Microsoft Only Sold 100 Xbox Ones in Japan Last Week

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Xbone committed seppuku two years ago when it was announced to the world as everything nobody wanted.

 

[ccggenius12]

I have often thought that a number of Western companies might do better in Japan if they operated a full Japanese Subsidiary, but I guess it's a big gamble to take.

They might, and that's why they can't. Japanese law prohibits foreign companies from holding the controlling stake in a domestic company. This means that the best a foreign company can do in the Japanese market is partner with an existing business to launch and distribute their project. As vagabondwillsmile pointed out, several large games were brought to Japan through major domestic production companies, and this legislation was likely the reason.

 

[ccggenius12]

Then how come The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks was able to be bought by ZeniMax Media? A U.S. based corporation.

I honestly do not know, as that runs counter to everything I've learned in my International Marketing class... At a glance, I'd say that the most likely possibilities are: changes in legislation at some point between the publishing of the class materials and the studio's acquisition (not impossible, though the fact that the school book store was willing to buy them back at the end of the semester suggests they couldn't have been too far out of date); alternatively, it's possible that the Interactive Entertainment/Computer and Video Games industries have legislature that runs counter to what is typical for the majority.
Honestly, I'm sure there's a lot that wasn't covered in a one semester course, I'm sure someone who is specifically attempting an International Marketing major, with a goal of doing so for that region instead of just to fill credits for a more general degree could provide more insight than the broad strokes I was presented with. For all I know, there could be loopholes related to said company keeping its name and CEO.
Actually, checking Tango Gameworks Wikipedia page, the number one thing that seems most likely to me is that a company needs a certain number of employees for the government to give a damn. At the time Tango was purchased, there were 13 people employed there; calling that a company is... generous.

 

[mysecondlife]

Triple digits!

Xbox Japan should pop them champagne.

 

[mysecondlife]

Triple digits!

Xbox Japan should pop them champagne.

The Xbox brand has always been a poor seller in Japan as it is associated primary with shooters, sports games, and western developed RPGs, none of which the Japanese are really interested in playing in any significant numbers. The only time an Xbox console has had any decent sales is when Microsoft threw some money at Japanese developers to get some exclusives from them eg. Tales of Vesperia, The Idolm@ster, and Ace Combat 6. I'd agree Microsoft might as well cut their losses and just drop Japan at this point. At best, if they throw a bunch of money at Japanese devs for games that will sell in Japan, they'll get a small uptick in sales when that game comes out, and then it just flatlines again. There's no way that would be profitable and I doubt Microsoft wants to throw a lot of money around just to say they have a presence in Japan.

Except that Call of Duty is still one of the biggest sellers in Japan, and The Witcher 3 and Alien: Isolation are right up there in this week's list of top 10 sellers.

Oh wow. Even Japanese get suckered into COD? Interesting.

(hmm. I guess I accidentally pressed quote button instead of edit. My bad)

 

[Coruptin]

If Asians want to be stubborn and arrogant don't indulge them. It's not worth it. Trust me, it takes one to know one.

 

[Anomynous 167]

To add further insult to injury, in the top fifty best selling software for the week, there is not a single Xbox One game.

I dont see how that's insulting. It would be quite miraculous for an OS that sells 100 units monthly to even have a single game in top 50 sellers.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm not surprised. The X-Box just isn't popular in Japan, period.