Why did the XBox 360 fail in Japan?

You would think that a lot of good games are appearing for the system and are doing well, but I don't think that most of the games appealed to the Japanese audience all that much. Most of the games that I've seen today are ones that geared towards a Western audience and only a few stood out from the crowd, like Lost Odyssey. I remember hearing about Halo helping out in getting consoles to be sold very well in Japan, but now it's a dying breed. I was curious as to what you guys are thinking in regards to a question like this. Why is the XBox 360 failing big time over in Japan? Was it the games, the marketing or advertisement that didn't do so well, or something else?

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY

[QUOTE="TJORLY"]

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

FlamesOfGrey

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY

Rofl.

I think the Xbox 360 was too heavy for them to carry. That or they just don't have space in their one room appartments.

I think it is simply that with Sony being a Japanese company, and the amount of games made exclusively for the Japanese market that console seems to be the more popular of the two, would not however say that the 360 failed, just that it has a more reduced share of the market in Japan than in other area, I mean in North America it would appear it (the 360) is the more popular console, where as in Europe it is split between both consoles.

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY

[QUOTE="TJORLY"]

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

mems_1224

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

They didn't like it's games which, let's do be honest here, are appealing almost exclusively to Western audiences.

[QUOTE="ZombieKiller7"][QUOTE="mems_1224"] you forgot underage girls in short skirts with huge boobsFlamesOfGrey

[QUOTE="FlamesOfGrey"][QUOTE="ZombieKiller7"] FF13 is multiplat. And doesn't 360 have a library of exclusive JRPG's?Black_Knight_00

360 also has:

Culdcept Saga (You can debate this)

Infinite Undiscovery

Operation Darkness

Spectral Force 3

Zoids Assault

That's 7. I was thinking of Magna Carta 2 but that's a Korean made RPG. The Last Remnant isn't exclusive as it's on PC. This was not about quality by the way just quantity.

[QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"][QUOTE="FlamesOfGrey"] Yeah, it has about 10 exclusive JRPG's / SRPG's in NA and a few more only released in Japan.FlamesOfGrey

360 also has:

Culdcept Saga (You can debate this)

Infinite Undiscovery

Operation Darkness

Spectral Force 3

Zoids Assault

That's 7. I was thinking of Magna Carta 2 but that's a Korean made RPG. The Last Remnant isn't exclusive as it's on PC. This was not about quality by the way just quantity.

The Nintendo and Sony saturation over there make it really hard for any other brands to gain penetration in the market. They were at a huge disadvantage from day one simply by not having Sony or Nintendo on the outside of the box.

It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

[QUOTE="FlamesOfGrey"][QUOTE="ZombieKiller7"] FF13 is multiplat. And doesn't 360 have a library of exclusive JRPG's?Black_Knight_00

I never got to play The Last Remnant yet (from the looks of it, it has the feel of an RTS/RPG type feel to it), but Blue Dragon isn't all that bad. I remember not liking the demo one bit, but still decided to give Blue Dragon a chance. I'm glad I did; it's not a bad RPG in the overall scheme of things.

They just have different taste in games than ours. The 360 was designed with the western audience in mind. If you look at this week's top 20 chart in Japan, i bet you havent even heard of the 90% of the games here.

01./03. [WII] Rhythm Heaven | ACT | (Nintendo) {2011.07.21} | ¥5.800 | - 48.190 / 374.489 (-24%)
02./01. [PSP] Monster Hunter Diary: Pokapoka Felyne G | ETC | (Capcom) {2011.08.10} | ¥3.990 | - 40.997 / 139.265 (-58%)
03./04. [NDS] Kirby Mass Attack | ACT | (Nintendo) {2011.08.04} | ¥3.800 | - 35.235 / 162.323 (-32%)
04./00. [PS3] Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 # | RPG | (Compile Heart) {2011.08.18} | ¥7.329 | - 32.751 / NEW
05./02. [3DS] Pokemon Rumble Blast | ACT | (Pokemon Co.) {2011.08.11} | ¥4.800 | - 32.144 / 118.437 (-63%)
06./00. [PSP] Growlanser IV: Over Reloaded | RPG | (Atlus Co.) {2011.08.18} | ¥6.279 | - 21.896 / NEW
07./06. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D | ACT | (Nintendo) {2011.06.16} | ¥4.800 | - 21.465 / 335.540 (-32%)
08./09. [WII] Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus | SPT | (Nintendo) {2010.11.11} | ¥5.800 | - 20.969 / 502.326 (+2%)
09./07. [PSP] J-League Pro Soccer Club! 7: Euro + | SPT | (Sega) {2011.08.04} | ¥6.279 | - 17.727 / 149.040 (-41%)
10./08. [PSP] Toriko: Gourmet Survival | ACT | (Bandai Namco) {2011.08.04} | ¥5.229 | - 17.521 / 108.550 (-38%)
11./05. [PSP] Uta no Prince-Sama: Repeat | ADV | (Broccoli) {2011.08.11} | ¥5.040 | - 16.311 / 48.491 (-49%)
12./13. [PSP] Taiko Drum Master Portable DX | ACT | (Bandai Namco) {2011.07.14} | ¥5.229 | - 12.107 / 179.027 (-15%)
13./00. [PSP] Amnesia # | ADV | (Idea Factory) {2011.08.18} | ¥6.090 | - 11.841 / NEW
14./12. [3DS] Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends | ETC | (Nintendo) {2011.02.26} | ¥4.800 | - 11.690 / 283.562 (-23%)
15./00. [PSP] Bunmei Haruka: Aoiza Ibunroku | ADV | (FuRyu) {2011.08.18} | ¥6.090 | - 11.462 / NEW
16./10. [WII] Epic Mickey | ACT | (Nintendo) {2011.08.04} | ¥5.800 | - 10.970 / 53.763 (-29%)
17./11. [NDS] All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation | ACT | (Bandai Namco) {2011.08.04} | ¥5.040 | - 10.035 / 77.913 (-34%)
18./16. [PSP] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2011 | SPT | (Konami) {2011.07.14} | ¥5.250 | - 10.016 / 151.910 (-8%)
19./17. [WII] Inazuma Eleven Strikers | SPT | (Level 5) {2011.07.16} | ¥5.980 | - 9.891 / 162.565 (-7%)
20./19. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White | RPG | (Pokemon Co.) {2010.09.18} | ¥4.800 | - 9.413 / 5.286.915 (-7%)

Most likely because Japanese just don't like the 360. The majority of the games are just FPS, which doesn't exactly fit their taste. The last game that sold well on the 360 in Japan was Idolm@ster 2. But now it's heading for the PS3 later this year, which is the final blow to the 360 in Japan.

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY

two main reasons imho:

1. xbox is targeted to a more casual fps audience which is why it sells in us, japanesse people and asians in general enjoy other more tactical type of games.

2. its main competitor is ps3, which if im not wrong is a japanesse product, i think they are not gonna support their competitor instead of their local product, cant really blame them for that

It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

[QUOTE="yukushi"]It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.OmenUK

[QUOTE="yukushi"]It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.BranKetra

Yeah...I'm not in agreement with Yukushi's statement either. XBox 360 did VERY WELL for a long while, especially with Halo being around. Sold A LOT of 360s over there and for good reason. Also, games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey helped out the system immensely. So it's not really a bad system whatsoever. I think you're just speaking out of personal...something. A grudge maybe?

[QUOTE="OmenUK"]

[QUOTE="yukushi"]It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

People in Japan have different tastes, many of them so completely detached from the western viewpoint it's not even funny. S0lid's MCS chart posted up there should serve as a perfect example of that. Simply put, the thing never interested japanese consumers.

Lol, VG Chartz. Are you for real?

Paying $60 for online is not stupid, because you get what you pay for. I don't play online on PS3 or Wii because it's a huge PITA. Say you want to play online with friends in Monster Hunter. You have to call them up and tell them to turn the game on, then you have to find out what server and room they're in, because searching for their Capcom ID (a random string of letters and numbers) does nothing if they're not online. Anyway you finally enter the room but you get an error code. With Xbox Live it's as simple as seeing that message "so-and-so is online" and sending them an invite.

So let's get a little serious here. Xbox Live is the main reason Xbox 360 does well in the US and fails in Japan. We're a social country. Here gaming is not about level grinding, it's about having a good time with friends. When your friend has an Xbox you get an Xbox, and your other friend gets an Xbox, and it just goes on. I don't know anyone with a PS3, just 360's and Wii's.

If you don't like console shooters, there's little reason to own a 360.

And even if you do, most of them are multiplatform. So basically it comes down to Halo or Gears.

I don't think beefed-up, big-headed sweaty Americans fighting the Locust would appeal to them at all.IIRiSEII

Sony and Nintendo have more influence in Japan, because they are Japanese companies.

[QUOTE="TJORLY"]

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

2_Quiet_2_Riot

Yes, because Medieval idiotic, over redundant, snoozefest, Euro-centric medieval, Tolkien inspired wizards, Knights, Trolls, and big ugly swords and shinning armor are sooooooooooo freaking cool :roll:

uhhh MAYBE BACAUSE IT'S AMERICAN???

lol Of course it failed, I'm sure half of Japan isn't even aware of Microsoft's console.

[QUOTE="OmenUK"]

[QUOTE="yukushi"]It failed in japan because japanese are smart people who knows a crappy console when they see one, unlike some dumb americans who do not know when they are getting ripped off, paying $60 a year for online gaming when it is free on playstation, xbox does not play bluray disc, need 3 disc for some games, I could keep going but I think you get the picture.yukushi

VGChartz offers real numbers if the data is available from someone actually in contact with retailers, but failing that, they make up numbers. Sadly, due to the fact that the only place that offers regular sales data is Japan, more and more people are turning to VGChartz for their information (even some professional game journalists cite them).

[QUOTE="yukushi"][QUOTE="OmenUK"]

You are wrong, it is simply down to different cultures and tastes when it comes to the type of games they like to play, Sony tend to create more games aimed at the Japanese market than Microsoft does hence it having the larger share of console sales. And I'm not American but I find your comment about Americans seems more than a little racist.

CarnageHeart

VGChartz offers real numbers if the data is available from someone actually in contact with retailers, but failing that, they make up numbers. Sadly, due to the fact that the only place that offers regular sales data is Japan, more and more people are turning to VGChartz for their information (even some professional game journalists cite them).

The 360 didn't fail Japan, Japan failed the 360.

The 360 is arguably more Japanese-centric than the PS3 content-wise in Japan, yet the Japanese (while not wholeheartedly) have opted to throw their money behind the PS3. Not the end of the world... all it proves to me is what I've already known for a long time: Japanese people, by and large, are nationalists. Nothing wrong with that -- hell, I want more nationalists here in America. But really, the 360's standing in Japan this generation says far more about Japan than it does about the 360 or Microsoft. I don't think there is any disputing that.

Japan differs from western world. Not only the way the life. They just love their Nintendo because it's from their country, they grew up with it.

Lol. Silly people. Japanese don't generally like American products. Hence our huge trade deficit with them that we have always had.

coz they just seem to be facinated with children as main characters.. seems quite odd to me, thats why I very seldom play Japanese titles.

Every time Japan is mentioned in a gaming message board, I get the feeling people who enjoy mostly western games completely despise Japanesse culture and the whole anime/manga pop culture. I get the feeling I'm the oly guy in the world who's into anime/manga but likes mostly western vidya :S

Paying $60 for online is not stupid, because you get what you pay for. I don't play online on PS3 or Wii because it's a huge PITA. Say you want to play online with friends in Monster Hunter. You have to call them up and tell them to turn the game on, then you have to find out what server and room they're in, because searching for their Capcom ID (a random string of letters and numbers) does nothing if they're not online. Anyway you finally enter the room but you get an error code. With Xbox Live it's as simple as seeing that message "so-and-so is online" and sending them an invite.

So let's get a little serious here. Xbox Live is the main reason Xbox 360 does well in the US and fails in Japan. We're a social country. Here gaming is not about level grinding, it's about having a good time with friends. When your friend has an Xbox you get an Xbox, and your other friend gets an Xbox, and it just goes on. I don't know anyone with a PS3, just 360's and Wii's.

istuffedsunny

Based on a lot of comments I've seen so far, it basically boils down to the Japanese don't enjoy the 360 because it's American. Yet here in the U.S. we have thousands upon thousands of people who own a PS3 and a Wii; so what's the deal there?

The exclusives for it dont have androgynous douchebags with too much hair gel as the main characters.

TJORLY