Xbox 360 Sales Data

[scooby_dooby]

of course japan is important, due mainly to the developers though, not the purchasing power of japan which is relatively weak.

the way I see it, if japan can't embrace a great console with great games, then it's their loss. as long as MS keeps funding studios like Team Ninja and Mistwalker, Q Entertainment etc I'm happy.

Look at it this way, xbox never had a single real JRPG, x360 already has 4 coming down the pipe, I'm fairly satisfied with the japanese DEV support i'm seeing so far, i honestly don't see how this console can't sell well in japan with the calibre of japanese games coming out for it,

 

[mckmas8808]

of course japan is important, due mainly to the developers though, not the purchasing power of japan which is relatively weak.

the way I see it, if japan can't embrace a great console with great games, then it's their loss. as long as MS keeps funding studios like Team Ninja and Mistwalker, Q Entertainment etc I'm happy.

Look at it this way, xbox never had a single real JRPG, x360 already has 4 coming down the pipe, I'm fairly satisfied with the japanese DEV support i'm seeing so far, i honestly don't see how this console can't sell well in japan with the calibre of japanese games coming out for it,

Scooby dude listen man. You still don't get it. Just because the 360 has those devs making games for them doesn't mean they will be good. Take a look at the Namco games. 2 look like PSP/PS2 games and one was a little underwhelming (i.e. Ridge Racer).

Lets see how good those games are first, then you should decide. And for your "I honestly don't see how this console can't sell well in Japan" comment shows that you might not ever "get" it. There's hundreds of games right now that will strictly blow the doors off of those 360 games. MS has to change it's image as a brand if they want to sell in Japan. And that's something that I don't think they will or maybe have to do.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Looking at the software sales charts for Japan and then Europe/USA, it becomes painfully obvious that Japan has better taste in games.

Agreed, though rehashes and sequels are a common sight in Japan as well. They don't make shit like Crazy Frog Racer or 50 Cent, however (shit that sells).

 

[scooby_dooby]

Scooby dude listen man. You still don't get it. Just because the 360 has those devs making games for them doesn't mean they will be good. Take a look at the Namco games. 2 look like PSP/PS2 games and one was a little underwhelming (i.e. Ridge Racer).

Lets see how good those games are first, then you should decide. And for your "I honestly don't see how this console can't sell well in Japan" comment shows that you might not ever "get" it. There's hundreds of games right now that will strictly blow the doors off of those 360 games. MS has to change it's image as a brand if they want to sell in Japan. And that's something that I don't think they will or maybe have to do.

dont tell me i don't get it man, you live in la-la land. if anyone doesn't get it around here it's you,

namco has nothing to with the games in question, it's a weak example to support a weak argument, namco has not shown a single game worth getting excited about, every namco game is a steaming pile of crap Love Football? FCK? RR6? They are all crap...so what?

what does that have to do with Mistwalker, From Software, Capcom, Q Entertainment, Konami, Team Ninja? The truth is japanese dev support for 360 is heads and shoulders better than xbox1, and there are some great games coming out in the next year. Whenter you want to believe it or not, no-one cares.

I'm assuming these games will be good, big deal...it's a safe bet that at least some of them will be kick-ass, and no reason to think games with huge budgets like tehse, and awesome credentials, and awesome GFX will be bad.

 

[Deepak]

Agreed, though rehashes and sequels are a common sight in Japan as well. They don't make shit like Crazy Frog Racer or 50 Cent, however (shit that sells).

A few days ago a TV channel showed top ten games in India, 50cent was at no 8 and Path of Neo at 3....quake 4 was I think at 2.

 

[avaya]

Look at it this way, xbox never had a single real JRPG, x360 already has 4 coming down the pipe, I'm fairly satisfied with the japanese DEV support i'm seeing so far, i honestly don't see how this console can't sell well in japan with the calibre of japanese games coming out for it,

Maybe because most Japanese consumers realise that the next iteration of the most successful platform of all time is due out relatively soon and is likely to have more software for them (in addition to possibly offering greater value on hardware). Many of those titles could well be exclusive and the platform will likely see the next numbered FF, DQ and KH.

So for most consumers who only buy a single console why should they buy an X360?

Think of the content PlayStation2 owners, why should they choose a 360 over the PLAYSTATION3? Has Sony seen any significant games on their platform go exclusive to 360? Don’t mention XBL because no one seems to care about online gaming in Japan.

If 360 sales don’t sustain the boost they’ll receive with DOA4, N3 and Blue Dragon then the truth will be that Microsoft has not done a good enough job. In the end it’s the consumers who decide what’s successful.

360 will do very well to reach 1-3m in total by the end of this generation in Japan.

 

[Nicked]

what does that have to do with Mistwalker, From Software, Capcom, Q Entertainment, Konami, Team Ninja? The truth is japanese dev support for 360 is heads and shoulders better than xbox1, and there are some great games coming out in the next year. Whenter you want to believe it or not, no-one cares..

Maybe great games, some of the developers don't have great heritage.
From Software, Artoon and Cavia are the developers making (big) JRPGs. All 3 have ho-hum history.
All the other games have equivalents on the Xbox - Phantagram and NNN is about the best developer support they are getting, yet they already had KuF on the Xbox. Capcom are supporting about as much as they did the Xbox (aka LP~DC3), Team Ninja always supported the Xbox.

Konami's game could be something though.

But anyway, X360 not only has to provide compelling content, but more compelling content than the PS3. Just looking at the announced list, they haven't got a hope in hell of accomplishing that.

 

[expletive]

But anyway, X360 not only has to provide compelling content, but more compelling content than the PS3. Just looking at the announced list, they haven't got a hope in hell of accomplishing that.

Nah, MS doesnt plan on being the market leader this gen. They just want to be profitable, increase their market share, and make inroads with the Media center and the 360 as an extension of that. They got a fantastic lineup so far and theres still more to be announced. At this point, the 360 lineup will only improve relative to the PS3 seeing as they came from zero last gen. Plus XBL and XBL arcade in particular, will really end up being a value add service that will attract customers. So, in short, the 360 software lineup doesnt need to be MORE compelling than the PS3 (how could it be?), it just needs to be AS compelling and let the additional value add services do the rest.

 

[Nicked]

Nah, MS doesnt plan on being the market leader this gen. They just want to be profitable, increase their market share, and make inroads with the Media center and the 360 as an extension of that. They got a fantastic lineup so far and theres still more to be announced. At this point, the 360 lineup will only improve relative to the PS3 seeing as they came from zero last gen. Plus XBL and XBL arcade in particular, will really end up being a value add service that will attract customers. So, in short, the 360 software lineup doesnt need to be MORE compelling than the PS3 (how could it be?), it just needs to be AS compelling and let the additional value add services do the rest.

MS already said they had a good chance of winning Japan this gen. That indicates to me they want to be market leader. They've already said they plan to win worldwide. They won't be profitable if they just subsidise their console and have continued enormous advertising campaigns.

The lineup in Japan is actually not as compelling as PS3 by a longshot (arguably neither is their announced western content, but that is of course debatable). The Japanese have already indicated they feel the PS3 has more features as well, so MS won't find a positive on that front. Also the slow pickup of the console will discourage smaller Japan-only developers from moving to X360 - they simply won't sell games.

Having such a small install-base makes it harder to sell the console even when compelling content (possibly Mistwalker) stuff comes along. Especially is the PS3 is out a month or three later. And that again could be a very expensive mistake for MS, paying for these games which the Japanese are uninterested in and probably won't sell well in the west (outside of FF, traditional RPGs don't sell that well).

Of course everything could come together, but with a launch significantly worse than the original Xbox, its unlikely.

 

[expletive]

MS already said they had a good chance of winning Japan this gen. That indicates to me they want to be market leader. They've already said they plan to win worldwide. They won't be profitable if they just subsidise their console and have continued enormous advertising campaigns.

You expect a company like MS to say "we're shooting for #2!!" ? It just wont happen.

Theyve got plenty of money and if they are able to reach profitability theyll be around for a long time, continuing to pay for quality content and slowly increase their market share gen after gen.

The lineup in Japan is actually not as compelling as PS3 by a longshot (arguably neither is their announced western content, but that is of course debatable).

Why bother debating, youve seemed to figure it all out for everyone, thanks!

The Japanese have already indicated they feel the PS3 has more features as well, so MS won't find a positive on that front. Also the slow pickup of the console will discourage smaller Japan-only developers from moving to X360 - they simply won't sell games.

You mean to tell me that when polled, the sucessor to the console owned by 90% of japanese gamers was preferred to the one owned by 3%?

Dont forget how much price factored into all those polls , which we still dont know about for the PS3. Theres that very precarious equation for Sony - balancing out high price and heavy losses.

Having such a small install-base makes it harder to sell the console even when compelling content (possibly Mistwalker) stuff comes along.

Based on the laws of what? If people like the games enough theyll buy the thing.

Especially is the PS3 is out a month or three later. And that again could be a very expensive mistake for MS, paying for these games which the Japanese are uninterested in and probably won't sell well in the west (outside of FF, traditional RPGs don't sell that well).

Of course everything could come together, but with a launch significantly worse than the original Xbox, its unlikely.

Not much value in comparing levels of 'bad'. A launch with no games really isnt worth basing any predictions on.

 

[Nicked]

You expect a company like MS to say "we're shooting for #2!!" ? It just wont happen.

Of course not. But odds are they'd rather shoot for #1 than #2.

Theyve got plenty of money and if they are able to reach profitability theyll be around for a long time, continuing to pay for quality content and slowly increase their market share gen after gen.

Oh, Xbox isn't going anywhere, they need it to position themselves in the centre of the household as a more forward-thinking strategy.

Why bother debating, youve seemed to figure it all out for everyone, thanks!

The Japanese release list for PS3 is indisputedly better than Xbox360 and will further outpace it, its not debatable. So this is of course, correct.

You mean to tell me that when polled, the sucessor to the console owned by 90% of japanese gamers was preferred to the one owned by 3%?

No I was not talking about popularity polls. I was talking about a poll that showed that consumers were more interested in PS3 features (particularly Blu-ray) vs. X360 features. Xbox360 actually done fairly well in popularity polls, in fact I would've wagered far greater success based on them.

Dont forget how much price factored into all those polls , which we still dont know about for the PS3. Theres that very precarious equation for Sony - balancing out high price and heavy losses.

Of course. But whose to say what the PS3 costs to make? They've indicated numerous times a 39,900Â¥ launch price. Of course Kuturagi has indicated higher...who knows?

Based on the laws of what? If people like the games enough theyll buy the thing.

Popularity begets popularity.

Not much value in comparing levels of 'bad'. A launch with no games really isnt worth basing any predictions on.

Oh I agree to an certain extent. The original Xbox launched with much more significant games (JSRF, DoA3, SH2, Onimusha etc.). But even with that lineup it failed to make an impressive impact on the Japanese.
DoA4 isn't going to be a game on its own to make up the discrepancy (if it has more or less have the same impact as DoA3), and NNN probably won't based on its genre (popular but not that popular).
And since BD + LO still haven't had release dates announced - all we know is they plan a LO demo disk in spring/summer - so they likely they won't be released before the PS3.

 

[expletive]

9 of the top 10 online DOA4 'survival mode' players are from japan. So at least 9 people bought it.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Maybe great games, some of the developers don't have great heritage.
From Software, Artoon and Cavia are the developers making (big) JRPGs. All 3 have ho-hum history.

From software created Otogi 1 & 2 which has had pretty good commercial and critical success as action RPG's, it makes Enchant Arm a promising game to keep an eye on.

To claim Artoon and Cavia are the developers of the mistwalker titles without mentioning any of the Mistwalker involvment shows you aren't prepared to have an honest balanced discussion, you're already mis-representing the facts. Artoon and Cavia are doing the work, however the project is being run by Mistwalker, and all decisions are being made by mistwalker.

Artoon created Blinx which was a very nice game graphically, so there's no reason to doubt their skills technically, and with production headed up by the Guch, character design by the DBZ guy, and music from the FF guy, this game has GREAT credentials. Hell this is the same 3 man team that headed up chrono trigger.

As for Lost Odyssey, it's being developed by Feel Plus, which consists of over 1/4 ex square employees, and is headed up by Sakaguchi who created FF1 FF2, and collaborated heavily on possibly the best FF ever made FF3. It also has other credentials:
"Lost Odyssey is currently occupying the talents of a staff of over 100. Included in the bunch is Daisuke Fukugawa, who worked on Final Fantasy games under Sakaguchi when the two were at Square Enix (then Square). The game's art director, we've also learned, is Takamasa Ohsawa, known for his work on the Shadow Hearts series of RPGs. Ohsawa is working on the general design of the world and also has a hand in character work."
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/673/673335p1.html

And then there's cry-on, developed by Cavia, not the greatest credentials but the story sounds compelling, aiming for 35-40 hours of gameplay, we'll just have to wait and see. That game is not due until later 2007 anyways...

You really can not say the Mistwalker titles do not have great credentials, the japanese people could not disagree with you more:
"readers of Famitsu recently selected him [sakaguchi] as the developer most representative of the 2005 game market (he placed well above Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, who came in at 8, and even Bill Gates, who came in at 7)."
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/678/678059p1.html

 

[mckmas8808]

You expect a company like MS to say "we're shooting for #2!!" ? It just wont happen.

Theyve got plenty of money and if they are able to reach profitability theyll be around for a long time, continuing to pay for quality content and slowly increase their market share gen after gen.

Like Nicked said MS is shooting to be number 1 in the world and they actually think that they can take Japan. It's on the record from them. So, there's no taking it back. And all that money you are talking about them having more than likley is being used to get some Japanese devs to make games for it.

How this will turn out is not certain. But it probably won't be but so good. If MS sells 2 million 360's in Japan I will still consider that f'king horrible. NO excuses!!

 

[ihamoitc2005]

Rpg

Artoon created Blinx which was a very nice game graphically

I have not played Blinx but Blinx2 was not so impressive for me. Frame-rate was not good, animation was not enough frames, and not so much detail as other platform games. Maybe frame-rate is not so much problem for RPG but this is big problem for action platform game.

Otogi frame-rate also not so good but I feel visual style is much better than Blinx2. I think for RPG they have better style.

 

[expletive]

Like Nicked said MS is shooting to be number 1 in the world and they actually think that they can take Japan. It's on the record from them. So, there's no taking it back. And all that money you are talking about them having more than likley is being used to get some Japanese devs to make games for it.

How this will turn out is not certain. But it probably won't be but so good. If MS sells 2 million 360's in Japan I will still consider that f'king horrible. NO excuses!!

Companies will always say theyre shooting for number one, regardless of what they discuss as reality behind closed doors. The truth is we have no diea what their REAL goals are for JP this gen, only that they want to do better than last gen. Maybe its 2 million sold, maybe its outsell revolution, maybe its outsell PS3, we really dont know. I dont think they can honestly take JP this gen and i doubt people as smart as those over at MS think so too. If 360 somehow was the market leader in JP this gen that might be the biggest disaster in consumer electronics history. Even if MS ends up with 30% this gen that would be a huge failure for Sony imo.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Like Nicked said MS is shooting to be number 1 in the world and they actually think that they can take Japan. It's on the record from them. So, there's no taking it back. And all that money you are talking about them having more than likley is being used to get some Japanese devs to make games for it.

How this will turn out is not certain. But it probably won't be but so good. If MS sells 2 million 360's in Japan I will still consider that f'king horrible. NO excuses!!

So are you ready to wake up and understand the real world of business? This isn't kindergarten "no take backs!!" This is business, you are supposed to be cocky, you are supposed to spew bullshit from your lips, and you are always supposed to overstate your goals (publicly).

Of course 360 will not dominate in japan, it's moronic to think so. Just like it's moronic to believe Sony that 360 is xbox1.5, or that it's competing against PS2.

Use your head man.

All MS needs to do with japan this generation is EXPAND, they need to show that JRPG's can sell well to the 360 fanbase, that's all. No more, no less. They are already going to gain huge marketshares in EU and NA, simply because of the quality of product they are selling, and the addition of some quality JRPG's and developer support from Japan would be icing on the cake.

 

[mckmas8808]

Even if MS ends up with 30% this gen that would be a huge failure for Sony imo.

Or Nintendo. Think about it. If Sony has 55% of the market and MS has 30%, that would leave Nintendo with only 15% of the market. If you ask me that would be a failure on Nintendo's part and not Sony.

And to me if MS doesn't think they can take Japan, then they shouldn't say it. They should say "we will try to be compete on a much larger scale" or "we will be worlds different this gen than last gen" or something to that effect. imo of course.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I have not played Blinx but Blinx2 was not so impressive for me. Frame-rate was not good, animation was not enough frames, and not so much detail as other platform games. Maybe frame-rate is not so much problem for RPG but this is big problem for action platform game.

Otogi frame-rate also not so good but I feel visual style is much better than Blinx2. I think for RPG they have better style.

It got 9/10 from IGN for GFX.

"Blinx is one of the prettiest games on Xbox. With stunning lighting, rich color, and amazing details, Blinx can buy me dinner anytime. Not only are the worlds attractive, but all of them seem unique to the game. The entire look and feel of Blinx comes off as original.

...If anything, the only real problem with Blinx visually is the slowdown. Though he runs fast and fluid for a while, later levels, when Blinx takes on five and six baddies at a time, the game noticeably slows down. And no, I wasn't using a time power when it happened. This slowdown is too often and too noticeable to let slide. It's a flaw and one that needs mentioning. Otherwise, Blinx is in the running for best-looking game of the year on Xbox. "
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/372/372414p5.html

 

[scooby_dooby]

Or Nintendo. Think about it. If Sony has 55% of the market and MS has 30%, that would leave Nintendo with only 15% of the market. If you ask me that would be a failure on Nintendo's part and not Sony.

And to me if MS doesn't think they can take Japan, then they shouldn't say it. They should say "we will try to be compete on a much larger scale" or "we will be worlds different this gen than last gen" or something to that effect. imo of course.

Why shouldn't they say it? They can say whatever they want, it's their company, they invested hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, and they can say whatever the hell they want.

At least they are just being positive about their own product, instead of hurling insults, and slagging the competition like KK does. That reaks of insecurity to me.