CadetMahoney
Member
Indeed.Vire said:
I love Vanquish and Bayonetta.
Although I'm still butthurt over not being able to beat the last mission on Vanquish.
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Xbox 360 dead in Japan? (EDGE)
- Thread starter Ninja Kn1ght
- Start date
I love Vanquish and Bayonetta.
Although I'm still butthurt over not being able to beat the last mission on Vanquish.
Admiral Bone to Pick
Banned
Kazerei said:
I imagine that a lot of Japanese gamers felt they could do without these titles. Lost Odyssey felt like a poor man's Final Fantasy, and many of the other games released were either inferior to other iterations in their series or just poor games. Tales of Vesperia was a great game (which is likely why it sold the most and pushed the most 360s), but the PS3 port was inevitable.
like a dragon said:
FFXIII, when it was finally released on 360 in Japan, managed to do 20K LTD... which isn't terrible I suppose. I imagine XIII-2 will be around 100K or so, depending on how active the userbase is... and how many of them don't already own a PS3. It will be interesting to say the least. Biohazard 5 did about that much on 360, but that was back when the console was still at its peak.
On one side, Japan is already completely dominated by dedicated handhelds above anything else. On the other is the possibility of the West completely dumping dedicated handhelds over home consoles and smartphones. There is a damn good topic to be discussed when putting these two topics together, namely in that it is completely and utterly possible that the taste for games in the West and in Japan have diverged to a point that makes them completely irreconcilable.
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
There you go.Dunan said:
Syphon Filter
Member
Sony gave out free ps3's with a bravia t.v purchase. Also to your comment on they buy reliable hardware,then how come xbox 1 sold less and it was more reliable than ps2[ps2 had DRE] and 360. Also 360 does well in UK too.commedieu said:
Lord_Byron28
Member
This is absolutely ridiculous. Japan developers all around sold significantly less this gen on consoles and their influence is notably less as well. However, there are still a lot of Japanese developed games that are important in the console market. People are still going to care where the next Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter, etc. are going. It may not matter as much but hardware manufacturers would be stupid to ignore the Japanese games that do sell millions and the other smaller franchises that sell hundreds of thousands will follow wherever the big Japanese games go. Microsoft was also pretty lucky that the PS3 tanked so that so many major japanese developed games became 360/PS3 games. Microsoft would have to be very foolish if they ignored that audience or thought they would automatically get support from them next gen. There is still a sizable amount of people in the west that enjoy Japanese made games.tinfoilhatman said:
Also, this entire post completely ignores the fact that Nintendo is the biggest software developer/publisher in the industry.
InfiniteNine said:
Awesome.
The Japanese version is just fine for Fatal Inertia as even the most beautiful translation isn't going to improve the game that much. The text-heavy RPGs, on the other hand; those I want to play in English.
Just thought of another bonus: I could play Nier Gestalt in Japanese! I prefer Father Nier over the hackneyed teenage boy and Dad's version wasn't made for the J-PS3.
FieryBalrog
Member
How can the console market in China be less important than Japan? After all China has 10 times the population.Kyon said:
Here's the thing, consoles in general are stagnant or in decline in Japan.
tinfoilhatman said:
I'm just speaking from what i've seen in stores. We sell at least 3 SSFIV, MK, or MvC 3 everyday, and thats to people who dont really seem all that hard core. They usually make a passing comment about how they havent played one since "back in the day", so I still think their making a decent comeback.
Certainly not as much as this generation's genre flavor, but still a lot.
Sony gives free PS3s with Bravias AND Vaios, now.
And Mortal Kombat has just sold 3 million copies. It will outsell SFIV in less than two months, despite not even being released in Asia and Australia. The whole "only hardcore play fighters" comment has no merit whatsoever. Even serie that aren't as recognizable as MK (Tekken, SC) sell in the millions.
And Mortal Kombat has just sold 3 million copies. It will outsell SFIV in less than two months, despite not even being released in Asia and Australia. The whole "only hardcore play fighters" comment has no merit whatsoever. Even serie that aren't as recognizable as MK (Tekken, SC) sell in the millions.
Syphon Filter
Member
No they still do it and in the u.s.iceatcs said:Only in Australia which it is far smaller market. And only 35,000 to give away. My uncle have missed out.
like a dragon said:
So why didn't the original XBOX sell? A Final Fantasy game 3 or 4 years into the life cycle did not change the destiny of the system at launch. The Mistwalker stuff, Vesperia, Star Ocean, shmups, and the dating sims provided software that appeals to distinctly Japanese Audiences and the RROD fiasco didn't really become a big deal until about 12 months out. What other problems do the Japanese consumers have with the 360?
OldJadedGamer
Banned
iceatcs said:Only in Australia which it is far smaller market. And only 35,000 to give away. My uncle have missed out.
They did it last year in the US as well... well, not for TV's but if you bought a Sony Vaio laptop.
http://www.studentbuyingguide.com/2010/08/free-ps3-with-student-sony-vaio-purchase-today/
FINALFANTASYDOG
Member
Ratrat said:
The 10,000 yen for the reach promotion is a bit disingenuous, It was a single store doing a special promotion with limited numbers as a loss leader.
The 100 yen game was a different store that was doing inventory stock cleaning. I went to the store, basically any game you would want was gone by late afternoon.
Unless the author is talking about 100-500 yen used games, which you can find sometimes with Blue Dragon, Tales of Vespia games that had insane print runs.
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
Also good news! A friend of mine told me the US version of Mass Effect is region free so you're alright on that front too.Dunan said:
Also this handy list of games that work on JP region consoles:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29913
OldJadedGamer
Banned
Duxxy3 said:
They should... just a soft launch. Think 3DO in Japan then they should pile all the money that would have gone to Japan to Europe since the US is a given.
Uno Venova
Banned
Was there a confirmation that those PS3's sold with Bravias were counted in NPD numbers?
Zuhzuhzombie!!
Member
commedieu said:
Only if you're a student.
specialguy
Banned
One of the biggest surprise to me this gen is that MS was able to beat PS3 in worldwide sales (looks like it's going to happen) despite being a non player in Japan. There was no way I though that could happen. Since PS3 essentially had one of the big 3 markets uncontested.
That's because Japan became increasingly small as a console market this gen.
That's because Japan became increasingly small as a console market this gen.
Phonomezer
Banned
iceatcs said:Only in Australia which it is far smaller market. And only 35,000 to give away. My uncle have missed out.
It wasn't only in Australia, it was in quite a few countries and Sony included those 30,000 free Bravia PS3's in their Australian 2007 sales PR. There have been Bravia/PS3 deals since.
As for the Windows 7/Xbox 360 promotion
xbhaskarx said:
By the time the hardware was fixed, the software was pretty much gone. Compare to the PS3, which fixed its loud, clunky, overpriced hardware around when software finally started coming online, and is now behaving more like an '09 launch than an '06.
The X360 has its troubles in Japan in large part because MS is so schizophrenic about the region. They'll rain $25m budgets down on the most unlikely of developers, see what a dumb idea that was, and reverse course for a couple years until a new division head decides it's his turn to take a shot at Japan. This leads to a platform with wild boom-bust cycles both in developer support and in software releases; with a used-games market as vibrant as Japan's, this means that the 360 itself gets traded in during lulls, and each boom cycle has had a far smaller installed base than would be implied by LTD sales.
Japan is certainly winnable by an American company willing to back its product. The iPhone is doing amazing numbers; it's the single most popular handset and is cutting heavily into what had been a domestic-only market. It's just a matter of having the whole package there at one time.
makingmusic476
Member
The money they invested in the Japanese market earlier this generation would've probably been much more effective had it been used to establish a better footing in mainland Europe. They spent a decent chunk of change pursuing Japanese exclusives and improving Xbox Live in the region, and I think investing that money solely in making Xbox Live more enticing to mainland European areas (or available at all, looking at parts of Eastern Europe) would've helped them considerably more longterm.
I think now they'll have a hard time battling Steam and PSN in Europe given how they've already entrenched themselves in that market.
I think now they'll have a hard time battling Steam and PSN in Europe given how they've already entrenched themselves in that market.
Rhazer Fusion
Member
Imo, Microsoft shouldn't even waste time bringing the next Xbox to Japan unless they are willing to lose even more money off of it. It's doing good in the West, so that will probably be enough for them.
makingmusic476
Member
That seems like it'd be a bad idea for third party support. I can see a lot of smaller and mid-tier Japanese developers writing Microsoft's next console off completely if it's not even sold in their own territory.Rhazer Fusion said:
I'm sure Microsoft is seriously considering this idea. I personally think their next system will release in Japan but they will no longer waste millions(hundreds of millions?) trying to persuade Japanese gamers to buy the system. At this point, MS realizes there is absolutely nothing they can do to increase sales in Japan. So why continue wasting so much money.Rhazer Fusion said:
iceatcs said:Only in Australia which it is far smaller market. And only 35,000 to give away. My uncle have missed out.
Um:
a) It wasn't just in Australia
b) IN Australia, they've given away somewhere far closer, and probably over 100,000 of them. Which is actually a fair chunk of the userbase here, because people actualyl buy Bravias.
If Nintendo or Microsoft wanted to give away as many as Sony has attached to products that actually sell, they'd need to give them away with Samsung or Panasonic TVs.
Upsidedown Fuji
Member
From what I've experienced in Japan it really depends on where you're shopping for XBOX games that counts. If you go to a big name electronics store like Yamada Denki, Bic Camera, or Kojima you may or may not find much stock space or competitive pricing. But used game stores generally have a larger stock of XBOX games and depending on the game you may have a higher resell value on it.
I remember when I first got here back in 2005 the original XBOX was pretty much glossed over by all stores, used or not. When I started working here in 2007, the 360 semed to be just as unpopular but over the past few years, I've noticed its much easier to find XBOX 360 goods. It may not be as widespread as PS3 or Wii, its still bigger than the original XBOX.
I think the 360 this time around is doing good considering Japan's market and preference of made in Japan products. There's room for XBOX in Japan although it may never reach #1 here, it has a permanent foothold. This is just my observation.
I remember when I first got here back in 2005 the original XBOX was pretty much glossed over by all stores, used or not. When I started working here in 2007, the 360 semed to be just as unpopular but over the past few years, I've noticed its much easier to find XBOX 360 goods. It may not be as widespread as PS3 or Wii, its still bigger than the original XBOX.
I think the 360 this time around is doing good considering Japan's market and preference of made in Japan products. There's room for XBOX in Japan although it may never reach #1 here, it has a permanent foothold. This is just my observation.
Perhaps but considering they must have spent millions, I'm sure MS is not happy they only managed to get to a distant 3rd place. It will be interesting to see how MS handles the next Xbox. I can just imagine what would happen if they decide not to bother with the Japanese market. I can picture the headlines :Upsidedown Fuji said:
"Xbox banished from Japan"
"Japan market not important enough for MS"
"Sony and Nintendo kick Xbox out"
I'd like to see it happen just to see all those wacky headlines.
Rhazer Fusion
Member
makingmusic476 said:
Do majority of Japanese developers even have presence of the X360 in Japan?
Rhazer Fusion
Member
Camilos said:
Yep. That is exactly how I feel. Why keep wasting so much time and millions promoting and pushing something that Japan clearly doesn't want. Also, the day of exclusives are unfortunately getting much thinner, so there are even less reasons to buy a Microsoft system when Sony essentially has 95% of the same library.