Xbox 360 Sales Data

[Johnny Awesome]

They'll be fine. 3 million my the end of February is substantial.

 

[mckmas8808]

They'll be fine. 3 million my the end of February is substantial.

Japan

Media Create: Dec 12-18
http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html

DS 408,770
PSP 95,689
PS2 55,342
GBASP 19,098
GC 17,849
GBM 14,432
Xbox360 8,623
GBA 416
Xbox 182

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Who cares how they do in Japan? It's not really relevant.

 

[Ty]

Who cares how they do in Japan? It's not really relevant.

Wha? 1/3rd of the market plus numerous game developers = not relevant?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Japan is not 1/3 of the market... it's more like 20-25% at most...

 

[mckmas8808]

Japan is not 1/3 of the market... it's more like 20-25% at most...

That's correct but that doesn't make the Johnny correct. Japan matters alot.

 

[Phil]

Japan is not 1/3 of the market... it's more like 20-25% at most...

Even though the market of console buyers might be smaller than the other two markets, Japan has pushed out more games than the other two markets combined. Even if we disregard a large segment of those titles because they never make outside Japan, quite a big segment of those that do, have a large impact on the sales of consoles in the other two markets which should not be underestimated.

*points to sales of various Japanese developers in Europe and America etc*

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Even though the market of console buyers might be smaller than the other two markets, Japan has pushed out more games than the other two markets combined.

But this is something totaly different, and IMHO irrelevant. Actually, MS could even be the console market's leader without succeeding in Japan; not that I think this could happen in the next 5 years.

 

[Tahir2]

MS believe Japan is relevant and that is because they are smart. Whether or not Japan is conquered is another matter altogether. So far Xbox360 looks bad in Japan but a few exclusive RPG's might fix that.

 

[Phil]

But this is something totaly different, and IMHO irrelevant. Actually, MS could even be the console market's leader without succeeding in Japan; not that I think this could happen in the next 5 years.

I very much doubt that. There are very strong franchises coming from Japan that are pretty much driving many [hardware] sales in America as well as Europe. Just check the sales numbers of various titles from Square-Enix, Namco, Capcom, Konami and their sales impact in Europe / America and you'll find that the support is nothing to laugh at. As I said, the hardware sales in Japan might not be that important given it's only about 20-25% of the entire market - it's the software sales & support and their impact overhere that I am looking at, something you shouldn't dismiss.

 

[fulcizombie]

I very much doubt that. There are very strong franchises coming from Japan that are pretty much driving many [hardware] sales in America as well as Europe. Just check the sales numbers of various titles from Square-Enix, Namco, Capcom, Konami and their sales impact in Europe / America and you'll find that the support is nothing to laugh at. As I said, the hardware sales in Japan might not be that important given it's only about 20-25% of the entire market - it's the software sales & support and their impact overhere that I am looking at, something you shouldn't dismiss.

Care to name some hugely succesfull Japanese games in the western markets in the last 2 years???


I hate to break it to you but Japanese games are becoming irrelevant in the western markets.Even huge franchises like MGS are loosing their populaity(not on internet forums but in the real world) as evident by the U.S sales of MGS3 which is struggling to pass the 1 million copies mark after a year on retail and with many price cuts.Other notable flops in the last year include RE4(ps2),Tekken 5,Soul Caliber 3,Dragon Quest 8(though that was never popular in the west) and more and i am using ps2 games cause the sony consoles are the home of most Japanese games.

Just take a look at any U.S or U.K sales chart from the last 2 years and you'll see that western-developed games dominate these charts.

Most Japanese games only serve for forum-bragging from ******s and bear no real relevance for the fate of a console.You'll see that when the ps3 launches the biggest sellers will be the western-developed games.

 

[Nicked]

Most Japanese games only serve for forum-bragging from ******s and bear no real relevance for the fate of a console.You'll see that when the ps3 launches the biggest sellers will be the western-developed games.

Thats awfully naive. Having alot of great Japanese content not only creates diversity, they also sell systems and do well at retail.

U.S sales of MGS3 which is struggling to pass the 1 million copies mark

You do realise that 1million (which it is now past I believe), is a feat achieved by not many games each generation? Also, its WW sales are very healthy.

Japanese developers give us some of the worlds greatest sellers:
Final Fantasy
Kingdom Hearts
Gran Turismo
Pokemon (handheld)
^^^^^^^^^ - only outsold by GTA WW this gen (aka they > Halo)
Mario
Zelda
Ace Combat
Metal Gear Solid
Tekken
Dead or Alive
Dragonball Z
Most of Nintendos other crap...
etc. etc.

Obviously in the west more western games are going to sell well, but the above do extremely well in all regions.

 

[Phil]

Care to name some hugely succesfull Japanese games in the western markets in the last 2 years???

On top of my head; Final Fantasy X (1 million+ in NA), Final Fantasy X-2 (1 million+ in NA), Metal Gear Solid 2 (2 million+ in NA), i hear Gran Turismo 3 and 4 have sold very well in both Europe and America. Eventhough Resident Evil 4 numbers on PS2 have been quite underwhelming, I'm sure this had more to do with Capcom's silly decision of taking the franchise onto another console. Winning Eleven apparently does quite well in Europe.. in fact, Konami's press release shows that their sales in America and Europe are in the same league as Japan... Kingdom Hearts I think didn't do too shabby either. Onimusha didn't sell bad either (0.6+ million in NA, 0.3 in Europe).

Just take a look at any U.S or U.K sales chart from the last 2 years and you'll see that western-developed games dominate these charts.

Care to show me these sale charts? I've been googling for about 30 minutes and can't find any detailed sale charts of the American / European markets...

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The top franchises in North America/Europe (83% of the world console market) are:

Grand Theft Auto
Halo
Madden
Grand Turismo
EA Games (generally)

The rest of the stuff is barely relevant, except for Nintendo 1st party, maybe Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid - 2 franchises MS can never get. That's why Japan is not relevant for X360 success.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

Wha? 1/3rd of the market plus numerous game developers = not relevant?

Xbox 360 marketshare in Japan and Japanese developer support don't correlate.

 

[Cyander]

Xbox 360 marketshare in Japan and Japanese developer support don't correlate.

This is definitely becoming increasingly true, as more devs are looking at the global market as a whole. However, at launch, it never correlates, as the devs are looking 1-2 years down the road when they make decisions, while the consumers are looking at the here and now when they make decisions (usually).

 

[mckmas8808]

The rest of the stuff is barely relevant, except for Nintendo 1st party, maybe Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid - 2 franchises MS can never get. That's why Japan is not relevant for X360 success.

Yep MS definatley doesn't need Japan's success. I guess MS choice to deliver them cheaper 360 consoles with a Beta game was crazy. What was MS thinking right?

No seriously Japan is relevant for ALL consoles. I hope MS isn't thinking like you. If so then you can count MS out of a win (more consoles sold) from Sony and/or Nintendo.

 

[Phil]

Xbox 360 marketshare in Japan and Japanese developer support don't correlate.

Yeah, from which I'm sure is the result of very lucrative business deals / money hats from Microsoft to get more Japanese support to their console. Looks to me as if Microsoft is in fact helping them with the next-generation transition while those developers are still taking a wait & see approach with minimal risk behind their efforts. Then, when PS3 is out, release full throttle. /thinking of Namco.

 

[Bad_Boy]

Does anybody know anything more about this article?
http://www.xboxcircle.com/portal/content/view/902/1/

According to The Inside Scoop, each Xbox 360 Microsoft manufactures costs approximately $715 to produce, putting Microsoft in the red about $300 per console.

Earlier numbers by Business Week reported that Microsoft is losing $126 on every Xbox 360 sold. That figure is now believed to be a bit higher.

Could just be a site trying to get hits by putting out a bogus article...but if thats true...wow.

 

[mckmas8808]

Does anybody know anything more about this article?
http://www.xboxcircle.com/portal/content/view/902/1/


Could just be a site trying to get hits by putting out a bogus article...but if thats true...wow.

That number seems kind of high. I don't know about $715.