Japan- Necessary to Win Worldwide Console Sales Race

Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Danm_999

[QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
CubeJL

[QUOTE="CubeJL"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Tristam22

It helps, but it might not be necessary. Japan is Microsoft's Achille's heel.TDLlama

[QUOTE="CubeJL"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Tristam22

[QUOTE="Tristam22"][QUOTE="CubeJL"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Danm_999

-Japan to a lesser extent.
CubeJL

[QUOTE="Danm_999"][QUOTE="Tristam22"][QUOTE="CubeJL"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Tristam22

[QUOTE="Danm_999"][QUOTE="Tristam22"][QUOTE="CubeJL"][QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Tristam22

When you do terribly bad in either US or Japan, basically you NEED to do amazingly well in just about any other big market to win worldwide.

For example, XBox 360, doing terrible in Japan, almost non-existent. Doing relatively well in US and doing ok in Europe. If things remain the same, does it look like it's going to win the worldwide console race?

It's not a must to win either US or Japan, but if you are almost non-existent in one of these two countries, you basically need to be dominant everywhere else to have a chance to win.

Japan also has a lot of good game developers, usually sales determine how much support you get from them, eventually.

If a console totally bombed in Japan, chances of it being the overall winner is very slim.

of course they matter..lemmings who said it doesnt is speakin out of hatred since japan mysteriously dislike the 360..but come on ps3 is better hardware all around..you gettin ya money worth,,beyondgamez

When you do terribly bad in either US or Japan, basically you NEED to do amazingly well in just about any other big market to win worldwide.

For example, XBox 360, doing terrible in Japan, almost non-existent. Doing relatively well in US and doing ok in Europe. If things remain the same, does it look like it's going to win the worldwide console race?

It's not a must to win either US or Japan, but if you are almost non-existent in one of these two countries, you basically need to be dominant everywhere else to have a chance to win.

Japan also has a lot of good game developers, usually sales determine how much support you get from them, eventually.

If a console totally bombed in Japan, chances of it being the overall winner is very slim.

wiialltheway

Definitely. The DS and the PS2 prove that.

A console could win without Japan, but it'd be very hard, and they'd have to win both of the other regions.

Yes, it is neccessary to win Japan if you want to win the 'console wars', period. They represent too significant a portion of the gaming market. The race will be too close in both NA & Europe for Japan not to matter at all.

But I don't think you have to win Japan in order to be successful. If you measure success in terms of profitability, I would imagine a company can still be pretty profitable based if they do well in the two other major regions.... what they cannot do is dominate soley in one region and still expect to succeed.

[QUOTE="Danm_999"]Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
CubeJL

You're very mistaken. The US makes up a large share of the gaming market but the US by itself is hardly enough to dominate the world. Statistically, we are very small compared to the rest of the world! If the US is the only market any company dominates they would fail as long as there was competition penetrating on a global scale.

The only business model in which the US is enough to tip the scales all by itself is on a national scale. For any business that competes globally, the US is not enough by itself. Do not be ignorant.

As much as Americans may like the 360, it will never be the number 1 console for the simple fact that the other two consoles receive support on a global scale... and that's enough to make a huge difference. I believe that the 360 will enjoy success... but at the end of the gen, it won't be as much as the other two consoles earned.

Did you know?

America is the number 1 producer / buyer of video games worldwide with over $12.5b in sales in 2006
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/01/video_game_indu.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070115/tc_nf/49325

Japan is the number 2 producer / buyer of video games worldwide with 2006 sales of approximately 625b yen ($5.1b)
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14943
http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=626000000000&from=JPY&to=USD&submit=Convert

Does one need to win Japan to win the console war worldwide in today's market?CubeJL

Finally, an intelligent debate in SW! I only hope the fanboys dont ruin this debate before I get a chance to reply.

However, there are so many factors to consider my head hurts, lol. Obviously the Japanese market is important, but for the moment, the 360 is doing brilliantly in the US, the biggest market. In that case it may not need to be that successful in Japan provided they can also gain a decent foothold in Europe and AU....so I wouldnt say its essential, but Microsofts problems with the Japanese market can be overcome, and that is by providing a wider range of games which appeal to the Japanese market.

I know its not true tht the 360 has mostly shooters etc., but even with recent higher numbers of RPG's, many of these are Western RPG's or in some cases such as Mass Effect do not appear RPG's in the traditional sense, and therefore are not popular in Japan, and some more quirky games would not only increase success in Japan, but in other regions too.High sales of the JRPG Blue Dragon in Japan proves that some success CAN be reached with the right games. The popular of the Final Fantasy series is a good example of how well games like Blue Dragon sell outside of and even inside the USA.

Sony has always had an extremely strong brand support worldwide but particularly in Europe as far as im aware, and both Sony and Nintendo dominate the Japanese market. My guess is that this largely figured in the sales of Nintendo consoles with both the GC and N64, as I live in Scotland and knew very few ppl with either of these consoles. With the USA and Japan, Nintendo's following has often been much stronger.

As for the PS3, I can openly admit that im not sure what the future holds. Im just going to guess that it will initially sell really well in Europe at launch, but fare better in Japan later in the consoles life as key titles appear. However, I still believe Wii will come out on top followed very closely by the 360 and then PS3.

In conclusion, I think 2 of the 3 regions is the minimal requirement, but Japan is a big market, and Japanese gamers are serious about their fanchises in particular. The lack of a popular frachise in Japan (except Halo) could be something of a barrier for MS. Personally I think the Japanese market is essential, because its what holds MS back and keeps the other two going. Franchise popularity appears to be high there as well. For example, the Fire emblem series which has been going on Nintendo consoles since the days of the NES is very popular there as well as the FF and Resident Evil series.

Necessary? No, if someone can dominate Europe and the United States, those economies can provide enough market share to emerge victorious in a console war. Japan is important, but as that article you provided stated, handheld is what is really driving the software sales in Japan, accounting for about 60%, and the home console market seems slightly more inconsequencial, as 40% of Japan doesn't seem to be crucial.

Helpful? Definitely. It's a major cultural home of many genres, franchises and developers.
Danm_999

Good point!

I remember hearing a while ago that someone said that Japan was a gaming market in decline, America was a market in stagnation and Europe was the market that was showing any growth. Ok, this was said before the DS, PSP, Wii... came out and I guess things have changed. Even though Europe is showing growth we are always put last for games. Europe and Australia.

The Gamecube was second place in Japan but third place everywhere else but most people viewed the console as being in 3rd place generally despite their strength in Japan. Even though now the Xbox 360 has not done as well as expected in Japan, it's viewed as being strong everywhere else.

Since Gamespot is North American based, I guess the so called winner of the console race will be the one who is the strongest in North America. If you were to visit other places you might not get the same result.