Kinect Sells Terribly in Japan

[UberNoodle]

I was under the impression that most American gaming hardware (and games) don't sell well in Japan

It has nothing at all to do with it being American or non-Japanese. Apple own Japanese hearts and minds for music players and smartphones, yet overseas brands of regular phones just couldn't get going here. Sharp, NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba, etc, own PC sales here in Japan, but DELL and Gateway can't really get a foot in edgewise. Japanese cars sell to the extreme, but foreign cars are mostly the luxury ones. Appliances and TVs from Japanese manufacturers sell far more than LGs and Samsungs do. However, fashion goods is largely foreign, especially in the prestige market.

What's my point? Japan is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of cars and electronics. The market is saturated as it is with domestic brands. No outside brand has a chance, UNLESS, they provide something the market wants which isn't being catered for. This was the secret sauce for Apple and all the other successful overseas brands here, including McDonalds, United Colours of Benetton, Prada and so on. Music too, is the same deal. Not much Japanese Reggae, but that genre is very popular here.

Xbox as a brand just can't compete with 1) the brand loyalty already entrenched, and 2) the Japanese market's demand for RELIABILITY AND QUALITY, something which Microsoft really messed up on. It's a huge black mark to have happen what happened to the Xbox 360. And what's more, the Xbox 360 caters for the Japanese the way that a non-Japanese person would think it does. It's not about putting JRPGS on there, or hyperactive shooters. It's about putting THE Jrpgs and THE hyperactive shooters on there.

And it's about making a product which appeals to Japanese creative and aesthetic sensibilities, and which also matches their resources. I speak of SPACE, of course. Games of the serious kind that the Xbox 360 touts attract a young age group that's already consumed with passing tests for expensive universities their parents are paying for, while living in tiny dorms or single room apartments. On holidays, they go home.

When they graduate, they may live in COMPANY dorms of single room apartments, but they certainly have very little time to play the hardcore games demanded the system, and the social demands of Japanese working life are crazy high!

So in the end, if such people DO buy a hardcore gaming system, are they going to go with the 'maybe' dark horse -- which was declared lame so many times by media and disgruntled owners -- or the product of a company which they know and trust and which all their friends have, and which has the familiar games which they enjoy?

This is why 360 flounders here. Sorry for what looks like a lecture. I don't mean it that way at all, and think of a thread like a group conversation -- I'm addressing everyone who has been or will ever visit it.

Peace.

 

[Frostbite3789]

A device that requires like fifteen feet of open space not selling well in an overcrowded culture with small living quarters?

Colour me shocked.

They didn't really account for a Japanese family having living quarters the size of a mid-size SUV did they?

 

[Supernova2000]

Or perhaps they're simply more enlightened over there; they understand that you can't beat a tried-and-true, solid, standard controller in your hands for playing games.

 

[UberNoodle]

I obviously can't speak for everyone in Japan, but the space problem isn't so much that the homes (that I've lived in and visited) aren't big enough; it's that most places are ridiculously compartmentalized with a living room, dining area and tatami room being in close proximity, but all being walled off. I could wish for a home that ditches the tatami and just has a big open area.

Well the last place I lived in had that, but the landlady was a royal ***** that would walk into the place unannounced and yell at us because she thought she deserved more money than was agreed upon.

Bloody oath mate! In all the apartments I've lived in, and my current is a 1LDK with 16 tatami space, not including genkan, bathroom and toilet, and it was near impossible to set up my TV, surround sound system and HTPC, simply because of the way the walls and doors are. My living space is rectangular, but I can't orient things to use that length. I am all cramped up now, with my sofa across the sliding doorway to the kitchen/dining area and my TV in front of me, simply because the far left wall is actually a giant cupboard, and the far right wall is the glass door and window to the balcony! GRR!

 

[Drakmeire]

So a peripheral for a console that didn't sell very well in the first place is selling even worse in a country that isn't a fan of xbox to begin with? This just doesn't make any sense.
Also, did it even sell as well as Microsoft wanted here?

 

[winter2]

Hey now.. I have the kinect and I happen to like it. I can't say I care at all that the kinect didn't sell in Japan. Like who cares? I mean, beyond the obvious fan boys on either side of course.

I say BAH! to this.

 

[GeorgW]

I would think that the Kinect would be perfect for karaoke bars, for dancing, but for the general public I doubt the Kinect would even work for most people given the size of the average Japanese apartment. Add to that the very low sales for the 360 in general, this is in no way a surprise, and M$ shouldn't ave expected anything else.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Please stop saying "Killer app."

 

[newwiseman]

What Japanese person has the room to use Kinect and already owns a 360? My place is decent sized and I would have to move my couch to comfortably use a Kinect with my XBOX. The average japanese home is much smaller than my own, this was never going to work.

When the short focus Kinect for PC's hits the market I'm sure Japan will love them as much as anyone else.

 

[AugustFall]

I have no idea why it sold so well over here. It's like the six axis. Never properly incorporated into gameplay.

It's a cool piece of kit, people have done amazing stuff with it but as a gaming peripheral I can't think of a single standout game for the kinect or feature in a game which requires it which is good.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Is anyone really surprised at this?

the Japanese market's demand for RELIABILITY AND QUALITY

This is something I feel that North American culture lacks. People are generally willing to accept or "shrug off" mediocrity with the notion that "Shit happens". It's a big reason why I swore off anything Xbox after it broke on me the second time, I'm not going to invest in something that can't prove itself to be reliable, and reliability is generally associated with quality. The first time "shit happens" probably just unlucky. Second time, fuck this.

 

[bluemew1234]

Ha, looked at the related news.
"Kinect Sells Surprisingly Well in Japan"
Funny how things change in just a year.

 

[Epona]

Or perhaps they're simply more enlightened over there; they understand that you can't beat a tried-and-true, solid, standard controller in your hands for playing games.

Yes, that would explain the Wii-Mote and the Move wouldn't it.

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Surely the reason japs aren't buying kinect has more to do with the xbox not been massively popular in japan?

 

[Wintermoot]

understandable when you take in consideration that Japan is the polar opposite of the west when it comes to games.
I,m not surprised.

Or perhaps they're simply more enlightened over there; they understand that you can't beat a tried-and-true, solid, standard controller in your hands for playing games.

Sony and Nintendo are Japanese companies

 

[minarri]

Xbox products have never found much of a market in Japan. This is not a surprise.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I was under the impression that most American gaming hardware (and games) don't sell well in Japan

You are correct. Microsoft doesn't really care about Japan. They've never done well there. They just do really well elsewhere.

 

[kickyourass]

What a shock, a country that is well known for having rather poor 360 sales is having poor sales for a 360 add-on. Haven't been this shocked since I learned that Nintendo was making another Mario game

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Is anyone even surprised by this? Come on, be honest.

 

[sparkyk24]

The thing is, the few people that do like 360s over here tend to like more American style gameplay. You know, chainsawing people or beating zombies with an oar. So trying to Japanese the American console isn't going to help. I mean, small towns don't even sell 360 stuff most of the time. Who exactly were they hoping to appeal to?