vote/discuss

They definitely need better marketing over there... most gamers I know who live in Japan don't even know anything about what's available for the 360 over there. Most of the gaming press over there ignores it and there really aren't any TV ads or any major marketing pushes. MS's failure there is their own damn fault.

A lot of people say "screw em" but there are lots of great products in the Americas and Europe that people pass on by simply because they're not marketed well.

japan schmapan stop wasting time

more seriously, step up the game on the marketing, its like MS doesnt care. they need to find a way to the japanese gamer and relate to them.

Japs don't know good videogames.

I think they kind of have to keep trying afterall that country I think represents more then half the entire gaming population of the entire world? But yeah japs hate the xbox all american muscle games (halo3, GoW). Someone said something interesting one time, japanese people don't care about realistic graphics they care more for something being stylish. M$ had a good go there but I think there's just a little too much repell the invaders mentality for MS to have to break there

I think there's also a bit of pride and other reasons involved.
if you got the choice between 2 companies from the homeland and 1 company from a land that you were in war with once, what company would you choose?
yes, I know the USA and japan are now very good allies, but still.

indeed, there's also the cultural difference, but really, are sony's games that different from those MS' console has?


I'd say: if it doesn't work out on one market, go to the markets where it does work out and invest in those instead.

Japanese people have always been more "protective" people. When you look in the parking lot of the "Honda" factory, you'll only see honda car.

If you happen to look in US car factory (either GM or Ford) you'll see a lot of Japanese car as well.

They'll always prefer Japanese products over other's. But since they represent such a large market. I think MS has to continue their effort to do well in there.

It's the games, period, and I'm sure M$ knows that, which is why they've spent so much effort wooing Japanese developers. If the next Final Fantasy, God of War, Devil May Cry etc were 360 exxclusives then they'd shift consoles in Japan.
Japanese gamers seem to like Japanese games - and there just aren't any compelling Japanese games on the 360. And if you've played a representative sample of each platform's games catalogue you'll know what I mean - Japanese games are _different_ to Western ones, the same way that Japanese movies / cartoons etc are different, they not only have their own style but their own values and culture and history - none of which you get from Western games.
Personally I can't stand a lot of these games, so I can appreciate that gamers used to them may not like the types of 'muscle' games that I do like. There are a lot of Japanese games I do like also - and for those again there's just nothing similar on M$'s platform; take Bemani, there's maybe a dozen music / rhythm games on M$ platform, while there are probably hundreds for PS2/3/P, and innovative games like Rez, Katamari, GitarooMan etc etc - while I love FPS and driving games it would be nice to have some of these 'oddities' available without having to buy Sony hardware.

just get some good japanese RPG's and they would buy the 360

They wont support it because it US made, dumb but they are loyal & that deserves a little respect... Too bad they are missing out.

MS will never do well in Japan since the Japanese have such brand loyalty to Nintendo and Sony.

mcdonalds does okay over there and i am sure other american products that can be japan-ized do well too, but i highly doubt xbox will ever gain foothold in japan. they are just wasting stockholders money if you ask me(and i own msft). perhaps if m$ buys nintendo, sony goes out of business and no other japanese console maker steps up, but outside of that, japanese gamers are not buying it.

actually, microsoft is doing a bad thing with trying to get the japanese market this way. this is actually a bad business practice. wasting money in that market, why not push more money in the markets they already have. the bigger the america's and europe will increase, all the while sony & nintendo will decrease in these markets. increase in korea, china and in time (this is not an overnight thing) japan may eventually pull through.

Totally different reasons, its not because they're protective their car company/brand. Japanese people are generally a lot more 'honourable' than western people. If you worked at GM and drove a Honda, what is that saying about GM? That one of their own workers aren't confident or don't like their own cars? In Japan, if someone from Honda drove a Toyota they would get fired (or at least they did about 20 years ago, don't know about now) because it says a lot about Honda if their employees don't believe in their own product.

Well I do know the Japanese dont really like the look of the 360 but other than that most of the 360's games are FPS which is a good thing except in Japan.It really has nothing to do with it being American,it just needs to be appealing to them.

"Made in China" - The home of all three consoles out there.

Need better Marketing strageties. The games for the 360 are the best ones around. Look at the Wii most of the games are pointless and can be beaten within 4 hours or less and the PS3 just needs more games.

the japan country is very product loyal unlike the usa. that bascily means in genrel they will not buy anything made in the usa or ran by the usa. no matter how good the 360 is or anything else for that matter. more devs from japan might help sales but it will never be as big as nintendo or sony. they should just pack it up and go and find some good usa devs. who knoes the next huge rpg final fantisy killer might be made in the usa. and the company being m$ doesent help matters they have a worse rep in japan then in the usa and you knoe thats saying alot.

well i shouldent say all apple does pretty well there ipods are just as big there as they are hear. but apple has a great rep worldwide. lets face it apple = qualty m$ = thell probly screw you if they can sony = screw you if they can but are from japan.

360 will never sell well in japan cuz its games don't eroticize pre-pubescent females the way that games that sell well in japan do.

actually, built in China - but made (created, designed, whatever) in the USA...


and MS should continue to market in Japan, but their market is so different than any other with such strange loyalties and game interests that it's just not worth too much of a push...

Japanese are very loyal to their products indeed, and american and japanese gamers are very different demographics when it comes to marketing. Ive seen MS try to gain respect from japanese gamers, and are usually turned away at every turn. Us Americans play what we like and drive what we like no matter if most of the machines are really manufactured in "China". It's about fun games, and honestly most japanese games are too kiddy. unrealistic and cartoonish in my opinion (not all). Im impressed with the 360's game lineup so far and not too much with PS3. I don't see how any gamer in any part of the world can ignore marvelous titles that 360 has gave us. In my opinion the Japanese are just hating on somethin good because its U.S. made. Loyalty has brainwashed Japanese consumers to buy things only Japanese which is sad for them because there missing out on some fun games.

I think it is just the game market and research
IMO microsoft should set a subdivision there just for that market (idk if they have one or not really)
Kinda like how there is nintendo of america and sony of america
there should be Microsoft of japan

just like the poll said "screw them" they are just wasting money and it will have alot of catching up to do anyways if they ever actually sell a console...

I honestly don't believe it has anything to do with the genre of games being distributed in Japan. If what you're saying is true, MGS4 should pan. The reason that some American products succeed in Japan is typically because there's no quality Japanese equivalent. As already stated, the 360 is their loss - I wish MS would just give it up and offer the UK the consoles which aren't selling over there.

Well, have you SEEN what Japanese gamers buy over there?? Dating simulators? Cooking simulators? Turn-based Final Fantasy knock-offs?

Forget those guys. Their tastes are too weird for an American company to fully understand, nor should it even want to. Let them have their weird-ass games and I'll take our good ones, thanks.

I agree completely. Many games even in Amrecia didn't get the attetion they should have just because of bad marketing. There are great games out there that people have no idea exist.
So, you could have the best game ever in the world made and if the marketing aspect sucks. The game won't be much.

that's kinda what I was thinking. I think the US is one of the few countries that don't take too much pride in buying things that are home made

The amount of money MS spends on marketing and development in Japan would be better spent elsewhere. After 2 failed consoles where do you draw the line?

Yeah. They need to drop off the name "Microsoft" and have some established Japanese company handle the system, at least in name. Maybe SNK or SEGA? Perhaps even Matsushita.

The Japanese. Call it pride, loyalty, arrogance, whatever. It should be expected that they don't care about the 360. They have the "similar" PS3.

Remember how identical SNES games looked better than Genesis games?
Remember how identical N64 games looked better than Playstation games?
Remember how identical XBOX games looked better than PS2 games?
Better hardware trumps lesser hardware.

But now the hardware playing field is more level than ever. So If the 360 had the games the Japanese want, they'd buy it, providing that those games were not available for PS3. They'd have to be exclusive to 360, or the Japanese will simply choose the same game(s) on the system of their homeland. Truth be told, we should be doing the same thing (supporting the US born console). I own both. Identical titles, I buy the 360 version. I only have a PS3 for it's exclusives (Warhawk, Turismo, etc).

MS will have to build a warranty service center over there first...so they don't have to spend so much on shipping every other month like I do...

MS just needs to make some more tenticle rape porn games and they'll capture the japanese market straight away!

I think it's a combo of needing better/more marketing and game developers that Jap gamers are familar with.

dont japanese only like rpg style games?!?! they're not ready for american games!

As I'd said earlier in this thread, watch the sales of MGS4. By the argument put by the Japanese gamers, it should pan. I'll put a round of drinks on the fact it'll be the #1 seller in Japan.

Bottom line....Japan will NEVER, EVER ALLOW AN AMERICAN PRODUCT TO PROSPER IN THAT LAND AT ALL. They are a bunch of haters who can't stand the simple fact that M$ came up quick to dominate the gaming world! It's killing them that the Xbox, and 360 are here to stay. Truthfully, the PS1, 2, and 3 really didn't impress me anymore after learning the Microsoft Systems. The Japanese are just a bunch of selfish, big-headed, inconsiderate, prideful, stubborn, ego-tripping, wanna be, and short...........SO STOP HATIN' Hashimoto!
Go Microsoft, go.

MS definitely need more big japan developer in order to succeed in Japan, proven. Just look at how Ace Combat 6 boost 360 sales, even manage to overtake PS3 sales.

Huh Doesn't make much sense to me (I mean I don't see the logic of this post) but then again it doesn't mean you're wrong I guess..

I missed this before - sorry, but this makes no sense whatsoever.

For starters, the PS3 wasn't out until a year after the 360. There was no 'similar' console in 2005, or for best part of 2006 for that matter.



This just confused me. The SNES was better than the Genesis, the Playstation was better than the N64 and the PS2 easily outsold the Xbox. So what's your point about hardware?

Most Japanese will tell you the PS2 is better than the Xbox because of the games.
They will then tell you the PS3 is better than the 360 because of the technical aspects.

Bottom line - whatever excuse works, they will choose Japanese over American - even if it means contradicting themselves at every turn.

They need a combination of better marketing and the Japanese Devs. It would be nice to see the bleach series come to 360 =). They better start caring if they want to keep the money flow coming. Plus 360 hardly has any RPG games.

I don't like Kidney beans so don't try to force them down my throat

piss on japan we cant understand them anyways.

What is up with all the morons and inbred bigots in this thread?

The Japanese aren't "haters" or "conspirators" trying to "stop all western products from succeeding" in their "homeland". That's not only a moronic bigot theory, but is extremely closed-minded and patronizing.

A majority simply aren't finding FPS to be the most orgasmic games in the world. I for one have to agree.

Hell I'm an American and I'M getting tired of most games being clunky run-vehicle-pop games, with new explosions and occasional "experience point" systems for "variety".

The Japanese market, whether you like to admit it, is simply bored and unimpressed at the stale and clunky 'shooter' thing. Which dominates 80 percent of the 360's library.

The truth is, they're not going to run out and buy a system monopolized by one stale genre, when they're booming with silky eastern-styled graphics, wonder-filled jRPGs, RELAXING games of skillful finesse without white-knuckled stress, and exotic genre-blends STUFFED with wonder.

Marketing has nothing to do with it. The game library is THE SOLE THING making the 360 uninteresting in Japan. Even the PS3 isn't selling in miracle numbers, simply because its library isn't up to par either. The wii constantly sells like hotcakes EVERYWHERE even though it's only as powerful as the xbox1, because the game genres are more imaginitive than run and pop.

You can be reasonably sure the Japanese are NOT sitting around thinking "I WANT to like shooters, but they're western."

They just AREN'T entertained by the stale FPS flavor, and no commercial will fool them into THINKING they are.

I love my 360 but only mostly for the few games that aren't FPS/Mil. Blue Dragon, Assasin's Creed, Eternal Sonata, Fight Night, PGR4 and a couple of the less traditional shooters. (Prey, Mass Effect) The promise of a horizon filled with tons of JRPGs and exciting japanese-type games are crucial to why I opted for 360.

I would say, without a doubt, getting a FLOOD of Japanese style games along with our western-style games is CRUCIAL for sales both in the west AND east.

Anyone think dat aint true be liein out dey ass.

I'm going to have to agree with Hopeful on this one... Japanese people aren't over there thinking "we've got to keep foreign products out of our country!" and I can't even imagine where some of you people are getting that from... this isn't Japan 100 years ago... it isn't all about honor and loyalty anymore. Japan is a westernized nation that's a leader in technology and innovation, they're not stupid.

The reason Japanese gamers don't like the 360 is that they grew up on Playstation and Nintendo products. They've grown accustomed to those consoles exclusive titles, as well as their operation, controllers etc. They're not going to buy a 360 that doesn't have Final Fantasy, MGS, Mario, or any of the other popular exclusive titles for Japanese consoles. Much like over here, people might buy a 360 for Halo 3, because they don't want to miss the next game in their favorite series, in Japan gamers don't want to miss out on the next big Final Fantasy or whatever else. Microsoft would need to rope in some Japanese developers, such as Square, in order to build a market in Japan. I can almost promise you that if the next Final Fantasy game was a 360 exclusive, sales in Japan would jump significantly.

On top of that, marketing hasn't been handled well. I don't think this is the biggest problem, as the 360 offers very little to market to the Japanese gaming community, but it is an issue. I suspect Microsoft chose not to market real hard in Japan for that very reason... they have nothing worth advertising over there. The Japanese community is aware of the 360's big titles (Halo etc) but it's the Final Fantasy and Mario games, for example, they're looking for.

In conclusion, I can't believe there are people in this world that can write the Japanese off as being super honorable or against western technologies. Have you read a book in the last 20 years? Japan isn't that way anymore... educate yourself before making unintelligent posts please

The only way xbox will do well in japan is if:

a) They release kiddy po... no i mean manga type games featuring very young females
They redesign the xbox so its like a life size Japanese schoolgirl with working orifices
c) They get Sony or Matsushita to take over xbox japan and pretend that it was 100% Japanese all along and was not made by the country that dropped a couple of a-bombs on them.

job done

Japanese culture is weird (to us , not them) but as an outsider, if you get off on Japanese schoolgirl porn games oops I mean dating simulations, you should march yourself down to your local cop shop and sign up on that old sex offender register.

i know that the games that is famous in japan are from different genre than the ones in the us , japanese games are more like rpg and adventure , and its been like that for a very long time , but the american favourite type are the action games , the main reason the 360 isnt doing good there is just because " the console is sooo american"
microsoft is trying lately to brake this rule and co-operate with some japanese developers , but a few titles isnt a real change , they need hundreds of exclusives , this way they will succeed , and about the other consoles , they have all the big hits from the american style games on their consoles , and there is a lot of , but they still have the lot of japanese titles (that most of them are "unheared of" in the us), thats what makes them ,succeed in both countries.

you're the man hopeful you said what is exactly the main matter , i totally agree with you




you're the man hopeful you said what is exactly the main matter , i totally agree with you

Screw them if they don't know a good thing.

If a market would rather play Train Simulator 17 or Dragonball Z Budukoi Tenshuoko XXXIXIX than Mass Effect or Gears of War they are a lost cause.

why do we even care if they cant see what a quality console is then it their loss we can keep enjoying the 360 greatness

I hope we never go big in Japan. Microsoft is %100 American Based. That' the way I like it. I dont wanna give them all our shit. I like Japan, but let them keep Sony, and we'll keep Microsoft.

Most Japanese gamers and companies are too loyal to make M$ a big brand. There's a rather large anti-M$ sentiment among Americans, so I'm pretty sure that other markets have large anti-M$ groupies, too.

I doubt they'll become extremely mainstream any time soon, but I don't think they should stop trying to get into the Japanese market. Japan regularly produces ingenuity and M$ has a lot of good things going right now, so if they could sway Japanese gamers and companies to support them, we would probably see some really cool stuff come out.

Many Japanese are boy-cotting the 360 because it's an American console, so far they've reined over the console market. Now that Xbox 360 is taking a huge share, they don't like it.

But if Microsoft was serious about the Jap market, they could simply pay Square Enix to make a Final Fantasy or a sequel to Chrono Cross that is 360 exclusive. The Japs would go crazy and eat up the Xbox. We all know they love their JRPGs. It's like crack to them.