Since Mistwalker can not save the 360 in Japan, then what company can?

as you all well know by now, Lost Odessey in one week went from top 30, to 50th place for sold numbers. Do you guys feel MS made a bad investment with MistWalker? since it is not doing well in Japan? what are your thoughts?

this is taken from dream trigger

Thanks to GAF and M-create!


DSL 222,132
PSP 184,610
Wii 170,558
PS3 63,720
PS2 18,025
Xbox360 8,561
GBASP 103
GC 32
GBM 28
DS 12
GBA 9



Hardware - This Week | Last Week | YTD | LTD
1. NDS - 222,144 | 168,267 | 6,668,915 | 20,674,594
2. PSP - 184,610 | 91,481 | 2,736,291 | 7,268,420
3. WII - 170,558 | 115,057 | 3,311,401 | 4,231,044
4. PS3 - 63,720 | 38,123 | 1,073,245 | 1,530,803
5. PS2 - 18,025 | 11,987 | 726,218 | 20,881,077
6. 360 - 8,561 | 8,876 | 226,427 | 491,129
7. GBA - 140 | 114 | 50,534 | 15,348,613
8. NGC - 32 | 46 | 10,495 | 4,179,963


01./02. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) - 180,042 / 826,000
02./01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 124,238 / 535,000
03./00. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony) - 115,748 / NEW
04./05. [NDS] Prof. Layton and Pandora's Box (Level 5) - 74,378 / 444,000
05./09. [WII] Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) - 74,113 / 550,000
06./06. [NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square-Enix) - 73,061 / 868,000
07./10. [WII] Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) - 64,228 / 212,000
08./14. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 55,102 / 2,341,000
09./15. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 54,696 / 1,921,000
10./00. [WII] Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: the Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Square-Enix) - 40,580 / NEW

11./12. [PS2] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami)
12./20. [WII] Mario Party 8 (Nintendo)
13./08. [NDS] Powerful Pro-kun Pocket 10 (Konami)
14./00. [NDS] Kirarin Revolution: Make and Show at the Kime-Kira Stage (Konami)
15./22. [NDS] Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (Pokémon)
16./23. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
17./39. [NDS] Taiko Drum Master DS (Bandai-Namco)
18./28. [NDS] Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (Pokémon)
19./04. [PSP] Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (Sony)
20./11. [PS2] SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (Bandai-Namco)
21./27. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
22./35. [WII] Wario Ware Smooth Moves (Nintendo)
23./03. [NDS] Tales of Innocence (Bandai-Namco)
24./00. [360] Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (Microsoft)
25./21. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami)
26./16. [PS2] Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes (Capcom)
27./00. [WII] Nights: Journey of Dreams (Sega)
28./47. [NDS] Tamagotchi no Puchi-Puchi Omisecchi: Thanks Everybody! (Bandai-Namco)
29./18. [NDS] Nep League DS (Jaleco)
30./31. [NDS] Prof. Layton and the Curious Village (Level 5)
31./46. [NDS] Animal Crossing Wild World (Nintendo)
32./34. [NDS] My Housekeeping Diary (Nintendo)
33./45. [NDS] Dinosaur King: The Seven Fragments (Sega)
34./25. [NDS] MySims (EA)
35./00. [NDS] Big Pitch: I Think I Can Become an Ace (Marvelous Entertainment)
36./43. [NDS] Kanji Brain Test 2.5M (IE Institute)
37./42. [NDS] Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)
38./37. [PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei)
39./50. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom)
40./48. [NDS] Won!tertainment: Music Channel (Capcom)
41./32. [NDS] Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters World Championship 2008 (Konami)
42./40. [WII] Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom)
43./26. [PS2] Yakuza 2 (Sega)
44./41. [NDS] Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk × Dinosaur (Capcom)
45./17. [PSP] Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaiki da (Sony)
46./49. [NDS] More Brain Age (Nintendo)
47./44. [NDS] Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk × Shinobi (Capcom)
48./00. [NDS] Cooking Mama 2 (Taito)
49./00. [NDS] Yes! Precure 5 (Bandai-Namco)
50./07. [360] Lost Odyssey (Microsoft)

The best they can do is keep chipping away at it and hope they find a killer app. Mistwalker is aimed at the audience that existed 15 years ago and creates games that have some limited appeal worldwide but MS needs some sort of new age developer that can crank out bizarre cheap games that seem to dominate the charts from week to week if they want to make a name for themselves in Japan.

But every American company fights an uphill battle in Japan and things like IPOD don't prove anything really.

There is nothing "special" about Blue Dragon and Lost OD. I said it two years ago and i say it now. Those games are mediocre at best, just another JRPG of many that are released in Japan. Those games are not system sellers, you might buy them if you have 360 but otherwise, no.

For me personally Blue Dragon was big disappointment since i expected a lot from it.

I dont think we will know until early - mid next gen. This is just the start and both of these games scored very well in Japan.

Square Enix.

If Microsoft can get Final Fantasy XIV as an exclusive, it could turn the tide in Japan.

Baby steps. You can't expect a company that did practically nothing in Japan last gen to all of a sudden selling systems like hotcakes out there now. They've made a few progressive steps. I believe the 360 even outsold the original xbox numbers out there. That may not be a huge feat, but its a slow grind up a steep mountain. Also, the 360 has waaaaay more Japanese dev support than last gen, it's only a matter of time before they start selling better (even if its not by much, its still something).

Even if MS doesn't win over japan this gen, they're going to go for it again next gen and the next til they strike a chord with the Japanese consumers. They've already got Capcom(Dead Rising, Lost Planet, DMC4, RE5 etc), Namco(Eternal Sonata, AC6, Katamari etc), Mistwalker( Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Cry On), Team Ninja(Ninja Gaiden, DOA), Sega(Lots of Games last gen), Konami(SH5), and SE(somewhat) and others supporting them with some pretty big franchises.

The mass market in Japan doesn't like the Xbox or the 360. This isn't going to change with 1 or 2 good games from a decent/good producer.

The only way it can change is to keep plugging away gradually and trying to sell more consoles each generation. The only way they can turn that brand around over there is to buy or get exclusivity from some massive developer like SE, but that just isn't going to happen.

Well it's not Japan with the problem, it's Microsoft.

They clearly have no idea WTF they're doing there.

First off they gamble their console on 2 killer apps that are amoungst the same sub-genre, with the sub-genre not even being that popular (JRPG's have been near cult status for the country for years, this is why anything without the name Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest sells well under 500,000 copies).

It's similar like Toshiba trying to launch a console in America and gambaling with nothing but small budget games and having 2 killers apps both being platformers. And let's not forget their advertising.

As for the whole "Japan being biased" (not saying you said it) that's the most pathetic thing I've ever heard. Not surprised since nerds like to make up conspricy theories for nearly everything (Wii killing gaming?) (Microsoft paying for review scores?). Foreign products do sell well in Japan, anyone who says otherwise clearly has no idea what they are talking about. Coca-Cola, Disney, Abrocrombie, Dell, Nike, MTV, Mcdonalds, IPOD, LEVI's, etc. and etc. The only place where it's hard for a Western company to break through is the electronics company. This is obviously due to the fact that there is so much competition there. Dozens of big company's compete for the defining Plasma TV, Cell Phones, Speakers, etc. To put it into perspective it's very similar to the Amercan music industry. Looking at it nearly every popular artist(s) are from North America and extremely few from Europe or anywhere else. And this is with artist(s) struggling by trying to make so much of a dent in the market (Robbie Williams? Kylie Minogue *spelling*?). Of course Americans aren't racist, it's just that there is so much competition in the music industry it's extremely hard to break in, let alone if you don't know what they country wants or how to advertise for it.

umm... Team Ninja. The Japanese like Ninja's so Ninja Gaiden 2 may well save 360 in JapanSwift_Boss_A

No they don't Ninja Gaiden sold like crap both on the Xbox and PS3. Just because a game is Japanese doesn't mean the Japanese will eat it up.

The mass market in Japan doesn't like the Xbox or the 360. This isn't going to change with 1 or 2 good games from a decent/good producer.wiganath

Pretty much should've put a close down in this thread. It's pathetically obvious that Microsoft barely even tried in the country.

I mean what did they do? At launch they had nothing to draw in the Japanese crowd but a niche fighting game. The rest from on there were just budget titles and old PS2 ports. It wasn't until Blue Dragon that the system had another killer app and that came out nearly a full year after Dead or Alive 4. Then what came out after that Eternal Sonata half a year later. Then came Ace Combat 6 which was again half a year later. So 1 game every half a year? And appealing games at that most aren't "groundbreaking". I mean I'm not one to look at review scores but a 6.0? How the hell is that going to save your console? I mean the American SEGA Saturn had a far better game line-up then this and that still failed. It's just Lemmings trying to chip at any excuse for their system failing.

The best they can do is keep chipping away at it and hope they find a killer app. Mistwalker is aimed at the audience that existed 15 years ago and creates games that have some limited appeal worldwide but MS needs some sort of new age developer that can crank out bizarre cheap games that seem to dominate the charts from week to week if they want to make a name for themselves in Japan.

But every American company fights an uphill battle in Japan and things like IPOD don't prove anything really.

JiveT

Agreed fully.

*coughkonamiandsquarecough*

Mistwalker did actually "save" the Xbox 360 in Japan, if you look at it's sales it was selling slower than the original Xbox up until the release of Blue Dragon. So right now it's Mistwalker, Tecmo, Namco Bandai and Capcom that are keeping the Xbox 360 from flopping as hard as the original Xbox. It's passed the original Xbox sales in half the time and it's sold much more software.

However, they still aren't trying hard enough. They need internal Japanese development studios, either they form them their own or buy them. They also have to let that studio make games their way and not the western way.

AQ Interactive was founded in 2005, that same year Cavia, Feelplus and Artoon became their development studios. So Mistwalker have those three studios to out source code to. Now Microsoft should really push so that Artoon and Cavia only make RPGs with Mistwalker because they suck at anything else. Feelplus is an awesome studio and they need to get the creator of Shadow Hearts on board to make a new IP.

Make a deal to get Atlus to port their games to the Xbox 360. They should try to get Persona 4 ported to the Xbox 360 as well as new IPs for strictly for the console.

Square Enix is also important, but I wouldn't even try to get Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy on the console. Microsoft should work out more deals like the one that got them Infinite Undiscovery, which is being developed by tri-Ace.

Set yourself apart from the Playstation 3 and Wii, advertise the hell out of your Japanese games, but also advertise your Western titles with the same support.

Sony spent $100 million dollars advertising Final Fantasy VII back in the day, Microsoft needs to take those kinds of risks as well.

Mistwalker did actually "save" the Xbox 360 in Japan, if you look at it's sales it was selling slower than the original Xbox up until the release of Blue Dragon. So right now it's Mistwalker, Tecmo, Namco Bandai and Capcom that are keeping the Xbox 360 from flopping as hard as the original Xbox. It's passed the original Xbox sales in half the time and it's sold much more software.

However, they still aren't trying hard enough. They need internal Japanese development studios, either they form them their own or buy them. They also have to let that studio make games their way and not the western way.

AQ Interactive was founded in 2005, that same year Cavia, Feelplus and Artoon became their development studios. So Mistwalker have those three studios to out source code to. Now Microsoft should really push so that Artoon and Cavia only make RPGs with Mistwalker because they suck at anything else. Feelplus is an awesome studio and they need to get the creator of Shadow Hearts on board to make a new IP.

Make a deal to get Atlus to port their games to the Xbox 360. They should try to get Persona 4 ported to the Xbox 360 as well as new IPs for strictly for the console.

Square Enix is also important, but I wouldn't even try to get Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy on the console. Microsoft should work out more deals like the one that got them Infinite Undiscovery, which is being developed by tri-Ace.

Set yourself apart from the Playstation 3 and Wii, advertise the hell out of your Japanese games, but also advertise your Western titles with the same support.

Sony spent $100 million dollars advertising Final Fantasy VII back in the day, Microsoft needs to take those kinds of risks as well.

BreakingPoint8

This is pretty much the best post in this entire thread. Microsoft brought Bioware, RARE, and Bungie (I know most are gone now) and have made very close ties to Epic and Silicon Knights. What have they done in Japan? They've only made close ties with Mistwalker an unproven developer at the time. If Microsoft wants to break into Japan then they need to get more developers on board. As for Final Fantasy VII, that $100 Million was solely for the United States. With that advertising you can make anything popular. And I'm sure you don't want to see what the advertising budget was for Gears of War in Japan. Microsoft isn't taking Japan serious at all, all that "We want to break into Japan" from them is just CEO BS. I've yet to see any big move from them since the ties to Mistwalker.