Why Does The Xbox 360 Never Do Well In Japan?

[VegettoEX]

Again, folks... your own personal likes and dislikes about each system really have no relevance to the question being asked. Unless you live in Japan and/or can accurately and authoritatively respond to the original question, it's likely not contributing much to the discussion.

[MCDaveG]

Well, to attone from my little sins, I found some tidbit

http://kotaku.com/5012471/itagaki-expla ... r-in-japan

[Cipher]

I think it has a lot to do with Xbox's library too. A lot of its exclusive blockbuster titles are, as someone else said, first-person shooters, which have a very niche appeal in Japan.

I distinctly remember on my study abroad there in the summer of 2007, someone telling me Xbox was "for otaku." It's probably never been able to shake that image.

[coola]

In my opinion, one of main reasons why 360 doesn`t sell well, is because of 1st X-Box, correct me if I'm wrong, but i don`t remember any exclusive cute Japanese game on that system, 360 tried to change that, but it was too late, kinda similar, to Saturn/Dreamcast in USA/Europe (Because of lack of many games from Japan for Saturn, i would love to meet that "genius" who thought, that gamers outside of Japan wouldnt be interested in Japanese games}

[NitroEX]

Japan may never accept the Xbox and it's western games but I think in the end it worked out well for Microsoft globally. The Japanese aren't the trend setters they used to be when it comes to videogames like they were back in the 90s and even the early 2000s. All these anime styled turn based RPGs that Japan churns out no longer have mainstream appeal in the western market. it seems like only the Final Fantasy games garner any kind of notable popularity and even then I doubt it's anywhere near it's heyday on the Playstation 1 or whatever.

[Goten Forever]

Personally, I've never been a fan of motion control, which I see as just a gimmick that doesn't enhance gameplay, and on some occasions, it detracts from it. It's also brought with it a ton of third-party shovelware that many casual gamers seem to think are actually good. Give me a traditional controller any day. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't mean to sound like an elitist, but that's just my opinion.

You know what? I agree and always have done here. This is why I won't buy a Wii U and I think Kinect's games look TERRIBLE. My brother has a kinect but it needs about 30 square metres of space... not ideal for British homes which have about 70 square metres on the whole ground floor.

But any Xbox will break in some form about halfway through its warranty... if not a Red ring there will be a graphics problem not visible to those who haven't used a HDMI since it was bought but will get on the nerves of people like myself who have gotten used to its superb graphics and then had to deal with its flickering/rendering/grain/splitting problems. Only to send it for repair and recieve it back EXACTLY THE SAME like myself and not afford the phone bill to call Microsoft because they take two hours to answer and then end up passing your warranty.

Thieves.

But nevertheless, back on topic, there aren't many Anime-based xbox games where there are tonnes of Japanese appealing games released on PS3 and Nintendo. That's why many say in the West that Xbox games are better because different cultures have different appeals.

[Hellspawn28]

I mean I have both consoles and even I feel like an idiot for paying for Xbox Live when I can play online for free on the PS3. There is no difference in the online IMO.

PS3 does not have party chats or have in game chats from what from I've seen. I think the 360 is not that popular in Japan since it's a American made system. I have seen Japanese players on live since I played people from Japan in Ultimate Tenkachi, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Left 4 Dead. Most american stuff is never that popular in Japan like Mortal Kombat and Avatar: The Last Airbender for example.

I have both systems and I take the 360 since most of my friends play it. I haven't worry about paying Live in over a year since my 1 one year membership does not end until December of this year. Besides, the 360 is much more popular overseas which is why Square Enix, Capcom and Bandai Namco have put their newer games on the 360 (Like Devil May Cry 4, Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy 13 for example).

[Ashura]

Here's a couple interesting things about MS in Japan:

-The reason there were a lot of Xbox exclusive Japanese games which eventually got ported to PS3 is because MS Japan offered incentive for year long exclusivity on a lot of these titles. Essentially, they would pay money into development that helped deferred costs, which is why a lot of Japanese companies jumped on the 360 early on despite the limited install base.

-As of 2008/2009, MS has been trying to position themselves as a Japanese company in Japan, run in Japan, leadership in Japan, etc. etc. They've also been developing Japanese-centric mascots and what have you to try to strengthen their branding. There have also been attempts to massage the art on their releases to better fit the Japanese market (Crackdown -- known as Riot Act in Japan -- got a makeover in a Lupin the III style for instance.)

-On the interesting side of things, the 360 in Japan is sort-of the Saturn/Dreamcast's spiritual successor. If you're a shmup fan, the 360 is the system of choice over there, since most companies (Cave, et. al) who make shmups generally don't port them to PS3. This could be due to ease of port (IE: If it runs on Taito Type-X), or because of region locking (something that Cave has been pretty cool about not doing lately, surprisingly.)

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Personally, I've never been a fan of motion control, which I see as just a gimmick that doesn't enhance gameplay, and on some occasions, it detracts from it. It's also brought with it a ton of third-party shovelware that many casual gamers seem to think are actually good. Give me a traditional controller any day. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't mean to sound like an elitist, but that's just my opinion.

You know what? I agree and always have done here. This is why I won't buy a Wii U-

You have seen the U pad, right?

But then I've loved every instance of good motion control on the Wii (hint: they exist). Massive minority opinion.

Back on topic;

The summer of 2007, someone telling me Xbox was "for otaku." It's probably never been able to shake that image.

I nearly let out a hard bwahaha. But then loving obscure things is part of the Otaku label, and Xbox qualifies for that there.

That and Dream Club (I am ashamed that I know what that is )

[DBfan4life]

I mean I have both consoles and even I feel like an idiot for paying for Xbox Live when I can play online for free on the PS3. There is no difference in the online IMO.

PS3 does not have party chats or have in game chats from what from I've seen. I think the 360 is not that popular in Japan since it's a American made system. I have seen Japanese players on live since I played people from Japan in Ultimate Tenkachi, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Left 4 Dead. Most american stuff is never that popular in Japan like Mortal Kombat and Avatar: The Last Airbender for example.

I have both systems and I take the 360 since most of my friends play it. I haven't worry about paying Live in over a year since my 1 one year membership does not end until December of this year. Besides, the 360 is much more popular overseas which is why Square Enix, Capcom and Bandai Namco have put their newer games on the 360 (Like Devil May Cry 4, Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy 13 for example).

Yeah I like the fact that you can chat while in game or in big parties, that is one of the things I like about the Xbox 360.I meant just general gaming online when I said that, though I know there are some differences in there as well, but I don't want to get off topic.

Anyway, I don't think its unpopular because it is an American made product, I think its mostly the games. I mean, like someone else said, if you look at there library it is mostly shooters and such. Although I'm sure there are Japanese players who also play shooters, there are a lot more players that play other games that the 360 just doesn't provide. I mean if you look at the games released in Japan, there aren't as much shooters as there are in the U.S. Different culture different tastes is what I say.

[rereboy]

You can chat in the PS3 too.

[Fox666]

Not enough room in typical Japanese apartments to actually handle the space the Kinect needs to accurately read a person's movements.

[dbboxkaifan]

But any Xbox will break in some form about halfway through its warranty... if not a Red ring there will be a graphics problem not visible to those who haven't used a HDMI

You been to YouTube, haven't you? That's the typical crap it's said over there.

I know lots of people who own Xbox 360 and none of their 360's have broken down, nor mine nor my family member's console.

Kinect only needs about 1-2 metres, if more, better but not necessarily needed. I tried it myself and works perfectly with the minimum.

I don't really get where all the hating of the fanboys is coming from, guess they never tried it themselves and just feel like dissing it.

[Ashura]

Not to debate this, but the failure rate on _early_ Xbox360s was unusually high... some estimate up to 80%, though I doubt it's that high. Combine this with the fact that they would just send back fixed alternate units instead of newer ones every time you got one replaced further compounded the problem.

I went through 4 units over the span of a year and change before buying an Arcade that's lasted me since. The sad thing is I didn't (and don't) play it very much, so every time I would leave it sit for a few months and come back to it when there was a new game I wanted to play, it would inevitably fail.

[Corporate_Nothing]

Not to debate this, but the failure rate on _early_ Xbox360s was unusually high... some estimate up to 80%, though I doubt it's that high. Combine this with the fact that they would just send back fixed alternate units instead of newer ones every time you got one replaced further compounded the problem.

I went through 4 units over the span of a year and change before buying an Arcade that's lasted me since. The sad thing is I didn't (and don't) play it very much, so every time I would leave it sit for a few months and come back to it when there was a new game I wanted to play, it would inevitably fail.

I own one of the white Xbox 360 models that were part of the second batch released in 2006-2007, before they started adding HDMI ports, and well before the Slim models. I paid $99 for it through 1-800-4MY-XBOX after the warranty on my FIRST refurbished replacement model ran out. I haven't had any RROD problems since then.

[Ashura]

I had a launch unit, which was probably worse.

However, the fact that you've had 3 separate units and had to pay out an extra $100 just to play games still sucks in my eyes.

[Attitudefan]

Xenophobia about American-made products.

........Wow. That bad, huh?

Well, I think you would hate the people that dropped two nuclear bombs on you.

I am quite shocked that Japanese prefer bright colourful games and every one else does not. Why do westerners find that stuff horrible? It does relate back to DBZ too, people here make fun of it all the time for no reason other than it is anime!

[MarcFBR]

Well, I think you would hate the people that dropped two nuclear bombs on you.

I would go ahead and skip bringing this up again.

[Krycek7o2]

Not to debate this, but the failure rate on _early_ Xbox360s was unusually high... some estimate up to 80%, though I doubt it's that high. Combine this with the fact that they would just send back fixed alternate units instead of newer ones every time you got one replaced further compounded the problem.

I went through 4 units over the span of a year and change before buying an Arcade that's lasted me since. The sad thing is I didn't (and don't) play it very much, so every time I would leave it sit for a few months and come back to it when there was a new game I wanted to play, it would inevitably fail.

I went through eight 360's over the course of two years. I bought it at launch. So yea, it was high. With the PS3 I only had one YLOD.
Now, not so much or rare to be honest. With the slim versions these problems are non existent. I game on both PS3/360 and use them equally, both are slim versions now.

Well, I think you would hate the people that dropped two nuclear bombs on you.

I would go ahead and skip bringing this up again.

Just wait 'till someone drops Godwin's Law into this argument.

[Attitudefan]

Well the Japanese are probably pretty ticked off with the Earth right now; The Earth totalled their Nuclear Power Plant too.