Xbox One Meets Significantly Low Support in Japanese Launch

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

Well it makes more sense for Japan to put their own companies first because they're such a small nation (About a third the size of the US population). The United States is much larger, and our economy is much more intertwined with the markets of other nations, so a portion of consumers spending money on foreign products isn't going to hurt the economy all that much.

It's more that there's simply no games on X1 to play for fans of Japanese games than it is that they wanna support their economy lol.

Japanese game tastes are not western game tastes and Xbox always was a primarily western styled system with an over-abundance of those disliked kinds of games.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

I never really understood the "support x because it's made by our country" mindset. Either in Japan, America, or anywhere else. I always felt like I should support the company that makes the best product for the best price and treats its consumers with respect. I'm not a serious Microsoft hater, but I think they need this right now. They needed to be humbled, and to realize they couldn't treat people with disrespect. They're already improving, and they've purged their ranks of some of their less... Savory leaders. Sony learned its lesson last generation, and now it's microsofts turn. Hopefully they become more consumer friendly in the future, and earn more success as a result. Now, if we could just work on EA...

If that hasnt happened by now, I wouldnt hold my breath. One could hope, I suppose...

 

[michael87cn]

I don't blame them. There's not a good reason to own any of the new consoles yet.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's Japan. They released their console almost a year later in PlayStation's home country. That tells us one of two things, though they're not mutually exclusive. Either Microsoft is profoundly stupid, or they had serious issues with the Xbone production.

Or they decided to concentrate their launch marketing efforts on countries where they have a chance in hell of being successful (and they still failed)

Of course they did that. But so did Sony, and they managed to dominate the market in every country, including the US.

 

[Briantb]

So by this trend can we expect the XboxTwo to only sell 10,000 units over the launch weekend? Its been halving with each generation lol

That's if they ever make another one. If they continue on this trend hard to see them making a new console in 5 years.

 

[BrotherRool]

It's Japan. They released their console almost a year later in PlayStation's home country. That tells us one of two things, though they're not mutually exclusive. Either Microsoft is profoundly stupid, or they had serious issues with the Xbone production.

Or they decided to concentrate their launch marketing efforts on countries where they have a chance in hell of being successful (and they still failed)

Of course they did that. But so did Sony, and they managed to dominate the market in every country, including the US.

And I'm loving it Losing the US was a serious blow for Microsoft. They must've realised they were going to have a rough time getting anyone in Sony strongholds to buy their console. It didn't help that those countries benefit the least from Kinect. I think part of the reason for the late delay getting to Japan was just trying to do Kinect localisation, you're right they must be having a massive production headache trying to manufacture Xbox's for these regions.

 

[EMWISE94]

I was on NeoGAF the other day and there was a thread dedicated to the launch of the Xbone in Japan... dear god, I've never seen an emptier launch event... ever... like, BARELY anyone showed up.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

Well it makes more sense for Japan to put their own companies first because they're such a small nation (About a third the size of the US population). The United States is much larger, and our economy is much more intertwined with the markets of other nations, so a portion of consumers spending money on foreign products isn't going to hurt the economy all that much.

It's more that there's simply no games on X1 to play for fans of Japanese games than it is that they wanna support their economy lol.

Japanese game tastes are not western game tastes and Xbox always was a primarily western styled system with an over-abundance of those disliked kinds of games.

Well why do you think that is? The Xbone and PS4 are practically identical, tech-wise, and the 360 and PS3 had pretty similar specs, but those games were only made for the Sony platform. It's not like Microsoft is turning down offers for Japanese games to be made on their platform; those developers are choosing to stick with companies they know and are familiar with.

First and foremost, these are two separate issues you're conflating. Whatever developers may or may not do, that has no influence on why consumers don't buy the Xbox brand. The 360s red ring issues have more to do with that, actually. (in Japan such issues are unthinkable and it irreparably damaged the brand perception)


Developers in Japan are smaller than the big AAA studios we have here. Even the big ones. Due to this, they primarily only plan on releasing games there. The western release is an afterthought which needs further justification and only a few super big hit series go in pre-production with a USA version being taken for granted. Due to this, most games need some kinda financial support from the console manufacturers and that comes at the price of games being exclusive. If you wanna release a game primarily in Japan and Xbox is dead in Japan but Sony is there and is offering you heaps of cash, why would you not take it? Even if they end up losing sales from the western market in the long term, they still come up on top when contrasted to not making the game at all or making it and having it fail in Japan because the Xbox version sold 6 copies, thus never get approved for a western release. You know there's TONS of such games which never get released out of Japan, right? Lots of em super good ones, too.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Honestly I'm surprised it even broke 500.

After seeing the library of the 360 the japanese want nothing to do with Microsoft, and I don't blame them. XBL arcade games were pretty good, but those aren't what you see on store shelves, the japanese probably don't even know most of them exist.

Then there are the controllers, which most definitely arn't made for japanese hands. Having japanese hands I can tell you Microsoft controllers are horribly uncomfortable and made for much more hammy hands then mine.

 

[lionsprey]

Honestly I'm surprised it even broke 500.

After seeing the library of the 360 the japanese want nothing to do with Microsoft, and I don't blame them. XBL arcade games were pretty good, but those aren't what you see on store shelves, the japanese probably don't even know most of them exist.

Then there are the controllers, which most definitely arn't made for japanese hands. Having japanese hands I can tell you Microsoft controllers are horribly uncomfortable and made for much more hammy hands then mine.

your post combined with your avatar made me giggle a bit.

 

[Artaneius]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

That's how you ensure that you keep jobs for your people. Very good trait to have for a country.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

The Xbone midnight launch pictures from Japan were pretty funny in a sad sort of way. They had sectioned off bits of side-walk for people to form lines but those lines never formed. Oh well, Xbox has never been a hugely selling brand in Japan and it looks like this ONE is continuing that tradition.

 

[Mr C]

Oh, I know. Just dreaming a little, you know? Because, I cannot help but at least SLIGHTLY feel that one of the reasons for the (for all practical purposes) ignoring of the Xbox brand is to basically give us the middle finger. Speaking of which, when Microsoft starts selling the One in China, I am curious how that will go, as well. Because I have a feeling that the Chinese will support the Xbox a HELLUVA lot more than japanese based Sony and Nintendo. At the very least, it will be interesting to see.

Of course, I may be totally wrong, but believe the One will 'officially' bomb here in China. Anyone who wants one will buy an import from Hong Kong or Japan. I can't see anybody wanting a government gimped system.

 

[Suhi89]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

Well it makes more sense for Japan to put their own companies first because they're such a small nation (About a third the size of the US population). The United States is much larger, and our economy is much more intertwined with the markets of other nations, so a portion of consumers spending money on foreign products isn't going to hurt the economy all that much.

The population of Japan is over 120 million. That puts in 10th on the list of most populous countries. It's around double of the population of the UK or France, or about 1.5 x the population of Germany. That's really not "such a small nation". Also, speaking from the UK perspective, (a much smaller nation than Japan), we don't feel the need to buy British. France, which has a very similar population size, seems much more likely to buy French (maybe a French person would like to correct me). The reasons are more to do with culture than size.

OT, yeah, this probably surprises no-one.

 

[briankoontz]

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

Microsoft is not "our" corporation - it serves itself.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-microsoft-avoids-taxes-loopholes-irs-2013-1

http://www.businesspundit.com/25-corporations-that-pay-less-taxes-than-you-do/ (Microsoft is 18th on the list, and Google is 2nd).

Obviously one can argue that Sony and Nintendo pay even less in taxes to the American government than Microsoft does, but given that less and less of the tax revenue received by the American government goes to anything positive (cuts to State and Local governments, cuts to Education and Social Services, increases in military spending) we should re-evaluate the meaning of an "American" corporation, the interests a corporation serves, and the meaning of the "American" government.

Microsoft is not your friend. You're a meatbag with tasty money and it's job is to part you from your money in exchange for entertainment, which you need more than ever in a world that Microsoft itself is helping to destroy.

As a disgruntled employee of Versalife or a local drug dealer might say - "We gave you the disease for free. Now buy the cure."

 

[Guerilla]

Expected. Consoles are already not doing well in Japan so it would be expected for a Microsoft console to be a complete disaster.

 

[Denamic]

This means there will not be a lot of jRPGs on the xbone. It'll get ports, but don't get one if you're into jRPGs.

 

[FalloutJack]

Really! I wonder why? Could it be that they don't like X-Box in Japan, home of Playstation and Nintendo?

 

[Strazdas]

Wow i had completely forgotten that Xbox hasnt even launchyed in Japan till now. no wonder it did poorly, almost a year late.

Well there's a shock. Microsoft could release a blowjob and gold nugget dispenser and it would still underperform in Japan. It's a pretty insular society. They like their stuff home-grown.

Exactly this. I dont see why folks do not expect this, including Microsoft. (or maybe they do) But in Japan, they are going to support the japanese based consoles first and foremost. IE Sony and Nintendo. Honestly, I wish we would do the same thing here in the states, but it will never happen.

On the other hand id like people to support the best machine rather than "hur dur nationalism"

Also ironically neither console is home-brown. they are both assembled in chinese sweatshops where most parts get made too.