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View Full Version : Microsoft Off to Slow Start in Japan


Justin Buser
13-12-2005, 03:56 AM
Microsoft is off to a bit of a slow start in Japan, at December 13 they had sold just 28% of their Xbox 360 supplies - how about sending some of those extra units overseas for those who might appreciate them more!

Microsoft Corp., the second-largest maker of video game systems, sold 28 percent of Xbox 360 consoles on store shelves in Japan, according to preliminary figures from market researcher Media Create Co.

Microsoft sold 41,817 consoles in the first two days since the Xbox 360 was introduced on Dec. 10 in Japan, Tokyo-based Media Create said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday. The researcher will publish revised figures tomorrow.

``It sounds like a pretty weak start,'' said Eiji Maeda, a video game industry analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo. ``It will be important to watch how sales are in the last week before Christmas.''

The consoles sell for 37,900 yen ($316), excluding tax, and come with a 20-gigabyte external hard disk drive. In the U.S. and Europe, Microsoft offered consoles for the equivalent of $299 without the hard-disk drive and $399 with the drive. Microsoft said it expects to ship 3 million units globally within the first 90 days and 5.5 million units by June.

Yoshihiro Maruyama, the head of Japan's Xbox operations, in September said Microsoft ``can't call it a victory unless we win in Japan.'' The company's first Xbox was outsold by Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 about 36-to-one in the country.

Link (http://www.planetxbox360.com/?view=article&article=654)

jt_mares
13-12-2005, 04:14 AM
36 to 1?? ouch! So what is everyone playing in japan if there are stil 360's on shelves, collecting dust? yay for crappy ps2 games!! IMO japan is caught up in its own hype thats its the video game "center of the world". they are just stuck in the anime-esque (gag me) single player rpgs (all i need is kotor, and elder scrolls) sorry, im not interested in a thousand horrible games with an evil wizzard wizzard at the end of each game. uis it just me or have they not yet disovered what ms is taking advantage of (and will take the market because of, eventually) that "it is good to play together" and LIVE is the shining star of gaming in the previous gen. those great thinkers in tokyo have yet to discover that no AI no matter how realistic will ever be as entertaining as playing alonside your friends, or blasting them with a rocket launcher from ten feet away

Wickedone82
13-12-2005, 05:26 AM
how about sending some of those extra units overseas for those who might appreciate them more!
I have to Quote Matt .

Why if theyre not selling supply the market that is Fearlessly waiting for preorder fulfillment and get our supply back to the us and lets get the american kids gaming so they drop out of school and buy xbox games! =o)


WE AS AMERICANS DESERVE OUR 360'S !

Mojohands
13-12-2005, 07:18 AM
I am really suprised by this. I think that it speaks directly to a lack of games for that market.

Cybergig1
13-12-2005, 07:44 AM
sure does, the 3 day tally now shows they sold around 62,000 of the 159,000 they set up for launch day there. Thats half what the original xbox sold in its first 3 days at about 123,000 thousand.

But fact is they dont have games they want yet. Reports were lots cancelled their preorders once DOA4 was pushed back. And JT sorry but thats small minded bud. You can't knock on them because the games coming out aren't what they like. Thats at the end of the day MS' fault. They wanted to launch and didn't have the games. So now they have to accept the outcome. I'm sure they expect to sell more later once those games they have geared towards them come out. But thats childish to blame the japanese for liking what they like. I'm sure if someone ragged on you for like FPS' or something you'd huff up and start ranting. So dont turn into a hypocrit. They didn't get upset they simply excorcised their right to not buy something that offered them anything. To them why pay 350ish+ dollars for a system they'll never play when they could pick up 2-3 games for 150 bucks that they will play. Thats the bottom line, you can gripe all day long but thats how it works. Power is nothing its all about the games. Its the same for you and most of us only inversed. You wouldn't buy a ps2 probably because you dont like the games, so same exact thing. Next generation or not noone wants a 400 dollar paper weight.

Frankly I'm not surprised at all especially after they pushed DOA4 back and Enchanted Arms which was the only real selling point they had going for the Japanese market. Hopefully though those games and others like them will come out quickly. Because sorry if MS doesn't think like the Japanese for once and not with the opinion of some of those here they will fail again in Japan. They have to make games they like in that country regardless of what some people think of them.

Wickedone82
13-12-2005, 08:19 AM
^^ Word ^^

Couldn't have said it better my self.

Mojohands
14-12-2005, 09:24 AM
Well put as always Cyber. This problem will be further enhanced as we get closer and closer to the release of the PS3.