Phil Spencer: Xbox Isn't Big in Japan Because Japanese Prefer Japanese Games

[moosemaimer]

Nothing about this seems new.

 

[bluegate]

Regarding what ?$ should do: beats me. The current gen console with the best sales in Japan is the Wii U, and that says more about how well the console as a concept sales in Japan than it does about how well the Wii U is selling.

http://wiiudaily.com/2016/09/ps4-surpasses-wii-u-in-lifetime-sales-in-japan/

Not sure how much things have changed over the past three weeks, but yeah, there it is.

OT: I can imagine that the Japanese don't take very kindly to a foreign company coming into their market and holding games hostage on their platform, that level of arrogance doesn't go by smoothly with them.
I'm talking their exclusivity deals on Monster Hunter and Tales of whatchamacallit kind of things, these things don't make people want to buy their console, it makes them want to spit on it.

 

[fix-the-spade]

When people here talk about how Nintendo is failing and going to have to be a third-party developer because of lack of sales here, I have to imagine people in Japan saying the same thing about Xbox.

Well, probably not. Nintendo's problem is that almost nobody bought the Wii U globally, including Japan. Sold a bit less than the Gamecube isn't exactly a statistic to write home about. It's a pretty spectacular fall from the Wii as well, Nintendo can't really afford to have the NX do the same.

Xbox however has never been a factor in Japan, Microsoft barely pays attention to that market except to complain that none of them buy Xboxes. Despite that the Xbone is doing fine elsewhere, not great, not terrible, but fine. The Xbone S and price drops seem to have helped lately too.

 

[WindKnight]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

I can cite a case where a beloved manga waifu was revealed to have previously had a boyfriend... and the fans went mental, claiming they had been betrayed, describing her as 'used goods' and destroying their manga collection in protest.

So, yeah. Plenty of oddballs there to side-eye.

 

[Bedinsis]

http://wiiudaily.com/2016/09/ps4-surpasses-wii-u-in-lifetime-sales-in-japan/

Not sure how much things have changed over the past three weeks, but yeah, there it is.

Oh, the PS4 has taken over again? I didn't know that, thanks for genuinely good information.

I mean I heard those (now incorrect) numbers a couple months ago and had a "Wait, what? Really?" reaction in regards to how things are going in Japan, but if the numbers no longer say that I'll have to look more into it.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

There's nothing wrong with a local Western company supporting local Western games for local people Western gamers. I don't see why MS even feels it has to pay lip service to the idea of trying to build support over there. It's a culture clash, and there's nowt wrong with it - I've never bought a Japanese system and I don't see that ever changing. Horses for courses, and all that.

Xbox is doing pretty well now, but the Mattrick start was catastrophically, commercially-suicidally idiotic. It came across like some kind of grand surrealistic art project... It may hopefully still improve in the UK and US, but that start still massively hurt them on 'home' turf. It makes sense such a bizarre launch went down even worse in a market that's never quite clicked with your IP's. Tumbleweeds lining up around the block at launch seems a logical consequence.

 

[Imre Csete]

Im yet to see a single, quality, creepy dating sim come from a western developer. It's like they're not even trying!

Been telling BioWare for a while that they should bite the bullet and double down on the Tali sweat fanbase already.

 

[09philj]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

Im yet to see a single, quality, creepy dating sim come from a western developer. It's like they're not even trying!

Does Katawa Shoujo count? That's a western made dating-sim, but I'm not sure if it has sufficient creep factor: none of the girls are even tangentially related to the protagonist

Also it's more soul destroyingly depressing/sad than creepy.

 

[Transdude1996]

If Spence and the company do follow through on this, I don't see it as being a wasteful venture, but it's also not going to cause a noticeable shift in console sales over there. What MS does need, however, is there own "Cheap Trick at Budokan", or even something that's as notable as RWBY or Fiddler on the Roof.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

Im yet to see a single, quality, creepy dating sim come from a western developer. It's like they're not even trying!

Does Katawa Shoujo count? That's a western made dating-sim, but I'm not sure if it has sufficient creep factor: none of the girls are even tangentially related to the protagonist

Also it's more soul destroyingly depressing/sad than creepy.

"Heartwarming" would be the word I would've used. Despite being a callous asshole most of the time, KS ran the entire gamut of emotions for me, and I want more. MORE, I tell you!

I mean, the only reasons I even stuck with it was because it was free and because it went out of its way to avoid anime cliches...which meant it avoided all of the things I hate most about anime. But I digress.

Those games sadly didn't sell very well with the Japanese audience, at least not as well as they were hoping. Plus, this was right around the time that Western RPGs were really coming into their own on home console. I think the only JRPG that really moved systems in Japan was Tales of Vesperia, which was exclusive at the time, but also pretty early on in the system's life cycle. Reception was decent but I think it just wasn't enough for them to want to try any further. The Xbox has seemed to move away from JRPGs except Final Fantasy ever since, while Playstation is obviously where it's at these days if JRPGs are your thing.

Since the market in Japan is already saturated, they're gonna have to put in way more effort than a handful of games if they want to break in.

One exclusive and two new IPs just doesn't cut it. If they want to move consoles in Japan, they need to branch out. Japanese gamers play games other than just JRPGs, and they tend to avoid shooters. They need to keep this in mind if they really want to try again.

 

[Czann]

"western game is shit game"
It was true once upon a time.

Now, and for many years already, the complete opposite is true. Most (with few exceptions) Japanese games these days are pure, undiluted crap.

 

[09philj]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

Im yet to see a single, quality, creepy dating sim come from a western developer. It's like they're not even trying!

Does Katawa Shoujo count? That's a western made dating-sim, but I'm not sure if it has sufficient creep factor: none of the girls are even tangentially related to the protagonist

Also it's more soul destroyingly depressing/sad than creepy.

"Heartwarming" would be the word I would've used. Despite being a callous asshole most of the time, KS ran the entire gamut of emotions for me, and I want more. MORE, I tell you!

I mean, the only reasons I even stuck with it was because it was free and because it went out of its way to avoid anime cliches...which meant it avoided all of the things I hate most about anime. But I digress.

I essentially spent all the time from act two to the denouement of most of the routes in a state of total emotional breakdown. Fuck knows what would have happened had I gotten a bad ending. The writing is absolutely some of the best I've seen in a VN or game though. Unfortunately none of my IRL friends will play it. :C

 

[Redryhno]

I essentially spent all the time from act two to the denouement of most of the routes in a state of total emotional breakdown. Fuck knows what would have happened had I gotten a bad ending. The writing is absolutely some of the best I've seen in a VN or game though. Unfortunately none of my IRL friends will play it. :C

Even Shizune's route? I mean, her dad is hilarious and Misha's circumstances are somewhat heartbreaking, but I could not find a reason to give a damn for hers. It took me a week to get through it simply because I couldn't be bothered to pay attention long enough to reach the end.

 

[Atratzu]

Yeah, it doesn't help that so many "X-box Exclusives" are now available on PC, Windows 10, Steam, or origin. No complaints here though! Naturally I think everyone should make their games available on PC so I don't need to ever buy another console.

 

[Igor-Rowan]

I'm going back to the original Xbox's planning for this one:
Japanese advisors: "You can't make a console black, because japaense people such color and you can't have an X on it, because that means bad luck"
Microsoft: "Screw that, we do whatever we want with OUR CONSOLE"
And the rest is history.

The moral of the story is Microsoft simply does not care about Japan, I heard from many places that games like the third person western action adventure like Uncharted and WRPGS like Fallout sell like hotcakes there, either I am missing something or they just don't care.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I essentially spent all the time from act two to the denouement of most of the routes in a state of total emotional breakdown. Fuck knows what would have happened had I gotten a bad ending. The writing is absolutely some of the best I've seen in a VN or game though. Unfortunately none of my IRL friends will play it. :C

Even Shizune's route? I mean, her dad is hilarious and Misha's circumstances are somewhat heartbreaking, but I could not find a reason to give a damn for hers. It took me a week to get through it simply because I couldn't be bothered to pay attention long enough to reach the end.

This wasn't me, but I'll bite.

Shizune's route is the one I did last. Let's just say that there's a reason Misha is her only friend, and her attitude turned me off in record time. She mellows out a bit once you get to know her better, but first impressions are important, and her forceful and overbearing personality drove me away until I'd done every other route.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

I can cite a case where a beloved manga waifu was revealed to have previously had a boyfriend... and the fans went mental, claiming they had been betrayed, describing her as 'used goods' and destroying their manga collection in protest.

So, yeah. Plenty of oddballs there to side-eye.

Kyoani otaku are not your average Japanese gamer.

Mio is a C tier waifu anyways. Azunyan ftw.

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

"(there's an old Japanese saying that basically translates to "western game is shit game")"

Well it's good to know that there's obnoxious people in Japan as well in regards to points of origin for media.

I can cite a case where a beloved manga waifu was revealed to have previously had a boyfriend... and the fans went mental, claiming they had been betrayed, describing her as 'used goods' and destroying their manga collection in protest.

So, yeah. Plenty of oddballs there to side-eye.

By previously you mean eventually decided to end herself because he made her come to the conclusion that neither of them belonged in that time anymore.

It was basically a PG-13 version of being NTRd. That genre does a LOT to piss people off.

 

[ArcaneGamer]

This is such a giant load of bullsh*% that I find it hilarious. They don't like the Xbox because of the games, they don't like the console because right from the bloody start Microsoft screwed up. There was an article written a long while back by one of the individuals in charge of helping Microsoft market and release the Xbox 360 in Japan. Things were going well at the start, but Microsoft started pushing an "Amurica! F%#? Yeah!" rhetoric that they were warned wouldn't be taken all that well... So of course they doubled down on it, began ignoring complaints and worries, and kept shoving their big crappy box of a console down their throats...

And then immediately cried foul when it wasn't popular. They had TWO games right near launch that were developed by "Japanese game" powerhouses, but that isn't going to keep a solid lead turd from sinking in the muck.

I have a 360, it's a decent system, but between them being cheap out on parts (see red ring of death) and how they generally tried to shove themselves into a market rather than work with it, it's going to fail.

And again, that's not even touching on the laziness of his excuse. "They have Persona and Nioh, so of course they want those games'. Really? Ignoring the fact that the former title has a strong following in the West as well, and the latter is shaping up as something similar to Demon's Souls (which, if he could be arsed to remember, blew up in popularity here when it wasn't expected to do so) and its ilk, it's more like "people like great games". Shooters are a dime a dozen, and while the more nuanced ones tend to be favored a little more, diversity helps. There hasn't been a single exclusive for the Xbox One that I couldn't get elsewhere. The closest they had was Phantom Dust, and they managed to crap the bed on that one already. And then he wants to act like he deserves a pat on the back for getting FF15? No, that was a given to begin with. Square needs the game to sell strong to make up for the lengthy development cycle, it's not thanks to some inherit advantage the One has over the other.

Pro-Tip: if Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy 11, along with countless extras tossed in couldn't sell your system in the very country where those games reigned as kings? You failed. Plain and simple. Quit while you're ahead and stop embarrassing yourself.

Indeed, I couldn't agree more. My initial reaction?

I swear, this guy has no clue what's going on. Is he getting high off the fumes of his own anus?