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Xbox One debuts with just 1,344 units sold in Japan

Sojiro

Sojiro

Member
Of course not surprising in the least, a more expensive version of a console that already did not sell well in Japan. Props to MS to not give up and still release it there I guess lol.
 
L

LordOcidax

Member
ProBusinessgamer said:
this thread is just to flame and be negative, whats next a thread comparing switch and PC graphics?
The Xbox does not do well in japan...a small market that really means nothing other then alot of companies are home based there...the biggest country for game sales and revenue is America, if you group a bunch of places then itd Europe and then America.
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Microsoft released the console in Japan (with marketing included), so... is business for them...So, these numbers are relevant here.

MaximusPayne said:
image.php
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This news personally affect you? Or Neogaf have a new rule about news that i am missing?? Or maybe.. you want to only read news that please you?
 
T

Tadaima

Member
Bickle2 said:
People misunderstand Xbox’s presence in Japan. While there were some sincere efforts to boost it during 360’s heyday, sponsoring big act’s concert tours and such, even tomthe point of putting Xbox logos on their amps, Xbox is not in Japan to sell games or systems.....in Japan.

Japan is a society which is all about keeping up appearances. Microsoft pays rent on their shelf space in major game retailers for the specific purpose of keeping up those appearances, as the Japanese brass will be much less likely to greenlight development, or make good deals on a system they can’t be marched down to Yodobashi camera and shown its got a solid footing against PlayStation. That’s just the way things work there. Like so many things. You just have to shrug, say “when in Rome”and soldier on.
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This exactly.
 
Outrun

Outrun

Member
Jetboxx said:
Not "never".The Xbox 360 was a huge progress compared to the OG Xbox because Microsoft actually tried hard. But in the second half of the last generation Microsoft fucked everything up.
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No man. They tried hard and got a mediocre response that simply did not warrant the capital expenditure..

Japan does not care for the brand.
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
Hoya Destroyer

Hoya Destroyer

Member
I have seen the odd Japanese player in Gears 4 games. Im sure the learning curve/skill requirement appeals to a few of them. Maybe MS will have better luck next time?
 
F

forgedbygeeks

Neo Member
AllGamer said:
Microsoft should not even release their next console in Japan. It's pointless.
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Yes they should continue to release in Japan.

Remember that while the Xbox does not sell especially well in Japan and simply releasing the product in Japan is likely a money loser, it is essential to courting Japanese developers to develop games for the platform for release on Windows and release across the world, include their strong markets of the US, UK, and parts of EMEA.

Not even releasing the system would be basically giving the middle finger to the Japanese at large and would likely result in loss of all support.

Also, don't underestimate the Japanese culture at large. While Xbox may not sell especially well in Japan, that does not mean that they don't have a hardcore base they couldn't build off of and potentially make an impact at some point.

I remember during my last trip to Japan in 2011 I went to Comiket. There was a booth there by fans of Kinect. They had even produced their own guide book to setting up and using Kinect in small traditional Tokyo apartments.
 
P

PsihoPerihelion

Member
Don't worry guys, they don't need Japan. Some users in here say the X is gonna put Microsoft over Sony by 20-30 million units. X gon' give it to ya! Is a BEAST fam A BEAST.
 
F

forgedbygeeks

Neo Member
dragonyeuw said:
So what strategy will/can they employ that ever gets the Xbox brand off the ground in Japan? That region is Nintendo/Sony territory and more precisely portable/handheld market.

As an aside, today is the 16th anniversary of the Xbox brand's release in North America.
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So, the 360 actually did decent in Japan and MS could have built on that success.

One of the things they did with the 360 but cancelled with the Xbox One was the required translation of games to Japanese (and many other languages).

For most Indie Games, MS even paid for the translation. Developers just had to code all text strings correctly so that MS could get them translated and recompiled into the game to change based on the language setting in the OS.

This isn't that expensive and would likely go over well even with a lot of Indies if MS re-started the program.

Basically, allow all Indies to submit projects with text string properly formatted for localization. If they do, MS will pay to have some of their large translation teams they use on products like Windows, Office, Bing, etc... to translate those strings to Japanese, Chinese, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc...

Then MS takes the translation files with the submission from the devs to provide translated games for the broader EMEA markets.
 
N

Naudyboy16

Member
Is this surprising? I mean really, at this point Japan isn't ever going to embrace the Xbox. One can only hope the Japanese devs see it to make Xbox games for the rest of the world.
 
F

forgedbygeeks

Neo Member
Omotesando said:
Xbox brand, they need to buy some Japanese studios.

Halo and Gears won't sway the japanese, nor 4k.
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That is extremely difficult to do. The Japanese government doesn't sign off on foreign acquisitions very frequently.

That being said, MS has tried to do so at least twice that leaked publically.

1) Before the launch of the original Xbox, MS tried to acquire Nintendo for $35 Billion. The plan was to launch it in part using the Nintendo Brand world wide and also have Nintendo continue to develop their games for the new Xbox platform.

2) Shortly before the 360 release Microsoft tried to acquire Squaresoft (before the Enix merger). Squaresoft rejected the direct buyout, so MS attempted to acquire them through SEGA. The plan was to have SEGA acquire Squaresoft and then Microsoft would acquire SEGA. When SEGA failed to acquire Squaresoft, the whole deal fell apart.
 
JP

JP

Member
I didn't even know they were selling it in Japan, did japan get consoles when the original launched or were they classed as "tier 2" or whatever it was they called them?

If anything I'd imagine that Microsoft is actually quite pleased with this when you realise how many consoles they usually sell there and how bad they are at presenting themselves in so many international markets.
 
Y

Yearsoflurking

Member
People will bring up a few other companies, but we need to be honest with ourselves Japan supports their own first. First excuse was the controller which was fixed, then price which was fixed.. rpgs came they didn't buy them .they just don't want to support xbox due to sony and nintendo
 
I

Isurus

Member
Bickle2 said:
People misunderstand Xbox’s presence in Japan. While there were some sincere efforts to boost it during 360’s heyday, sponsoring big act’s concert tours and such, even tomthe point of putting Xbox logos on their amps, Xbox is not in Japan to sell games or systems.....in Japan.

Japan is a society which is all about keeping up appearances. Microsoft pays rent on their shelf space in major game retailers for the specific purpose of keeping up those appearances, as the Japanese brass will be much less likely to greenlight development, or make good deals on a system they can’t be marched down to Yodobashi camera and shown its got a solid footing against PlayStation. That’s just the way things work there. Like so many things. You just have to shrug, say “when in Rome”and soldier on.
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This person gets it.
 
BANGS

BANGS

Banned
Microsoft is honestly stupid for even releasing it there. The brand is basically garbage in Japan, and they have no exclusives making it worth buying or interesting at all. Complete waste of resources...
 
N

Narasaki

Member
The damage of microsoft to the industry is already done. We have to pay for playing online, and sega franchises like Jet Set Radio and Panzer Dragon were killed by being release in a console marketed to Chads who would never support creative games. They just pay for fucking first person shooters. No wonder japan fucking hate xbox
 
thelastword

thelastword

Banned
MaximusPayne said:
But they have never supported Xbox, why would they start now?
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If they released it there, they had expectations...Wasn't Spencer in Japan recently securing some game deals et al.?.....


On the flip, that may be a good number for an XBOX in Japan, but usually numbers are frontloaded...., so it will be interesting to see what the following weeks bring and if it maintains such numbers....I guess the same can be said for any launch really, even the UK and US numbers when they do appear...The follow up weeks will be crucial in scoping actual demand..........
 
Spukc

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Oh no xbox one x is DOOOOOMED.

Brb checking some digital foundry video's
About what kind of BEAST xbox one x is.

Tbh japan can keep their crap games also.
 
Swauny Jones

Swauny Jones

Member
Wasn't it reported last week that all the Xbox One X preorders in Japan were sold out days before launch? It seems like they didn't allocate a lot of consoles for the region to begin with. These numbers are kind of skewed... Not that it matters anyways. Japan is too prideful to support any Microsoft product anyways.
 
W

winstonia

Neo Member
Spukc said:
Oh no xbox one x is DOOOOOMED.

Brb checking some digital foundry video's
About what kind of BEAST xbox one x is.

Tbh japan can keep their crap games also.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the Japanese. Always making the worst games since the console was invented. Those bastards.
 
dcx4610

dcx4610

Member
Do the Japanese even care about 4k? I don’t imagine they have the space or desire to have 55”+ TVs in every room like Americans.
 
thelastword

thelastword

Banned
SKY EYES said:
I'm surprised that they sold 1,344 units actually. seems like good numbers for a launch xbox
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MY thoughts exactly, if they can maintain these numbers in Japan in the following weeks, it will be good for them.

NaturalSelection said:
Wasn't it reported last week that all the Xbox One X preorders in Japan were sold out days before launch? It seems like they didn't allocate a lot of consoles for the region to begin with. These numbers are kind of skewed... Not that it matters anyways. Japan is too prideful to support any Microsoft product anyways.
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Was it really? I saw a thread on GAF about one retailer in the UK being sold out of XBONEX pre-orders and people run with that as if it was a worldwide scenario, but I can't believe they expected to sell out in Japan, unless preorder allocation was 1344 for that region...
 
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