XBox 360 launched in Japan

[Deepak]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051210/tc_afp/afplifestyleusjapancomputermicrosoftxbox

Some 200 game fans queued up for the main launch event that began at 7:00 am at a music store in central Tokyo's fashionable Shibuya district.

The next-generation Xbox 360, which costs 39,795 yen (330 dollars)....

But despite its early market entry, consumers Saturday appeared muted in their enthusiasm in contrast to the excitement generated at the console's US debut on November 22.

Only some 10 people were in line when a central Tokyo outlet of the Bic Camera consumer electronics chain opened its Xbox sales counter at 7:00 am.

Customer reactions "are a bit subdued," a senior store official said, adding that fewer than 50 consoles were sold in the first two hours.

"It's not going to be a big hit in Japan," said 26-year-old Kentaro Okamoto, one of the first Xbox 360 buyers. "I buy every new game console... but normally Japanese customers only buy a machine when it's made by Sony or Nintendo."

******

I think MS will be extremely happy if they manage to end up finishing 2nd in Japanese market.

 

[hey69]

200 sold

499800 to go

 

[rusty]

have any of the big "blockbuster" japanese games actually launched with the system though? i didn't think games like enchant arm or blue dragon had....

i imagine once all these sort of games start hitting the market, the japanese sales will be boosted fairly substantially.

eitherway, it's an improvement over the original xbox launch isn't it? lol

 

[Guden Oden]

MS and Tecmo need to issue more DoA live-size "humping pillows". Maybe then 360 sales will take off like a rocket, at least amongst the otaku.

 

[Bad_Boy]

What were the launch titles for japan?

 

[inefficient]

What were the launch titles for japan?

Only 6 games.

PDZ
FIFA 06
RIDGE RACER6
NFS:MW
Tetris (Tetris in HD ...)
"Every Party" (Japanese only)

It's a pretty sad line up compared to the US release. No CoD2 or PGR3.

DOA is delayed till the end of the month at least.

Only the hard hard core gamers are going to go out and buy one right now. I bet they move a fair number of units in these first few days, then the demand will just vanish untill some decent games get released.

 

[Phil]

Now where are those to argue that despite this wonderful launch news, Japan will be a huge success which will ensure the grand support of the big producers such as Square-Enix and others...?

Speaking of which, there's an intersting read over at GAF on some of the impressions of gamers from Japan talking about Microsoft's efforts and the overwhelming attention they're receiving...

 

[expletive]

Only 6 games.

PDZ
FIFA 06
RIDGE RACER6
NFS:MW
Tetris (Tetris in HD ...)
"Every Party" (Japanese only)

It's a pretty sad line up compared to the US release. No CoD2 or PGR3.

DOA is delayed till the end of the month at least.

Only the hard hard core gamers are going to go out and buy one right now. I bet they move a fair number of units in these first few days, then the demand will just vanish untill some decent games get released.

I wonder why they didnt release Kameo in JP? I would think it has a chance to to decently given its nintendo-esque gameplay. If this were the laucnh lineup in the USA I doubt people would ahve lined up for it either especially since PD0 was under wraps until the very last minute.

 

[groper]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141063.html

From a purely retail perspective, the event was a resounding success.
Half an hour after the launch began, all the Xbox 360 consoles at Shibuya Tsutaya were sold out. There wasn't even a unit left for Moore and Maruyama to pose with for press photographs

Surprisingly, the first customer revealed that, despite his eagerness to pick up an Xbox 360, he doesn't own a current-generation Xbox. "I'm especially looking forward to the graphics," he said. "I heard that the visuals will be extremely beautiful with the shift to high definition. I really got interested in the Xbox 360 after I checked it out at the [Xbox 360] Lounge."

"History tells us that no great empire lasts forever," said Moore. "In the case of the Sony PlayStation, obviously it has been a great empire. But when a superior culture comes along, typically, it means the end of that empire. We believe that the superior culture is the Xbox 360 games experience, particularly the Xbox Live experience, which will bring communities from around the world together through gaming."

Moore also said he believes that the Xbox 360 will help Microsoft become a leader in the Japanese game market. "The most important thing is that we have the support of every major Japanese publisher … and I'm very proud that we've able to get that support from the Japanese development community."

 

[AlNom]

"History tells us that no great empire lasts forever," said Moore.

oh the irony...


Anyone have a figure on how many units were allocated to Japan?


edit:

When the clock struck zero, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appeared on screen to holler "Xbox 360!" in Japanese.

 

[Oninotsume]

Not Surprised

Living and working in Japan, I can tell you that the mediocre XBox 360 sales come as absolutely no surprise. The only people I know who went out and bought one are foreigners, and I have yet to meet a single Japanese person who is excited about it.

I can sum up the Japanese mind set with a little anecdote here. A Japanese woman I know, who knows little about videogames saw an XBox 360 commercial on tv and asked me what it was. I told her it was Microsoft's new machine, but that Sony and Nintendo are also going to follow up with their new machines in later months. Without batting an eye she says, "Sony? Well they'll win." And there you have it.

Of course this would change if Squenix decides to relese Dragon Quest on the 360, so we'll all just have to wait and see. In any case Japan really isn't that important of a sales market anymore. It's capture the minds of America or capture nothing at all.

 

[wireframe]

Reading this piece, I cannot help but wonder if it is actually two different stories that are mangled to sound as one, or to make it sound like one explains the other, thereby painting it in a different light.

On the one hand you have one store selling 200 Xbox 360s. That's actually not so bad, is it? This is more Xboxes than they typical store in North America received for launch, right? Now, this may not be your typical store, but it makes no mention of other stores that may have the same sales.

On the other hand you get these personal opinions of some of these early customers. They think they Xbox won't succeed in Japan and I think this is generally expected or, rather, that if Microsoft succeeds and "steals the market," it will be a huge upset.

200 units for one store on opening day and 50 in two hours can't be all that bad, can it?

I cannot help but wonder if Microsoft is not making a huge mistake trying to penetrate the Japanese market so aggressively. They seem to be doing this in words in the NA/European market. Is this more about bolstering opinion in those regions than an actual desire to become number one in Japan? It must cost them massively to go up against Sony and Nintendo in their home arena. I keep thinking that maybe Xbox would be more popular in Japan if it was more Americanized, an almost "no, you can't have it" attitude of reverse psychology, if that makes sense.

 

[OICAspork]

Living and working in Japan, I can tell you that the mediocre XBox 360 sales come as absolutely no surprise. The only people I know who went out and bought one are foreigners, and I have yet to meet a single Japanese person who is excited about it.
.

I tried to PM you about this, but it said you opted not to accept PMs. My experience mirrors yours, haven't seen any of my students interested in the 360. I'm a Jr. High English teacher in the JET program in Nara. How about yourself.

 

[Oninotsume]

Reading this piece, I cannot help but wonder if it is actually two different stories that are mangled to sound as one, or to make it sound like one explains the other, thereby painting it in a different light.

It sound like you are correct.

All along the Chuo sen shelves were piled high with xboxen. Musashi sakai, Mitaka, Kichijoji, Koenji clear up to Shinjuku. The dude at Laox in Kichijoji actually laughed when I asked if they had any left. I don't think they'd sold more than three of them all day.

gg xbox, next up PS3

My understanding was there was some event in Shibuya at Tsutaya that had about 250 people but otherwise there are plenty of 360s left anywhere in Tokyo if you want one. Maybe it will pick up when DOA comes out (though you'd think all the guys that want the new DOA would have lined up for a 360 today just to make sure they had one)

http://tokyopia.com/tk/forum/index.php?topic=2314.0

Taken from www.tokyopia.com, a site visited by many foreigners working in Japan's game industry. Most of these guys are pretty hard core gamers, so you won't find much ******ism in their comments. On top of that a lof of us have a vested interest in the Xbox 360, so we'd like it to succeed, but it's a Sony world here.

 

[msia2k75]

Seems like the 360 will do worse than the first XBOX...

 

[wireframe]

Oninotsume,

Ok, so your quotes would indicate that sales are very lukewarm indeed. It was just that the OP linked story seemed to not really back itself up, saying 200 units sold from one store and 50 in a couple of hours and then you had all these interviews that were negative.

I am not sure why you said I was correct. It would seem that the overall tone of the original (Yahoo link) story does, in fact, give the right impression even though it does so in a strange way. Your linked information certainly puts it in the perspective that this 200 unit sale was a limited incidence, something which I think that story failed to back up.

Are those Xbox "Bars" still up in Tokyo? Was that just one and was it only for the pre-launch or are these places up and running promotion on a constant basis?

 

[kyleb]

Well at least now everyone knows where they can get a 360:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?ca...00&PHPSESSID=227824c35e3a66b602a36562fc0fb2fd

 

[Tap In]

Seems like the 360 will do worse than the first XBOX...

do you really think we have enough information (24 hours) to make a statement like that?

"It's not going to be a big hit in Japan," said 26-year-old Kentaro Okamoto , one of the first Xbox 360 buyers. "I buy every new game console... but normally Japanese customers only buy a machine when it's made by Sony or Nintendo."

why would anyone be surprised by them not lining up around the street? MS never said they were going to own Japan, they said they were going to do the things necessary that were under their control to try and do better (early launch, Japanese devs/games and a more appealing system).

that's all they can do. not to sound rude but Japan is fairly xenophobic regarding foreign electronic products.

​

 

[drpepper]

that's all they can do. not to sound rude but Japan is fairly xenophobic regarding foreign electronic products.

to quote Ralph Klein...

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know."

I'm sure brand loyalty is a factor. But can you explain why then the iPod and iTMS is beating Sony hardware and online music distrobution?

 

[Tap In]

to quote Ralph Klein...

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know."

I'm sure brand loyalty is a factor. But can you explain why then the iPod and iTMS is beating Sony hardware and online music distrobution?

confusion?

good point but games are a much more personal thing in Japan than listening to music. There are a couple of decades of cultural habits that have been developed around the gaming in Japan. Xbox is a much more foregin object in comparison to a Sony game product than music devices that were just recently (read: this decade) developed for the mass market.

Besdies, close your eyes and the iPod could be mistaken for a Japanese product.