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

People keep thinking and hoping that Spencer will get them more Japanese games. Well, this shows right here that it's not going to happen, possibly ever again. Even when the 360 was an overall huge success, it still didn't do a whole lot in Japan.
 

Steroyd

Member
I think the shocking part of this story is that they shipped units to Japan

I mean it's great for the 1000 people who bought it, but isn't MS losing money logistically shipping anything there at this point.
 

Not Drake

Member
It's Japan :shrug:

Just end it already, Phil. Japan doesn't want Xbox, stop trying. Just don't release there, save money.

More than a thousand people appreciate the fact they could buy it locally instead of importing, bothering with customs and possibly not getting it on launch. From a consumer standpoint not wanting a console to release in a certain region makes no sense.
 

Humus Erectus

Neo Member
Probably all they allocated. I checked pre orders over the last few weeks and nowhere had any. Scalpers are trying to sell them for big profits on Mercari (can't imagine there are more than a few hundred people who want one but couldn't get one though)
 
Probably all they allocated. I checked pre orders over the last few weeks and nowhere had any. Scalpers are trying to sell them for big profits on Mercari (can't imagine there are more than a few hundred people who want one but couldn't get one though)
The retailers doesn't want to stock any units because the low demand. The majority of sales are pre orders. The Xbox brand is just plain dead in Japan.
 

Jetboxx

Member
But they have never supported Xbox, why would they start now?
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.
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
At this point I wouldn't even bother releasing it there. I doubt success in Japan is going to be a make or break situation with the Xbox brand.
 

jobrro

Member
It's a good mid-gen upgrade to a console which was terrible for the JP market.

Even years into this gen for JRPGs we were getting PS3/PSV games, no sign of Xbox or even PS4. Persona 5 was announced as a PS3 exclusive. Only now have those games shifted to PS4 or PS4/PSV.

I don't blame MS after they legitimately tried and didn't succeed too well early in the 360 gen, between Nintendo and Sony they have a lot going against them in this market.
 
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.

The 360 selling 1.5 million units in 6 years is barely support. I doubt the sales in Japan are a major concern. Isn't Japan considered handheld territory?
 
Well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

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.
 
Without exclusives is hard to compete in NA and PAL regions, let's figure Japan, where XBox 360 was D.o.A. even with Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and others aimed for that specific market slice.
 
Without exclusives is hard to compete in NA and PAL regions, let's figure Japan, where XBox 360 was D.o.A. even with Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and others aimed for that specific market slice.

Didn't 360 have pretty good exclusives? Xbox One came out pretty strong with exclusives and have fizzled out over the past couple years. Even exclusives haven't helped this market.
 

Journey

Banned
Just end it already, Phil. Japan doesn't want Xbox, stop trying. Just don't release there, save money.


A sale is a sale. If they were losing money on hardware it would be one thing, but at the end of the day, if they sell 1Q of a million units, that's an extra 250K more consoles sold and money made.
 
I'm no businessman, but I guess there's always some way. As I've said, the Xbox 360's sales were a huge progress compared to the Xbox's sales.

The 360 did a better job with games that would appeal to the Japanese audience, but even then the logistics involved in launching in that area surely can't be worth it for the amount of units sold, whether specifically 360 or across the spectrum of xbox branded consoles in that area since 2002.
 
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.
 
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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Bickle2

Member
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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