Analysts expecting flat 360 Japanese debut

Financial wire service AFX News is reporting that foreign game-industry analysts are feeling mighty bearish about the impending Japanese Xbox 360 launch. It seems the buzz one expects to precede a big console launch just hasn't materialized so far.

"No one--consumers or software makers--has been talking about the Xbox 360 lately, although we only have a couple of days before the release," Tokai Tokyo Research Center analyst Nobuyuki Kawamata told AFX, adding that the machine's cause is not helped by a thin launch lineup (sans the delayed Dead or Alive 4 and Enchant Arm) and technologically unfavorable comparisons to Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3.

Perhaps more interesting is that some analysts had expected big things out of Microsoft's Japanese launch, but are finding themselves disappointed with consumer reaction so far.

"We had previously thought that Xbox 360 could gain a major share of the Japanese market by taking some market share from front-runner Sony Computer," Mitsubishi UFJ Securities analyst Hirotoshi Murakami said. "But we now think that such a prospect may not be realized, given the limited attractiveness of its titles and its lukewarm functions."

Last month the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) released the results of a survey it took during September's Tokyo Game Show 2005, in which 23 percent of participants said they were interested in the Xbox 360, while 20.9 percent expressed an interest in Nintendo's forthcoming Revolution console. Both systems' numbers were topped by the PlayStation 3, which drew the interest of 70 percent of showgoers.