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What do people expect MS to do with Japan?

The design behind the Xbone is the antithesis of Japanese thinking. It's an American console though and through. TV on demand is not really a thing in Japan. The take up of Live and PS+ over there has been tiny compared to the rest of the world. Japan is very big on ownership, not on services, so the used games restrictions would have been an even bigger killer than in the West.

The first party Xbox exclusives are not ones that resonate with Japan. So you're left with a device that focuses heavily on Cable TV, US Sports, Apps for US entertainment companies, Western genre games and online multiplayer. All things that are designed to hook the US buyer, but nothing that focuses on Japan.

MS will launch there, simply due to the number of Japanese studios and publishers that will support the Xbone for its Western userbase. But I think you would be unwise to bet that it will outsell the 360. It will be utterly destroyed by the WiiU and PS4.
 
too much eslim said:
Also now that all systems are region free a lot of the niche games that came to the xbox will now be able to be play by all.
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But are the games region free? When they retracted their DRM policies and mentioned region free I just assumed that they, in Microsoft fashion, were referring to that list of supported countries.
 
I think they need to try like they expect to succeed, even if they don't. Giving up on Japan feels short-sighted.

I think they should try to hire local talent that can help inform successful strategies. Target developers there, and don't just pay them off for an IP, but really engage and try to understand why their system is not as successful there. Develop exclusives with high appeal for the local market, and bring those worldwide despite the quirkiness or whether they will sell meaningful numbers in other territories. Commit to it.
 
Avixph said:
Blue Dragon already has two sequels and they were both on the Nintendo DS.
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I heard these were terrible. Are they really?
 
They spent a ton of money this gen trying to crack into Japan and it amounted to almost nothing. I expect them to do no more than go through the motions.
 
Tonguer said:
I think they need to try like they expect to succeed, even if they don't. Giving up on Japan feels short-sighted.

I think they should try to hire local talent that can help inform successful strategies. Target developers there, and don't just pay them off for an IP, but really engage and try to understand why their system is not as successful there. Develop exclusives with high appeal for the local market, and bring those worldwide despite the quirkiness or whether they will sell meaningful numbers in other territories. Commit to it.
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What do you think they've been doing for 10+ years?

They've tried and poured tons of money into Japan and they've gotten nowhere. It's better to put that money towards making inroads in Europe or something.
 
People who said "nothing" don't understand business at all.

MS will be at TGS and you bet they will pushing D4, Crimson Dragon, and the fact that MGS V, FF 15, and KH 3 will be on their system HARD. They will probably lock in 1 or 2 surprise exclusives as well.

Will it help them? Highly unlikely since it's a similar strategy that they attempted with Xbox 1 and 360 but they can't not try.
 
What do people expect Microsoft to do in Japan? Fail.

I don't think it has much to do with the hardware. It's the fact that Sony is much more in touch with what the Japanese audience wants. I think it confounds Microsoft to an extent, because a lot of the software available over there seems batshit crazy to Western corporations.

The Japanese also seem a smidge xenophobic of foreign companies.
 
Kozak said:
I assume theyll buy a few exclusives just to piss off Sony.

Nothing.
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Hoo boy. Anyway i am curious to see what kinda stuff their Osaka studio will be cooking up. Maybe they'll surprise us with Lost Odyssey 2. Hoping for a bunch of cool niche titles as always, i would love to see them team up with From the way they did on the OG xbox. the Otogi series and MetalWolf Chaos were great games.
 
Anticitizen One said:
People who said "nothing" don't understand business at all.

MS will be at TGS and you bet they will pushing D4, Crimson Dragon, and the fact that MGS V, FF 15, and KH 3 will be on their system HARD. They will probably lock in 1 or 2 surprise exclusives as well.

Will it help them? Highly unlikely since it's a similar strategy that they attempted with Xbox 1 and 360 but they can't not try.
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Actually business sense would tell you to stop making bad investments. They're not going to make headway in Japan, it's simple. No one said they're not going to be at TGS or making it known they "care" about Japan, they'd just be smart in spending their money elsewhere. That console is more DOA than the 360 there. Xbox division is pretty notorious for spending lavish amounts of money, they'd be better served trying to preserve market share in the US and Europe than trying for the third time to break into a country that's been extremely adverse to their advances and with a console that's in a worst position than it's last.
 
Tallshortman said:
Actually business sense would tell you to stop making bad investments. They're not going to make headway in Japan, it's simple. No one said they're not going to be at TGS or making it known they "care" about Japan, they'd just be smart in spending their money elsewhere. That console is more DOA than the 360. Xbox division is pretty notorious for spending lavish amounts of money, they'd be better served trying to preserve market share in the US and Europe than trying for the third time to break into a country that's been extremely adverse to their advances and with a console that's in a worst position than it's last.
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.
 
Tallshortman said:
Actually business sense would tell you to stop making bad investments. They're not going to make headway in Japan, it's simple. No one said they're not going to be at TGS or making it known they "care" about Japan, they'd just be smart in spending their money elsewhere. That console is more DOA than the 360 there. Xbox division is pretty notorious for spending lavish amounts of money, they'd be better served trying to preserve market share in the US and Europe than trying for the third time to break into a country that's been extremely adverse to their advances and with a console that's in a worst position than it's last.
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Agreed. Microsoft's best attempt was with the 360---if the 360 didn't make any legitimate headway with all of those exclusives, there's absolutely no way the XBONE (launching in 2014 in Japan) will do the same.

It will cater to a niche audience of expats and Westernophiles in Japan and will get major Japanese / Western releases, just like other territories.

That's about it. Unlike the 360, I expect virtually NO niche Japanese games to be released on the system.

Anything that doesn't make handhelds / mobile phones / PC will go on the PS4, the console that's launching a year earlier.
 
Tallshortman said:
Actually business sense would tell you to stop making bad investments. They're not going to make headway in Japan, it's simple. No one said they're not going to be at TGS or making it known they "care" about Japan, they'd just be smart in spending their money elsewhere. That console is more DOA than the 360 there. Xbox division is pretty notorious for spending lavish amounts of money, they'd be better served trying to preserve market share in the US and Europe than trying for the third time to break into a country that's been extremely adverse to their advances and with a console that's in a worst position than it's last.
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People look at it from entirely the wrong perspective. Yes, these games won't change the fate of the system in Japan.

What it does do, however, is expand the appeal of the system beyond your traditional audiences, making your system seem broader in nature and more accommodating of all types of games.

Japanese games do not exist purely for the Japanese market. People in Europe, in South America and in North America purchase them. It is just as important to make sure expanding customer bases in these countries have those specific types of games available to them than it is for them to give the impression of trying in Japan. Even if they don't sell immensely well, I know one of the reasons I felt comfortable making the 360 my primary console this past gen was because I saw games like Ninety Nine Nights and Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon being made for it.

In the broader business sense, it might be hard to quantify exactly how much it helped (or didn't) the Xbox 360 overall, and maybe it was even negligible, but I suspect these types of games go a fair way toward helping with a platform's image, same as Western games and European games do, because of how it makes your system seem.
 
Anticitizen One said:
People who said "nothing" don't understand business at all.

MS will be at TGS and you bet they will pushing D4, Crimson Dragon, and the fact that MGS V, FF 15, and KH 3 will be on their system HARD. They will probably lock in 1 or 2 surprise exclusives as well.

Will it help them? Highly unlikely since it's a similar strategy that they attempted with Xbox 1 and 360 but they can't not try.
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So you think throwing away, literally throwing away money is smart business?
 
They don't need to and shouldn't bother with Japan. Japan is that important of a market for home consoles. They really into handhelds.
 
They'll release it and maybe put a marketing push behind a few titles like Crimson Dragon and D4. Maybe get some bundles with Capcom & Tecmo games as well, they seem to have good relations with those two publishers, but that'll be all they do. Expect it to get the half million sales the original Xbox got, and be happy if it pulls 360 #s with no high investment.

I doubt they really invest in getting Japanese focused titles exclusively for the system like they tried with the 360. We won't be seeing new Blue Dragons/Lost Odysseys or (timed) exclusives like Tales of Vesperia and Ace Combat. The under 2 million consoles aren't worth the extra effort, and they'll still be getting multi versions of Japanese games that matter to Americans (MGSV/FFXV).

They release it there if only to keep Japanese developers on board, and that small chance that hey, it just catches on.
 
Amir0x said:
People look at it from entirely the wrong perspective. Yes, these games won't change the fate of the system in Japan.

What it does do, however, is expand the appeal of the system beyond your traditional audiences, making your system seem broader in nature and more accommodating of all types of games.

Japanese games do not exist purely for the Japanese market. People in Europe, in South America and in North America purchase them. It is just as important to make sure expanding customer bases in these countries have those specific types of games available to them than it is for them to give the impression of trying in Japan. Even if they don't sell immensely well, I know one of the reasons I felt comfortable making the 360 my primary console this past gen was because I saw games like Ninety Nine Nights and Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon being made for it.

In the broader business sense, it might be hard to quantify exactly how much it helped (or didn't) the Xbox 360 overall, and maybe it was even negligible, but I suspect these types of games go a fair way toward helping with a platform's image, same as Western games and European games do, because of how it makes your system seem.
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I didn't say they shouldn't get some big Japanese franchises to become multiplatform, I'm talkinga bout them spending crazy amounts of money on dumb advertising. Also, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon honestly did little even for it's general perception in the west. The 360 was going to get most of the big Japanese games this gen because they were going multiplatform anyway, funding Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon which attracted a shrinking niche of JRPG fans in the west didn't really add much to it. There's a reason MS hasn't funded sequels, at least yet.

Anyways, the point is few people are saying they're not going to "try" in Japan, they're just not going to try the bold moves and large spending they did this gen. At least if they do they're wasting their money when Sony is coming strong for marketshare in the US and set to dominate Europe again.
 
They're going to publish some incredibly Japanese friendly launch titles and probably moneyhat a Monster Hunter console exclusive + Dead Rising 3.

They'll also hire some Japanese stars to market it.

Neither Sony nor Microsoft are going to launch in Japan with the launch titles they've announced thus far. They need to have something special to release any home console in a region where handhelds are the dominant platforms
 
too much eslim said:
They say they are still committed to Japan. So that means they still have plans. He y if every generation they sell more than previously while it may not be much it is definitely progress.
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you say this as if there's a pattern, whereas they've only been through One generation change thus far, and One generation sold more than the previous one.

That being said, the May 21st reveal positioned xbox as an american centric product, but there is still time for them to show support for Japan. They are showing up at TGS so perhaps thats when we get a proper idea of their intentions.

Also, they can't magically make their system $50-$100 cheaper than PS4 in any one region lol.
 
bigboss370 said:
Also, they can't magically make their system $50-$100 cheaper than PS4 in any one region lol.
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A lower price may not be completely out of the window. Japanese release is planned for later, the tech is going down in price all the time. Also I believe no-one has confirmed if the Japan SKU is 100% identical with our version.
 
bigboss370 said:
you say this as if there's a pattern, whereas they've only been through One generation change thus far, and One generation sold more than the previous one.

That being said, the May 21st reveal positioned xbox as an american centric product, but there is still time for them to show support for Japan. They are showing up at TGS so perhaps thats when we get a proper idea of their intentions.

Also, they can't magically make their system $50-$100 cheaper than PS4 in any one region lol.
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yes they can. the 360 is considerably much cheaper there then it is in the states. I think the reason they probably charging $499 is to offset some of the costs for the system in Japan.
 
Tallshortman said:
I didn't say they shouldn't get some big Japanese franchises to become multiplatform, I'm talkinga bout them spending crazy amounts of money on dumb advertising. Also, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon honestly did little even for it's general perception in the west. The 360 was going to get most of the big Japanese games this gen because they were going multiplatform anyway, funding Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon which attracted a shrinking niche of JRPG fans in the west didn't really add much to it. There's a reason MS hasn't funded sequels, at least yet.

Anyways, the point is few people are saying they're not going to "try" in Japan, they're just not going to try the bold moves and large spending they did this gen. At least if they do they're wasting their money when Sony is coming strong for marketshare in the US and set to dominate Europe again.
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To say Japanese games would've gone multi anyway seems completely revisionist imo. It was exactly Microsoft's heavy investment in Japan early on that brought that sort of support to 360, they went out and specifically courted Square Enix, Capcom, Namco, Konami, etc, as well as putting out 1st party product to try and drive those popular markets (JRPG, Musou-like, etc). And it essentially changed the Japanese industry's development ideology to dual platform console support.

I agree they won't be doing anything like that again with Xbone, but that's because they really don't have to this time. The development priority's already set for the large publishers, because Microsoft already did the heavy lifting to change things with 360.

I also think Ami's right, ensuring Japanese content keeps coming to your system is important in a worldwide context; Japanese games add diversity and they still sell in virtually every region. Microsoft will keep doing "enough" in Japan to make sure that continues.
 
Price cut and exclusives? Can't honestly see that happening. Look at the amount of exclusives early on in the 360's life - RPG's, shmups, ADV's, Idolmaster etc - the most Japanese of Japanese games, yet it made little difference to sales. Unless they get a Japanese company to rebrand it ala the Panasonic Q, there's no hope. Even then there would be none either.
 
bigboss370 said:
you say this as if there's a pattern, whereas they've only been through One generation change thus far, and One generation sold more than the previous one.

That being said, the May 21st reveal positioned xbox as an american centric product, but there is still time for them to show support for Japan. They are showing up at TGS so perhaps thats when we get a proper idea of their intentions.

Also, they can't magically make their system $50-$100 cheaper than PS4 in any one region lol.
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especially if it's region free too,
 
cock-block sony.

Buy exclusives from Japanese studios. In the west, their english ports will help return the investments. In Japan, you hurt the sales potential of the ps4 by taking what would have been sure fire hits.

Basically, what they did for 360. I hope they dont, i needs my jrpg fix
 
They will likely just ignore it. There are no profits in the Japanese market. MS is out for profits.

Unlike the last 2 Xbox launches, all of the top people in the Xbox division are business executives, not games fans. The J Allards, the Seamus Blackleys are all gone. Which is why the Xbox has become this mess of a console with a high price, so they don't lose too much on each sold, to the mandatory Kinect, to the focus on TV, to the DRM fiasco.
 
Anticitizen One said:
You know I defended Gaf when people like Pacther and Whitta said that the people hear have no idea what they're talking about but now i'm starting to agree :\
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I'm not sure if this means you're inclined to agree or disagree with my position, it seems to be able to be read either way lol
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
Well, if Microsoft had Japan, they wouldn't be in third place right now. So there's that.
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It would not bet worth their time or money. The fact that they have dominated the US market, hardware and software for over a year now shows that success in Japan isn't necessary.
 
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