Only 99 Xbox Ones Were Bought in Japan Last Week

[The Wooster]

Only 99 Xbox Ones Were Bought in Japan Last Week

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/731/731461.jpg
Japan got 99 problems, but an Xbox ain't One.

The Xbox family has never done particularly well in Japan. Even the 360, the most successful of the bunch, floundered in the land of rising sun. Conventional wisdom puts this down to strong homegrown competitors (a pair of companies called Nintendo and Sony, you might have heard of them) and a general dearth of traditionally Japanese games and genres on the platform. The Xbox One inherited that problem, and brought quite a few more of its own to the table. It was a foregone conclusion that Microsoft's latest would get trounced in Japan, but no one expected it to be this bad.

According to Media Create sales figures, a mere 99 Xbox One systems were sold in Japan last week. Compare that to the PlayStation 4, which shifted 25,592 units and the apparently "dead" Wii U, which sold 15,398. The New 3DS LL topped the charts at 30,172, but it has DS in its name, which is kind of cheating. They always sell well.

To put those numbers into perspective, the Xbox One sold just 25,674 during its first 4 days on sale in Japan and just 3,015 the following week. For comparison, the 360 (which was also considered somewhat of a failure in Japan) sold 60,000 in its first two days on sale. Kotaku quite famously published a series of pictures of the Xbox One's desperately sad launch events. [http://kotaku.com/japans-xbox-one-launch-as-sad-as-youd-expect-1630411606]

The problem isn't just limited to Japan. Microsoft has been cagey about releasing global sales numbers for the Xbox One. Venture Beat estimated that as of November of last year, Microsoft had sold roughly 15 million units. The PS4, for comparison, had shifted over 30 million by that point.

Source: Media Create via 4gamer

Permalink

 

[Barbas]

Wow. That is just an...atrocious display.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

I'm always expecting even worse sales numbers from Xbox Consoles than what reality will do. So I'm more surprised Xbox one sold more than 9 consoles in Japan. And baffled that Europe doesn't find a way to refund more Xboxes than sold.

Wii U being labeled a failure shouldn't be a shocker. After all PS Vita is a failure & Wii U hasn't outsold that yet.

How unfair reality must be that the only company not having problems with Console Sales is the same one that ruined Spider-Man.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Ouch. Just...ouch. I always wonder what goes through the minds of those poor people at the Xbox events in Japan. They must know what's coming, and yet they still go.

 

[SKBPinkie]

The New 3DS LL topped the charts at 30,172, but it has DS in its name, which is kind of cheating. They always sell well.

Two words - Monster Hunter.

Whatever system that game is on will be successful in Japan, no questions asked.

 

[shintakie10]

I said this before, and I will say again. Microsoft needs to call it quits with Japan already. They're wasting their time and money promoting a console in a country where people do not want it.

Im amazed they haven't already. The costs of shipping all those units, the marketing (even if its not all that much in comparison to other territories), I can't imagine they make their money back on that investment in Japan. If they're selling that few consoles, how abysmal must their software sales be? Why would any store even bother to waste stocking space on anything Xbox related when you absolutely know that you're almost guaranteed to not have anyone buy them?

 

[Saltyk]

So, Xbox One shouldn't be expecting many JRPGs is what you're saying?

I said this before, and I will say again. Microsoft needs to call it quits with Japan already. They're wasting their time and money promoting a console in a country where people do not want it.

If they did that, they might as well just exit the game industry. That would practically guarantee they would have no support from Japanese developers, which would certainly hurt anyone wanting to even buy an Xbox. Why buy a system that would only have support from Western Developers?

Yes, the Xbox Brand does terrible in Japan and always has. But completely ignoring the market would be bad for business in a global market. Instead of abandoning the Japanese market they should try to build a system that the Japanese would buy.

Besides, it's not like Xbox One is doing well. It's second in North America, the only market it is doing well in. And considering that North American sales are the main reason the 360 was doing as well as it did, that is a bad sign.

 

[Queen Michael]

Sheesh!

I knew Japan's never been the best market for Xbox consoles, but 99 in an entire week?

That means only one person in a million bought one!

 

[Bedinsis]

Wii U being labeled a failure shouldn't be a shocker. After all PS Vita is a failure & Wii U hasn't outsold that yet.

To be fair to the Wii U it is the best selling current gen stationary console in Japan.

Which should speak volumes of Japanese gaming habits.

 

[Supernova1138]

So, Xbox One shouldn't be expecting many JRPGs is what you're saying?

I said this before, and I will say again. Microsoft needs to call it quits with Japan already. They're wasting their time and money promoting a console in a country where people do not want it.

If they did that, they might as well just exit the game industry. That would practically guarantee they would have no support from Japanese developers, which would certainly hurt anyone wanting to even buy an Xbox. Why buy a system that would only have support from Western Developers?

Yes, the Xbox Brand does terrible in Japan and always has. But completely ignoring the market would be bad for business in a global market. Instead of abandoning the Japanese market they should try to build a system that the Japanese would buy.

Besides, it's not like Xbox One is doing well. It's second in North America, the only market it is doing well in. And considering that North American sales are the main reason the 360 was doing as well as it did, that is a bad sign.

PS4 isn't getting a huge amount of Japanese support either because the home console is effectively dead in Japan. The Japanese market has largely shifted to phones and the Nintendo 3DS, with maybe the odd Playstation Vita here and there. We're still seeing lots of JRPGs get PS3 releases simply because that's the only home console that hasn't been discontinued that still has a large install base in Japan.

At this rate most Japanese games are only going to be available on phones and whatever handheld Nintendo has out at the time in a few years, so Microsoft might as well not even bother competing in that market unless they want to make a big push for their phones as a gaming platform or they decide to jump into the dedicated handheld ring.

 

[Saltyk]

So, Xbox One shouldn't be expecting many JRPGs is what you're saying?

I said this before, and I will say again. Microsoft needs to call it quits with Japan already. They're wasting their time and money promoting a console in a country where people do not want it.

If they did that, they might as well just exit the game industry. That would practically guarantee they would have no support from Japanese developers, which would certainly hurt anyone wanting to even buy an Xbox. Why buy a system that would only have support from Western Developers?

Yes, the Xbox Brand does terrible in Japan and always has. But completely ignoring the market would be bad for business in a global market. Instead of abandoning the Japanese market they should try to build a system that the Japanese would buy.

Besides, it's not like Xbox One is doing well. It's second in North America, the only market it is doing well in. And considering that North American sales are the main reason the 360 was doing as well as it did, that is a bad sign.

PS4 isn't getting a huge amount of Japanese support either because the home console is effectively dead in Japan. The Japanese market has largely shifted to phones and the Nintendo 3DS, with maybe the odd Playstation Vita here and there. We're still seeing lots of JRPGs get PS3 releases simply because that's the only home console that hasn't been discontinued that still has a large install base in Japan.

At this rate most Japanese games are only going to be available on phones and whatever handheld Nintendo has out at the time in a few years, so Microsoft might as well not even bother competing in that market unless they want to make a big push for their phones as a gaming platform or they decide to jump into the dedicated handheld ring.

A fair point. But it has still sold over two million consoles and the Wii U has sold over three million. And very few consoles (not counting handhelds) have broken 20 million units sold in the the entire history of gaming. Really only the PS2 has ever sold that well in Japan, though the PS1 and NES were very close to that milestone.

However, it is way too early to call the console industry dead in Japan. PS3 sold 10 million units and the Wii sold 12 million units. That represents 12% and 12.6% of their total sales respectively. In comparison, the PS2 at 23 million units made up 14.7% of the systems total sales. Now, while 2.3 million PS4's only represents about 6% of the systems total sales, it has had really strong sales in North America and Europe (as well as other regions). Almost reaching half of the total lifetime sales of the PS3 in just two years.

I'd be curious to see year to year sales data on the various console's sales. That would probably say a lot more than merely pointing out numbers.

Source for sales data: http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

The reason the Xbox brand has never really sold well in Japan is because they made their mark on games that the Japanese audience just didn't care about. And coupled with that horrible reveal of the Xbox One, they probably killed any potential for the Xbox One to perform at all in Japan.

Xbox never cared about Japan, so Japan never cared about Xbox.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Microsoft should wise up and find alternative better markets, Japan isn't worth it anymore.

I think Microsoft would prefer to lose money in an area, rather than give it up to a competitor.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Microsoft should wise up and find alternative better markets, Japan isn't worth it anymore.

I think Microsoft would prefer to lose money in an area, rather than give it up to a competitor.

I honestly think that the only reason they're still in japan. pride is the center of most failures

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I honestly think that the only reason they're still in japan. pride is the center of most failures

It's a lot like Fox and the Fantastic Four. They would rather lose money than let Disney make more.

 

[masticina]

99 in a week. In the whole of japan and it wasn't because of a tea visit with Gojira. Well the xbox is truly xboned. Thank you, thank you, I will be here all week.

Maybe if they can somehow make a deal with a television provider there they can sell the xbox one as a way to improve television. Remember television, sports, sports, television, television.

And yes I get why people like the Wii U. It is the oddball. It does gets the games that you won't find on the others. Nor even the PC.

Splatoon for instance of that Chrono game I still should buy.

But xbox one? I guess it just doesn't offers enough for the japanese market.