Microsoft Struggles to Adapt Xbox One to Japan

[vallorn]

You're missing the point. Xbox One is designed specifically to be used with Kinect, the same way the Wii is designed specifically to be used with the Wii-mote. There is no Xbox One without Kinect just as there is no Wii without the Wii-mote.

If you don't want a Kinect, don't buy an Xbox One.

I don't understand why this concept is so difficult to grasp. There is no Xbox One without Kinect.

No, you are missing the point....

You were quite emphatic on your point. You think Xbox One won't sell in Japan because of its NUI features. That's your opinion, and you're welcome to it.

My response was simply to point out that Xbox One is designed around NUI. So if (as you claim) it won't sell in Japan because of NUI, then I guess it won't sell.

So they built the X1 around features that add to it's price and have been shown by every kinnect enabled game this gen to be either unnessecary or actually dleterous to the game? (Steel Batalion)

That seems like a rather bad move on their part considering that the reason that they "Won" in the USA last generation was mostly due to the X360 being cheaper than the PS3 at launch and so tying in people's friend groups into the system. Making their console more expensive out of the store as well as the various required subscriptions and expensive Microsoft Brand Only Peripherals (Helooo 360 hard drives. (Note: Ps3 hard drives were standard laptop ones and changing them didnt void the warrenty. I should know I did it myself.))that you need to buy seems like a bad business idea if you ask me.

And the other point. Microsoft didnt sell well the last two generations in Japan. Their response isnt to try and court the market with things that they want but to build a console that doesnt fit at all into japanese culture and then further alienate them buy labeling one of the world's biggest markets for video games "Tier 2?" That barrage of poor decisions will likely mean that the X1 probably wont sell even as well as the 360 did and it's just a bad business choice to completly discard and insult large markets like this.

TLDR: I think Microsoft have been drinking the bong water due to their myriad of bad business and marketing decisions. Next comes the Kool-Aid.

Microsoft should hire you to replace Don Mattrick. You obviously have the qualifications and insight for the position.

Funny thing is that I probably do. I also wouldnt mind a reasoned response instead of that ad homenim / appeal to authority line you wheeled out.

So now actually listen to what I have to say please. I know how businesses work and economic theory comes easily to me (I literaly read Hayek's "The Road To Serfdom as light reading material) so dont presume that I dont know what I'm talking about here. I see no plan in Microsoft's actions as a hardware seller. Yes they didnt sell well in Japan but, as I said, instead of fixing that they decided to give up on that market and then insult them by labeling them "Tier 2". The former decision smacks of a struggling company falling back on it's core, local consumer base and the latter is a bad symbolic move in that it sends the signal to many gamers that the X1 isnt for the country which in many ways, heavily influenced and continues to influence gaming culture.

 

[UnnDunn]

Funny thing is that I probably do. I also wouldnt mind a reasoned response instead of that ad homenim / appeal to authority line you wheeled out.

So now actually listen to what I have to say please. I know how businesses work and economic theory comes easily to me (I literaly read Hayek's "The Road To Serfdom as light reading material) so dont presume that I dont know what I'm talking about here. I see no plan in Microsoft's actions as a hardware seller. Yes they didnt sell well in Japan but, as I said, instead of fixing that they decided to give up on that market and then insult them by labeling them "Tier 2". The former decision smacks of a struggling company falling back on it's core, local consumer base and the latter is a bad symbolic move in that it sends the signal to many gamers that the X1 isnt for the country which in many ways, heavily influenced and continues to influence gaming culture.

What do you want me to say? I didn't claim anything about Microsoft's stance on Japan, and I don't really care about it anyway. Clearly Microsoft has decided for whatever reason that its best strategy is to stagger the rollout of the console. Unlike most of the armchair corporate executives in this thread (including you, it seems), I have no need to critique Microsoft's strategic decisions. I don't run the company, I don't own its stock and I don't have all the relevant information. Chances are, neither do you.

 

[luckshot]

You were quite emphatic on your point. You think Xbox One won't sell in Japan because of its NUI features. That's your opinion, and you're welcome to it.

My response was simply to point out that Xbox One is designed around NUI. So if (as you claim) it won't sell in Japan because of NUI, then I guess it won't sell.

The thing is, my opinion is based around actual facts, and yours isn't.

The original Kinect for the 360 performed extremely poorly in Japan. The unit has passed 24 million worldwide by now, sure. But in its first year in Japan, its monthly sales figures had dropped to 4 digits within the first 4 months of it being on the market, as it chugged to a dismal 114k over the entire year (about 1% of the unit's overall sales).

People in Japan didn't want it then. And your response to this is to make it "mandatory" the next time around, and to release in Japan later than other countries? Do you really think that the Japanese population is going to eat up a product that they spit back in MS's face the first time around? This is going to bomb in their faces so hard that they'll wish they had never invested the money in Japan at all.

Not to mention that many of the console's nice shiny features are designed with US customers in mind to begin with, and won't work for many other countries, such as their deal with US cable companies. Or their exclusivity deal with the NFL for that matter. Many of these features are not designed with their audience in mind, they're made for US customers (and only US customers will be dumb enough to use them).

And, as others have pointed out, NUI is a buzzword that has no substantial meaning whatsoever. The Japanese won't give two shits what you call it. It's not going to sell well just because you gave it a fancy name. There are smart TVs out there which can perform most of the console's features, also by voice command, and they're more likely to buy those even though they're more expensive.

hey as an american (who has many real american friends) i can safely say that the xbone was clearly not designed with me in mind.

another factor, which you have touched on a bit is the perceived insult to gamers at large, their treatment of Japan and concerns of gamers/press tells all gamers that they have completely lost the purpose of the business they are in. All one has to do is look at the various pr they've done: 'cant connect to the internet, well screw you military, no the spying is only for ads, the birthplace of modern gaming is tier 2'. it all adds up to the xbone not being designed with consumers/games in mind as anything but exploitation, which no one likes to be on the receiving end of

 

[stabnex]

This sprang to my mind when I read this article. Or was I the only one who read that between the lines?

Spoiler: Made this myself real quick.

[http://funnymama.com/store/130708/194490_v0_600x.jpg]

 

[UnnDunn]

You were quite emphatic on your point. You think Xbox One won't sell in Japan because of its NUI features. That's your opinion, and you're welcome to it.

My response was simply to point out that Xbox One is designed around NUI. So if (as you claim) it won't sell in Japan because of NUI, then I guess it won't sell.

The thing is, my opinion is based around actual facts, and yours isn't.

The original Kinect for the 360 performed extremely poorly in Japan. The unit has passed 24 million worldwide by now, sure. But in its first year in Japan, its monthly sales figures had dropped to 4 digits within the first 4 months of it being on the market, as it chugged to a dismal 114k over the entire year (about 1% of the unit's overall sales).

People in Japan didn't want it then. And your response to this is to make it "mandatory" the next time around, and to release in Japan later than other countries? Do you really think that the Japanese population is going to eat up a product that they spit back in MS's face the first time around? This is going to bomb in their faces so hard that they'll wish they had never invested the money in Japan at all.

Not to mention that many of the console's nice shiny features are designed with US customers in mind to begin with, and won't work for many other countries, such as their deal with US cable companies. Or their exclusivity deal with the NFL for that matter. Many of these features are not designed with their audience in mind, they're made for US customers (and only US customers will be dumb enough to use them).

And, as others have pointed out, NUI is a buzzword that has no substantial meaning whatsoever. The Japanese won't give two shits what you call it. It's not going to sell well just because you gave it a fancy name. There are smart TVs out there which can perform most of the console's features, also by voice command, and they're more likely to buy those even though they're more expensive.

I don't know how it will perform in Japan. I don't care how it will perform in Japan. I never made any argument or expressed any opinion regarding how it will perform in Japan. You are arguing with an imaginary foe of your own design. My only point in this thread is that Xbox One has NUI as one of its core features. If the Japanese market doesn't respond to that, well that's Microsoft's problem, not mine.

And despite what you may think, Natural User Interface (NUI) is a real thing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_User_Interface], with real R&D going into it. It is every bit as real as Command-Line Interface (CLI) or Graphical User Interface (GUI). In its role as the world's largest consumer OS vendor, Microsoft spends shedloads of money researching it. They see it as the next big shift in computing.

 

[Lightknight]

Except for the Kinect 2 mandatory nonsense, the Xbone isn't entirely unlike the ps4. Except being slightly weaker in every category including price but I suppose price is also Kinect2's fault. I guess I'm not sure why Sony does it (is so Japan friendly) so flawlessly when they're so alike. I think MS just has a troubled past with Japan and this is an excuse they like to tell their children at the dinner table.

Really, it still looks like the ps4 is eating the Xbone for breakfast. Japan should be the least of their worries when they're losing on the home front.

 

[stabnex]

Furthermore, the majority of Xbox 360 gamers in Japan were really hardcore gamers, and they are more likely to have their console in their bedroom than the living room anyway.

Oh god. That line alone verifies all our fears about privacy invasion, doesn't it? "We don't believe the Xbox One belongs in your bedroom because we WILL be spying on you and we don't need MORE footage of you touching yourself at night." they seem to say.

Off-Topic: captcha "harp on" yeah, you've been reading my posts haven't you?

 

[Kittyhawk]

I see no problem with MS approach here, after their 180. Original Xbox struggled in Japan and 360 had better traction but still a hard time. Across the years of both those two consoles, a lot has changed and Japan isn't as important a market for MS as it once was.

With emerging markets like China and South Korea being more potentially lucrative for online gaming, especially with China dropping its foreign games console policy, MS can make much more money there and elsewhere than Japan. I don't think its as smart for MS to try push so hard against PS3 in Japan, when they can launch in Japan late, while emerging launches eleswhere from day one.

If japanese gamers adjust to Xbox One, Live and online gaming more (with help from PS3/4 or not), MS will be there to sell. As for the Xbox One not being designed with Japan in mind, that's not really a bad thing as Japan is not their main focus, the rest of the world is.

Totally agree on dropping the mandatory Kinect 2.0, though. Give gamers a choice, not an order.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I never understood why Microsoft launched the first Xbox to begin with. I remember thinking way back then that it made no sense and that they were just either being greedy and wanted a piece of the cake, or just wanted to flex their muscles. I mean, wouldn't it had been better if they had focused on games for the PC, instead of trying to prove they could do the console thing too? Look at how well they're doing now...

I never understood why Sony launched the first Playstation to begin with. I remember thinking way back then that it made no sense and that they were just either being greedy and wanted a piece of the cake, or just wanted to flex their muscles. I mean, wouldn't it had been better if they had focused on making TV's and Walkmans instead of trying to prove they could do the console thing too? Look at how well they're doing now...

In case my edit of your post wasn't obvious, your post is ridiculous. I will tell you why Microsoft got involved though since you are unaware. They were concerned that Sony would take over the living room with it's Playstation 2. As far as they were concerned, they wanted their Media Center OS to take over the living room and so they put their Direct X into a console, that's the Xbox.

It's not greedy to build a gaming console and enter the market.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Microsoft, just... please give up.

Honestly, if you just admit you only care about the American market and drop trying to sell the Xbone in Japan, you'll probably retain some dignity and save yourself lost sales trying to appeal a market already won by the PS4 and the Wii U.

The Xbone doesn't appeal to Japan at all. It won't unless you completely revamp the console, in which case you'll probably make a console more appealing to the hardcore gamers here in your "Tier 1" markets.