PS3 wins Console war in japan.

[blu-mike]

Xbox 360 in June at last hit a new milestone, 1.5 million units sold in Japan since debuting back in 2005, and this year sales have seen fall almost 47% as the Microsoft product has been bought by only 72,721 units (according to Media Create). This sparks the word from Japan is that many retailers are looking at inventory and deciding whether or not to even put Xbox 360 on their stock anymore.

Geo, for instance, which is among one of Japan’s biggest specialist retailers, is set to scaling back its Xbox 360 business. Even worse, electronics retailer Yamada Denki in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, announced that the company is throwing off 360 hardware and software from the most of its stores nationwide, and the strategy is to move everything that has been left at a huge discount.

At other smaller, specialist stores, Xbox 360 consoles and games are now commonly found in bargain bins, selling Xbox 360 titles for as little as ¥100 (about $1.30). There was even a store selling the Halo: Reach hardware bundle for ¥9,980 (just $130).

Microsoft was never in a decent position in Japan, where gamers typically choose games and hardware from Japanese firms such as Sony and Nintendo, but the problems arised for the Xbox business has never looked worse. The company hasn’t give a response on the chaotic situation and reaction from retailers, but as recently as July, Microsoft did make a separate Interactive Entertainment unit in Japan, headed by Takashi Sensui.

Sensui has referenced that Kinect sales have flopped to really make a dent in Japan either, unlike in Western regions where Microsoft has seen great momentum from their peripheral, Kinect.

Microsoft is widely expected to launch a successor to Xbox 360 (Possibly, Xbox 720) in the next 2-3 years, and one has to wonder if the company should use their resources to investing in Japan at all in the next round when the gamers there have never been receptive to the brand or products.

http://myona.com/2011/08/16/in-japan...over-xbox-360/

[Chiyo_chichi]

Honestly MS was never much real competition in Japan.

Article doesn't mention Nintendo/Wii though...has Sony topped them?

[Psx0005]

Good read, but honestly not surprising. My question is, what does the numbers in Japan do for the overall numbers that the PS3 is selling worldwide.

[Septimus Prime]

What console war in Japan? Xbox's presence in Japan is about as threatening and war-like as a guy throwing rocks at an aircraft carrier.

[RaijinUT]

There was a consol war in Japan between Sony and Microsoft

Maybe Nintendo and Sony... but Microsoft was never even in the ball park

[ZIPPO]

MS lost the last generation too...
Unless MS gets must have Japanese game exclusives, they will continue to place last in Japan. Maybe a partnership/merger with or purchase of a company like Sega would help their efforts in Japan.

[MOONPHASE]

Japanese only bought Xbox 360s for the many Xbox 360 exclusive ports of visual novels, anime style shoot 'em up games, Idolm@ster, Tales of Vesperia(before it came out on PS3), Dream Club, and just whatever other anime-style games that you can't really find anywhere else. But games like that are in the niche crowd of people even in Japan with many otaku. So in other words, they bought Xbox 360s for the same kinds of games I would love to play if Xbox 360 was region free. But quite a few of those games have been ported to PSP and a couple for PS3 which are both region free systems.

Nintendo gets most of its sales in Japan by the DS. PSP though does give the DS some tough competition in Japan unlike here in America.

[perdition]

I don't think microsoft really cares if they win the "console war" in japan. And its not surprising that the a Japanese company would be an American company...in Japan.

[Darkhawk9587]

No surprise there. Japan has almost always supported Sony over Microsoft.

[ps3bd_owner]

Console war? You have way too much free time.

Originally Posted by Darkhawk9587

No surprise there. Japan has almost always supported Sony over Microsoft.

Sony's (& Nintendo) a Japanese company so they support them more than foreign companies.

[cardiackid]

Meanwhile.... Ice is cold

[TheTenth]

sad thing is that M$ wanted the Japanese market, so they bought exclusivity for The Last remnant, Infinite undiscovery, managed to make FFXIII multi platform and these games had many faults, first two because they were rushed, third because XBOX360 hardware had limitations and a full game would be 5-8 DVDs, so even when losing they had an influence on game releases

[ps3bd_owner]

Originally Posted by TheTenth

sad thing is that M$ wanted the Japanese market, so they bought exclusivity for The Last remnant, Infinite undiscovery, managed to make FFXIII multi platform and these games had many faults, first two because they were rushed, third because XBOX360 hardware had limitations and a full game would be 5-8 DVDs, so even when losing they had an influence on game releases

If they didn't only rely on discs and allow to download the data from Xbox LIVE Marketplace there'd be piratically no difference, graphics here and there could have a small difference but besides it, the same.

Console wars are bullshit and should end.

[Wingman1977]

I bet if MS was a Japanese company, the 360 would have sold in Japan.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by Wingman1977

I bet if MS was a Japanese company, the 360 would have sold in Japan.

Maybe if MS was a Japanese company -with an actual in house japanese Game studio- it would have done better?

Mistwalker first objective was to create JRPGs for a Western audience, not really the best way to win market shares there.

MS's politic of buying exclusives and content only worked for so long, and I can remember when the 360 outsold the PS3 on a few weeks the headlines were screaming "Xbox 4eva! Xbox is best! Xbox will win Japan!" (cf Kotaku and the likes)

A few weeks later ... splat.

There is no denying that Sony and Nintendo benefit from a national preference, but it works also in the US (albeit at a smaller scale), you only have to see the US game blogs and magazines to know that.

[Monkey]

Yup, just as some people in the U.S. buy a 360 because it is from an American company and don't buy a PS3 because it is Japanese.

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by Wingman1977

I bet if MS was a Japanese company, the 360 would have sold in Japan.

they would have sold but then, the PS3 didn't sell that much either. Japan is a handheld market now and will be so for the future

instead of focusing on the japanese market, they should focus more on the asian market (like China, India, South Korea, etc.)

[Clark Kent]

The Japanese market is very insular and basically xenophobic, they despise foreign brands for the most part. Microsoft never had any chance of winning any console war there.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The Japanese market is very insular and basically xenophobic, they despise foreign brands for the most part. Microsoft never had any chance of winning any console war there.

This was sort of flying until US brands like Apple started enjoying an immense success there

As I said, national preference is definitely a factor, but not in the amount it used to be in the 80s and 90s.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by cardiackid

Meanwhile.... Ice is cold

:chuckle: I think Honda does pretty well in Japan, too — no?

Seriously, though, what Clark Kent mentions in his post is pretty accurate from my experience. I work for a company that sells product on a global level, and we are killing in EVERY Asian market except for Japan. Guess where one of our only competitors is located and from where they manufature. Japan? Good guess. We simply cannot crack the market there because the Japanese buyers are incredibly loyal to their local manufacturers. Not that it's a bad thing or anything; it just is what it is. I would say that USA is like this but to a lesser extent. Japanese pride is very strong, and I'm glad that it is because that's a very unifying quality. I'm no cultural or economics expert or anything, so take this Internet forum post for what it is, but I will say that the Japanese market shows this attribute more so than any I've seen.