Xbox 360 having poor sales in Japan

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/12/13/japan.xbox360.ap/index.html



Their definition of exclusive is very different from mine.

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More than half of initial shipment remained on shelves after two days, fewer than one game sold per console.
From a sellout at the Shibuya Tsutaya Shopping Center Xbox 360 launch party to stacks of unwanted systems piled up behind store counters, anecdotal evidence of the success or failure of Microsoft's latest attempt to get a foothold in Japan was everywhere this weekend. Today some actual numbers are trickling in.

Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has released Xbox 360 sales figures gathered by its internal research firm over the system's first two days of release. According to the report's findings, sales of Microsoft's new console have been "slightly slow" so far.

Of an estimated 159,000 units shipped to retail, Enterbrain reports that 62,135 of them were sold to customers Saturday and Sunday. However, perhaps most surprising is that Enterbrain's research found a game-to-system tie ratio of only .91, meaning that a number of people bought the system with no game at all. These numbers are by no means final, however. Another report by Media Create cited only 41,817 units being sold in the system's first two days.

According to Enterbrain, the best-selling 360 game of the weekend was Namco's Ridge Racer 6, which sold 29,891 copies. The runners-up were lagging far behind, however--Perfect Dark Zero came in second with 14,897 games sold, and Need for Speed Most Wanted took third place with 6,842 moved out the door.

Enterbrain cautions that the success of the 360 launch cannot be judged by these numbers alone, as key games developed with the Japanese market in mind, such as Dead or Alive 4 and Enchant Arm, have been delayed to later in the system's three-month "launch window." Dead or Alive 4 in particular could spur system sales; the Xbox-exclusive Dead or Alive 3 sold 217,149 units.

Comparing the 360's numbers with those of the original Xbox's 2002 launch in Japan, the 360 appears to be lagging a bit behind. In its first weekend, the Xbox reportedly sold 123,929 systems. While that's almost double the 360's numbers, that figure includes an extra day of sales; the Xbox launched on a Friday, while the 360 came out on a Saturday. Of more relevance is the tie ratio. The original Xbox managed to sell 1.45 games per Xbox console.

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JP ONRY ^^

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

rofl microsoft sucks at life

fixed

I was playing my DS in my last period class because I had all the work done, and some guy asked me why it had 2 screens and said he never understoond why, so I just mumbled something so he'd leave... but kinda on topic, he asked if I had an xbox and I said "yeah right".. .no clue what it was to do with not selling in japan other than microsoft being in the wrong business here but Idk just skip this post everyone

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[In Yarr we trust.]

You're retarded.

I think Microsoft should have just stuck with a US only release, they obviously didn't learn from last time, lol. That article said the Market Share in Japan was 80% PS2, 5% XBox, i mean sheesh, lol.

They sold less games than consoles too, wtf, lol. Now considering that most consoles LOSE money on consoles, but make it back on game sales, that means Microsoft probably lost (or is going to lose) a ton of money by releasing XB360 there.

As far as I was aware, the Japanese very much dislike culture outside of their own. The very fact that the console was made outside of Japan is enough to turn most of them off, never mind the fact that most of the games for it were probably designed with Americans in mind. The Japanese need like Anime, cute colourful puzzles and RPGs and stuff. They don't play FPS and wargames and stuff like amerians, lol. Go look at a list of Japanese released games for like PS2 or GBA or something, you'll see most of them are nothing like games you play at home.

They're probably loyal to the bone too. The fact the entire gaming population probably grew up with Nintendo's or Sony's means they're just not gonna want to switch out of principle.

xbox has always done terrible abroad. BUt what i find smuggly amusing is that the 360 was primarily designed to appeal to japanese gamers.
I read an artical once about how much time, effort, and money microsoft put in to have this sell in Japan and other asian countries. And it still flops.

There was a deal going around too. FFXI Beta for Xbox 360 was a bonus at some locations (I think probably the main retail outlet that sold out) I couldnt say for sure.

This system really really bombed. To give it some contrast Xbox sold 200k at launch. It seems that the Japanese are not as stupid as the americans. lol Xbox sucks.

oh dont get me wrong, im retarded cause Im gonna pick up xbox if I dont get it for christmas and im gonna grab 360 when the price drops or it starts going used.

yea ill probably end up picking up xbox360 just for PD0, really wish it stayed onGC lol

so about the .91 game/console sales figure...

1. maybe they only care about getting an xbox360 for xbox game?
2. maybe they are buying the console (thinking that they can sell it on ebay.jp?)
3. maybe they only care about the FFXI beta for XBOX360?
4. maybe they just want to hack the box and run linux on it? (lol )

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well what is against xbox in JP markets

-its large, bulky, awkward. In space conscience Japan this is a huge turn off. Not so much so in the US, but "having no where to put it" is just one more major reason not ot buy it in the first place.

-Not backed by Japanese game developers. JP people don't want to play our half assed sports games they can already get on ps2 if they wanted to.

-nothing wildly new, innovative, for xbox 360.


I'm really curious how ffxi 360 will do in Japan. Since the vast majority of players are connected via a ps2.

- Xbox360 is the exact same weight as a PS2 with a HardDrive. It is also roughly the same size.

- Japanese gamers who buy one are either 1. Going to buy FFXI for it. 2. going to buy the new RPG that is supposedly coming from Mistwalker Studios (full of old Square employees). Mistwalker is a Japanese Developer and it is basically most of the development team behind FFVII.

- Sure whatever you people are a bunch of Sony fanboys who can't see through your own bullshit. I owned all 3 last gen consoles. They all have their advantages. Pure hardware aside the Xbox only had one exceptional RPG.

- I worked at a EB for about 5 months. The majority of the people came in there asking "Yo dawg when the new Madden comin out?". Guess what they were mostly PS2 gamers... some Xbox gamers but really most people play PS2 anyway because they can't afford all 3 consoles.

Oh and also Tecmo will make games for Xbox360 also. Like probably the next Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive 4 etc. Not to mention MS bought out Rare.. which is also a Japanese developer lol. PDZ was pretty cool and Kameo wasn't bad either. Yes both of them should have come out on GC but they didn't and Rare doesn't usually rush their games due to wanting to make quality games (They learned this from working with Nintendo).

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

Eternus use your connections and find out when my goddamn preorder is coming in!! They said MS said before Christmas, but nothing yet.

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WHM75/BST 72/SMN37/BLM37/BRD37/THF 15
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Retired, I WIN!

Ok thats lame lol. I worked for EB a while ago. The only guy who still works there I bet when I did was the manager Tom Stemp and I fucking hate that douchebag. Guess MS is sucking hardcore on getting systems manufactured and I am sure there are hardware failures. Every launch has problems with hardware haha. But this supply problem with Xbox360 is a very troubling sign. MS doesn't have their shit together obviously in that department.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs