need to focus your resources where they are best spent. And it's not Japan.

If that seems depressing, think of the executives in Japan that can't seem to understand why dating sims and DOA-based patchinko games aren't automatic big sellers here. I don't think they're losing much sleep over it.

Re:It's a cultural thing

[Anonymous Coward]

The argument that the XBox does poorly in Japan simply because it is American is false and represents a gross misunderstanding of Japaneese culture; in fact in many ways it is American Culture is cool in Japan (in a similar way to how Japaneese culture is cool in North America). The problem is that the XBox is a system that is designed around the American Hard-Core gamer with the exclusion of all others; when you look at the line-up of games for the XBox you'll see mostly Racing games, First/Third person shooters and Sports games (games that are important in North America but not in Japan).

Basically, saying the XBox is unpopular in Japan because it is American is like saying that Hello Kitty backpacks are unpopular with North American teenagers because the backpacks are Japaneese.

Re:It's a cultural thing

[dancingmad]

Even if we wipe the slate clean, and a new American company comes out with a system in Japan, and it had some interesting games for that market, the mere fact that it's American causes some contempt among the Japanese.

That must be why the Sony MP3 player is trouncing Apple's iPod in Japan.

Wait a second, no it's not. I'm really sick of armchair cultural studies. The entire time I lived in Japan, people picked items based on their percieved quality and/or hipness. I was in Japan for the Xbox360 launch - there was no reaction in Den Den Town. The thing is considered un-hip and bulky. Not because it's American, but because it sucks. The iPod is stylish. The Xbox360 is a lame copy of Apple style. Any Japanese with enough disposable income to pick them up (and I know, my girlfriend bought a nano and helped me buy a couple of DS Lites) would probably pick up on that and base some of their purchasing desicion around it. That's based on all the 20-somethings I knew.

It wasn't that it wasn't American (do you think 10 year old kids care if the XBOX is American? They don't - they just know their favorite series is on the Nintendo DS or that all their friends have one).

That doesn't mean all American products are treated the same way. Dells tend to sell, as well as the iPod and Apple's computers. Sony's MP3 player, on the other hand, is doing nearly as badly there as it is here. American movies, American TV shows, American books are all popular. But any time some half-baked American product fails to make a splash in Japan, it's because the Japanese have "contempt" (read: racism) towards it.

Re:It's a cultural thing

[vilenin0]

This is all simply an echo of a larger issue most American business had in the 80's - and one that is currently occuring again in China. The Big Three (Two) American Automakers couldn't complain louder about unfair practices that stimied auto sales in the Rising Sun, while Japanese cars couldn't lose market share if they tried in the US. All the while, it probably wouldn't have hurt Ford and Dodge to move the steering wheel to the other side and make their leviathan-sized autos just a _tad_ bit smaller.

My point though, is that the introduction of "American" products will always be met with some hesitation. I noticed three trends when it came to the introduction of American products in Nippon:

1. Products that have an already established and well marketed baseline will be met with resistance , if the introduced product is markedly different from the norm (Cars, video games, fashion)

2. Products that are uniquely "American," that fit a preconceived Japanese stereotype but does not contradict with point #1 will succeed. (MacDonald's comes to mind as the best example)

3. Products that pander to an international standard of design or one of Japanese inspiration will do well. The iPod, for example performed well because it fit Japanese design standards: small, convenient, focus on core product purpose, etc. Also, a friend of mine who is on the iPod design team studied in Japan for about 3-4 years, speaks Japanese fluently, etc. I make that point less to say that he single-handedly designed the device to meet sales, but to say that Apple clearly makes effort to appeal to Japanese standards as part of their product design

Re:It's a cultural thing

[Pearson]

Interesting point, especially considering that Sega was started by Americans. That's probably too far back to influence popular opinions, of course.

With regards to Microsoft's uphill battle in Japan, there is an interesting interview with Tom Kalinske (former head of Sega's US division) about how he managed Sega from only a 1% market share in the US to 50% in just 4 years. Perhaps MS can learn some tips. ;)

Re:It's a cultural thing

[JordanL]

I was going to mod you down, (-1, Troll), but I decided it would be more constructive, and more helpful to all the rest of slashdot, if I responded.

Your assertions are both simplistic and false. Japan has no real bias against American technology firms, nor American companies in general. The American concept of "pop culture" dictates a lot of what is popular in Japan, and the Japanese have no hate for American driven culture in the public sense.

Point and case: the iPod has been wildly successful in Japan, and is the number one selling MP3 player in Japan by a wide margin, despite the fact that Apple is VERY much an American company.

The problem for Microsoft is two-fold:

1. They don't understand the Japanese consumer. Japanese consumers are VERY different from American consumers. American consumers, more often than not, follow one of two basic buying templates: they buy based on hype, or they buy based on function. Japanese consumers, generally speaking, buy on these three principals, in this order: 1. Brand (has this company sold quality products in the past) 2. Form & Community (Will it look cool wearing it/Will I easily be able to use this with other people I know) 3. Function (Does it have all of the features I am looking for).

Microsoft fails all three counts drastically with the 360, which brings me to the second problem for Microsoft.

2. Microsoft faces a very negative connotation in Japan. Most Japanese people see Windows for what it is: a bulky, bloated, lazy piece of insecure code that isn't worth a fourth as much as Microsoft charges for it, and only survives because of strongarm techniques and an active monopoly.

The Japanese people resent this; nearly as much as the average slashdotter.

So the problem is not that American companies face negative connotations, it's that Microsoft does, and it doesn't help that Microsoft entered a field that where TWO other companies have all three important consumer points in Japan.

So next time you see that the Japanese consumer passed by a display of 30 X360's to buy a DS, don't tag it to racism. Just cry more noob.

Re:It's a cultural thing

[Ohreally_factor]

The ipods success in Japan versus the xbox's lack there of has to do with the fact that there has not been a historical dominance in portable mp3 players by japanese companies.

No, but Japanese have a long tradition of manufacturing audio products.

But the real reason the iPod has been such a success is that Apple is more Japanese-y than Sony, in terms of industrial design. Jobs and Ives both get it.

Makes it hard to buy a 360 in the US too

[SuperKendall]

The 360 is a pretty nice platform, I've used it a bit - but the reason I am relunctant to buy one is the same reason I'm pretty set on buying a PS3 (and a Wii) - Japanese game makers. A lot of the stuff I have enjoyed the most on a console is really the stuff that comes from Japan.

The PS3 is looking even better in that regard as I believe the US and Japan are supposed to be in the same region as far as games go - no more chipping to play games from Japan directly.

I don't know how, but Microsoft really needs to work much harder to get some Japanese studio support or they will have long-term problems in other countries, not just Japan.

MS dont get it.

[Turn-X Alphonse]

MS doesn't get the Japanese market, they keep acting like 1 or 2 games is going to change the entire fate of a system.

Best example is from 2channel a few months back, Bandai announced Gundam Gashapon wars. Featuring a truck load of fan favour robots which hadn't been seen in a game since the SNES era. The forum post had about 50 people going "I would of bought it, but it's on the gamecube so I'll pass" or bitching about it being on the gamecube.

Japan doesn't like the Xbox, it doesn't matter what games they put on it, it just won't compete with the DS and the PS2 currently. When the PS3 comes out and the Wii, it will be the next Gamegear/Lynx/Your dead console of choice here.

Sony got something right (sort of)

[fujiman]

I think the 360 is doing poorly in Japan because of expectation. The Japanese consumers expect the 360 to have (more or less) the same content as the original Xbox. And so far, they've been right.

Sure there are some great games coming up, but MS needs to convince them that this is not a "one off" thing. Sony's chief exec said that the PS3 is about potential, and he's right. When a gamer buys a console, they look for a system that will provide the desired experience now... and years down the road.

I don't think the Japanese are anti-american on this, but it takes a long time to change perception. MS needs a string of good J-friendly releases over time to do this. Maybe the perception will change in time for the next Xbox.

One more thing

[gullevek]

Mobile phones. Most poeple tend to play this nowadays. The typical Otaku culture changed a bit. There no more super long queues for game releases or hardware releses, well there are, but they are far from what they were.

And at the end, its all about the games. Why would anyone buy a new console, if he/she can get the same games for the PS2 which is already in their homes. Most of them are casual games, and none of them are online RPG playes.

Third, the biggest craze in Japan are "brain train games". Both top sellers for the PSP and the Nintendo DS are brain train games. Japan follows crazes. There is the "black chocolate craze", "the brian train game craze", ... its a group thing here. People buy what is Number one and not what is the best. Everywhere you have the "top 3 super famous best selling things". Mobile phones, cameras, or whatever ...

MS is out of the loop here and to be honest, they will stay out. The next big thing could only be the Wii. Half of my japanese colleges are all over it. "So cheap" "looks so much fun" ... Well, just my two foreigner-in-japan Yen