I think MS should just face the facts and pull out. The Japanese obviously don't care, so Microsoft should just concentrate on where their market is strong. The US, Europe, etc. I say don't waste their time, effort, and money on the Japanese. They are far from worth it.
We need some clarification in this thread (or at least I do). In America, FPS = shooter. Japan Shooter = anything w/ a gun. "Xbox 360 needs some shooters" = traditional shooters, like Gradius, Dodonpachi, etc. Obviously Quake 4 and Halo 3 are going to do nothing for the 360 in Japan. It's been said time and time again -- lots of different styles of games. I've said it in other threads -- Pachinko games are absolutely MASSIVE sellers. Of coure some tentacle rape games would help too.
First, I don't understand why the fuck MS keeps trying with Japan. If I were at the head of the division I would order to get the fuck away from that market and just focus in the americas (that's it the US, Canada, central and south america) europe (heavily, since is easier to topple the PS2/3 there than in japan) and australia. Now, let's say Bill calls me to tell me Japan is a must-have, and that if I dont, he's going to cut my fucking balls off. Now, what should I do? spends millons in ads, marketing and stupid lounges or just buy the whores at squareEnix?. I would buy them, so every FF title in the future has to be X360 only (yeah, even 2D remakes). That and couple hundred of date-sims, H-games and pachinko clones. In either of the two situations, I'm sure I'll do way better than the actual administration.
If X360 was pulled out of Japan, "almost" every Japanese studio would then work for Nintendo or Sony. Microsoft would lose a considerable amount of face worldwide, nobody wants to have any "failure" on their history. Microsoft have made a commitment to the Japanese market and development houses. If I had got a 360 in Japan (which I did) I would be pissed as hell if all support was pulled after I had made an investment and trusted MS to deliver me content. Similarly if I was a Japanese studio putting together a project for the 360, like Lost Odyssey, I would be furious to find out I would not be able to sell it in the market it was primarily intended for. Either MS should never have started in Japan, which is not a valid option given that would be admitting defeat to Sony and Ninty, or they continue to attempt to crack the market. They don't have a choice if they want to play in the world console market. I think instead of pulling out of Japan, MS will just stop putting any effort in after a year or two.
I think Microsoft should focus more on advertising in typical Japanese stuff, bet ya 5 bucks sales would go up if they would start sponsoring Hello! Morning for example.
I think MS is making some progress, it is true that their volume of sales looks more than worrying, but the Japanese is not an easy market the cultural differences are so immense. The first Xbox looked awful for the Japanese market it would have made a lot of differences if what more sexy and didn't look like a VCR but then the 360 looks sexier but still not appealing enough for Japanese. I'm quite happy that they are seeking more and more support of Japanese developper especially Game Arts (Silpheed, Grandia :thumbsup but then it will take time to get close to the momentum such brands as Sony and Nintendo have in Japan. I think Microsoft needs to adopt a more cultural focused approach towards Japan and Asia, study, study what Japanese wants don't impose. It's a long process for MS but maybe in the 3rd generation of Xbox it'll pay off. I don't think Japanese necessarily hate the Xbox 360 the machine is well designed their architecture is less complex than PS3 for developper (but then again WTF with multicore) but in the end only content will get you customer and I don't think EA or King Kong will get them there nor rehashed versions of FFXI and Far East of Eden Ziria, but again you have to start somewhere. If you look back in time, the PC-FX failed for one essential reason lack of popular franchise (and also lack of 3D) don't get me wrong I like the machine, but I think failure X360 in Japan is not due to MS being a western company. Sabre
Japan is just snooty IMO. Most Americans loved Japanese games and when we make our own and send them over there, they are like "WE HAET XBOX BECAUSE IT CAME FROM YUO". Fuck em'.
I agree with this, most of all the last part. MS blew it with Xbox, how the hell did they not release these types of games at launch this time around. Its mind blowing how they botched this launch. They have no one but themselves to blame for not having content the Japanese want. How hard is it to throw together a couple of simple date sims and pachinko titles for launch?
A pull out aint happening a turnaround will happen.It will out sale the Xbox at the least.There will be no more Microsoft consoles in japan after this gen.Microsoft will release there new system under the Sega banner.
Thing is though, the DC wasn't a huge success in Japan either. Sega's name tagged on a console isn't the solution.
Prejudiced people are all alike. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's intolerance. Some people say that I'm superficial, but that's just on the surface. One should never generalize. The world is full of apathy, but I don't care.
Hence, my overly sarcastic remark. I think Casual was just being fecious, but you never know... this is still just an internet forum, afterall.
Well i think the key is getting (quoteing steve balmer) "Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers Devolpers" And i just don't see a whole lot of them making games right out of the box.
ASSEMbler is correct. It's part of every successful business model that absolute profit isn't a viable solution. You have to break some eggs to make an omelet, even if those eggs cost you quite alot. Besides, MS isn't gonna be short on money any time soon, so they have more elastisity to try any wacky idea that smaller companies wouldn't dare to.
This is not a market where failure has eventually led to success... except for with Sega (SMS, MD sucked in Japan, but Saturn was very popular). Nintendo and Sony's first home consoles became household names. This story does not have a happy ending for Microsoft.