Zeouterlimits
Member
A lot of software? A few titles did okay (Lost Odyssey, Vesperia), but what can you back that claim up with?Oemenia said:
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Xbox 360 dead in Japan? (EDGE)
- Thread starter Ninja Kn1ght
- Start date
LordPhoque
Banned
So the 360 is dead where it doesn't matter, and the PS3 is dead where it actually matters.
StoppedInTracks
Member
Bring on the 360 successor to Japan then, Microsoft. And get FF15 exclusivity. Or DQXI. Your choice.
Ronan_Berthelot
Member
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
They would need to make a portable to be relevant in Japan. It has little to do with being an American company. They maybe should have re-branded the machine in Japan as the Xbox name was seen as a negative given the first system's complete lack of Japanese software support. But ultimately, TV consoles are dead/dying in Japan, period.Raide said:
TheBanditKing
Member
Steve McQueen said:
Huh that list looks about how I would rank my favorite genre's as well (Racing would be higher and MMO would be below FPS).
StoppedInTracks said:
wouldn't help at all, the 360 audience just does not support JRPG's so why bother pursuing them for just one region? Besides the Japanese would just wait out the inevitable PS4 ports just like they did with the 360, I remember when Last Remnant was announced only for 360 and PC release and the PS3 version sat on Famitsu's most wanted list right up until the game was announced as cancelled.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
kokujin said:
Of course they'll be there... But most likely in iPhones or PCs (as indie games).
At most, they can end up on PSN/XBLA.
LordPhoque said:
durr herp derp derp
harSon said:
Because exclusivity for already niche games are BS? More people should get to experience these games, which is why I said they should have been multiplat to begin with, like the way idolmaster is now going.
StoppedInTracks said:
Add this to the herp derp derp pile as well. Hmmm... let's see we can just release on every platform (360, PS3, and WiiU) for millions of copies sold or go exclusive for tens of thousands in Japan? OK!
GuiltySpank
Banned
Who cares? The days when you have to succeed in Japan to succeed worldwide are long gone. There isn't a market more irrelevant than Japan from a business perspective. It has always been a symbolic gesture for Microsoft to launch a console there. As long as MS isn't losing money over there, it doesn't hurt them for Xbox 360 to have a small loyal fanbase in Japan.
Syphon Filter said:
DRE was definitely bad, but not nearly as bad as the RRoD; "lots of JRPGs" is probably overselling it, particularly in comparison to historical market leaders like the DS and PS2; and most importantly, the system is marketed at a particular demographic that doesn't really exist in Japan, from what I can tell. That doesn't mean that everything on the 360 is "dudebro," but that's like saying not everything on the Wii is "casual." It's technically true in both cases, but that isn't how many consumers viewed them because of how they were marketed and because, in both cases, most of the system-defining games were indeed "dudebro"/"casual." Both systems had difficulty breaking their respective molds even when a few games were released that tried to break out (although at least in the US, the 360 has now succesfully accomplished the task with Kinect).
I also think there is a bias against Western games amongst "hardcore" gamers in Japan similar to the bias against handhelds amongst "hardcore" gamers in the US.
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Realistically, import sales are probably very small for something like that (a thousand copies maybe?). I beleive their decision to go region free for a period was mostly as a gesture for their fans. They seem to be looking into different options now, such as self-publishing over Games on Demand, etc., which is probably why Akai Katana went back to being region-coded.Dai101 said:
D
Deleted member 81567
Unconfirmed Member
How did the original Xbox fare in Japan? I don't recall.
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Apparently, it was legendary in its failure, which is why I pondered if they should have released the 360 under a different name in Japan. It went up against the juggernaut that was the PS2 and had almost no software relevant to the region (no RPGs, etc.) and Microsoft made no effort to really attempt to do anything with it.Dr Eggman said:
JoshuaJSlone
Member
Well, it depends what you compare it to. It's an insane improvement over its predecessor, though.Zeouterlimits said:
Dr Eggman said:
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
The idea of DD games is what will actually allow those games to even exist in the near future (if not already).Dai101 said:
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
They might as well be all of my US games play fine. Only thing I ran into that I couldn't play is Deadly Premonition.jett said:
Ash Sparrow
Banned
They got too lazy in Japan. I felt they really dropped the ball, that said i expect that with a strong launch the next system could do better in Japan than the 360. They have never launched strong or error free there, systems scratching discs
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
99% of US released games are region-free, I think. Like, Final Fantasy XI is one of the only ones I've heard of that isn't.jett said:
I think the most compelling reason Microsoft might "give up" on Japan next generation is more broadly strategic than a simplistic answer like "it's hard to sell there:" I think both Microsoft and Sony are reconsidering the living-room-entertainment-hub philosophy.
I've mentioned this several times before, but it seems pretty clear that both Sony and Microsoft were hoping for a facsimile of the Windows monopoly with the Playstation/Xbox, except in people's living rooms. Your games, movies, music, etc. would all be streamed to your living room through a gaming box controlled by them. That's the most rational explanation for why both companies would be willing to bleed billions of dollars to stay in this market -- they think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
But two things have happened; first, it's no longer clear that anyone will ever really hold a "monopoly" in the games industry, as the Wii's dominance over the PS3 has made it unclear if anyone could ever really maintain market control for generations on end; second, even if this entertainment hub monopoly does coalesce, it's looking increasingly unlikely that the "winner" will be a home gaming console. Apple and Google are way ahead of both Sony and Microsoft in the "entertainment hub" market now, and took totally different approaches to get there.
So if the long term future of home consoles is in doubt (again, not that they're going away, just that they aren't leading to an entertainment-hub-monopoly-in-your-living-room), this has important short term strategic consequences for Microsoft. If you believe that, long term, you can accomplish a Windows-esque monopoly through extreme market power, then spending money in Japan makes sense. You'll need Japan if you want that sort of monopolistic leverage over the market more generally. However, if that isn't your long term plan anymore -- if there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow -- then your short term plan changes significantly. It no longer makes much sense to bleed money in a market just to establish market power.
I'm not saying this a foregone conclusion. I'm simply saying it's a possibility, and one I've seen some evidence for, given the recent statements and general positioning of products from execs at Sony/MS.
I've mentioned this several times before, but it seems pretty clear that both Sony and Microsoft were hoping for a facsimile of the Windows monopoly with the Playstation/Xbox, except in people's living rooms. Your games, movies, music, etc. would all be streamed to your living room through a gaming box controlled by them. That's the most rational explanation for why both companies would be willing to bleed billions of dollars to stay in this market -- they think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
But two things have happened; first, it's no longer clear that anyone will ever really hold a "monopoly" in the games industry, as the Wii's dominance over the PS3 has made it unclear if anyone could ever really maintain market control for generations on end; second, even if this entertainment hub monopoly does coalesce, it's looking increasingly unlikely that the "winner" will be a home gaming console. Apple and Google are way ahead of both Sony and Microsoft in the "entertainment hub" market now, and took totally different approaches to get there.
So if the long term future of home consoles is in doubt (again, not that they're going away, just that they aren't leading to an entertainment-hub-monopoly-in-your-living-room), this has important short term strategic consequences for Microsoft. If you believe that, long term, you can accomplish a Windows-esque monopoly through extreme market power, then spending money in Japan makes sense. You'll need Japan if you want that sort of monopolistic leverage over the market more generally. However, if that isn't your long term plan anymore -- if there is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow -- then your short term plan changes significantly. It no longer makes much sense to bleed money in a market just to establish market power.
I'm not saying this a foregone conclusion. I'm simply saying it's a possibility, and one I've seen some evidence for, given the recent statements and general positioning of products from execs at Sony/MS.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Dr Eggman said:
The original shipment never sold out..... think about that.
TheNatural
My Member!
RSLAEV
Member
After owning a Zune (ugh) and a 360 and watching Microsoft's behavior I get the feeling that success for Microsoft is just taking a decent sized share of the market away from your competitor and getting them to exhaust their resources by competing with you. I know they would have loved to have won the battle for the living room's entertainment hub, but I think their secondary objective was to split the market so that no one else would really win either.
D
Deleted member 81567
Unconfirmed Member
It really is odd how they still attempted to win over Japan. Looks like the Japanese won't change their brand and are absolutely faithful to Sony.Princess Skittles said:
diffusionx
Gold Member
Opiate said:
Not just reconsidering, but the living-room hub thing is absolutely dead. It's not happening. It made sense as an ideal back when everyone had a big beige box in their office - "hey why not move this thing under the TV and have it do all the TV stuff too" - but in these days of laptops and iPads and smartphones it is just irrelevant. It's not what people want, it's arguable that they ever wanted it.
Sony and MS are loading up services in an effort to move hardware, not because they think they can get a monopoly under your TV.
I don't see how this makes a huge deal in Japan though.
diffusionx said:
It makes loss leading less valuable, for starters. It makes subsidizing japanese games development less attractive. What would they be losing money for? To what end?
Spending millions for market power makes sense when you're focusing on monopolistic competition long term. It does not make sense if that monopoly no longer exists even conceptually.