Tecmo Koei: Xbox 360 Is Doing “Well” In Japan
Remember when the Xbox 360 launched in Japan? Boy, that was embarrassing! Microsoft has turned things around of late and found a small degree of success in the region.
“Xbox 360 as a business is doing better than the old Xbox,” Tecmo Koei boss Kenji Matsubara tells game site Kikizo. “They have a good opportunity for growth, but of course Sony is a Japanese company and Microsoft is known as a business software company, so brand image is one point.”
Matsubara adds that “Microsoft is doing well” — especially in regards to how difficult the game market is these days.
“I think they have good growth potential for the future depending on the titles,” he says. “We have a close relationship with Microsoft so I hope we can be a part of that.”
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
If xbox360 is doing “well” in Japan then PlayStation 3 is practically a best seller in North America.
If MS and TK have such close ties, why do the exclusives get upgraded and ported over?
I miss Itagaki, he made following Tecmo interviews interesting. Especially since they were about him feeling up female co-workers.
@TT: Old people and the generally ignorant care.
Asides from that young people know next to nothing about history in general.
Thats why its so hard to have any sort of real political conversations with anyone in this country unless it ties into their work.
Im being a bit harsh but its true. Since many folks prefer to go out and enjoy themselves than sit around and talk about depressing stuff like politics.
Just a cultural difference as with any country.
@Witzbold: yes, I remember the True Fantasy project with Level 5 that didnt work out.
I think MS could make some success in the future but not this generation. Maybe if they had a slick portable, but who knows.
yes, I agree that Japanese people didnt care about the WWII reference. That was why I mentioned that it was really popular in the beginning. after that, lack of games. I actually didnt hear about the hardware problems, interesting.
If it were the 80s, I think the Project Midway project name would have not gone over well in the sense that Japanese people really stood by Japanese products and would not like the concept of an American company taking business away from it. I didnt start living here until the 2000s but that is just my impression.
but yeah, they dont mind the WWII reference I agree. I probably shouldnt have brought it up.
TT
Still think THE iDOLM@STER has to do with Xbox360 doing well in Japan.
Its actually been kinda curious that the PS3 has that much of a lead over the 360 and I cant think of anything other than branding.
I mean the differences in RPGS on the systems isnt really that uneven... all I could really think of are anime games...
Unless blueray is very big in Japan...
SaanZ
@SaanZ: Fable is quite horrid character design wise.
Anime tie-ins dont help that much since most smart gamers know that most license based games are shit. Which they are for the most part cept for some rare cases then again its the same with US and movie games.
Its about the market, just because something doesnt sell billions of copies does not mean it was a bad game that nobody liked. It just means that the target audience was smaller than what people "accept" as acceptable.
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under):
Im suprised Fable isnt huge in Japan... going by the huge games in japans, hack and slash games are the breadwinnner on consoles.
I think the issue is graphics. Japan likes... well different graphics.
Also anime tie ins help apparently...
The real issue coming up now is that Japan isnt buying games that seem to catered to Japan like Okami and No More Heroes, so its not even a gameplay or quality issue.
I think that third person action games are what's big in japan now.
Demon Souls, Monster Hunter, Kingdom Hearts, Dynasty Warriors, Devil May Cry... even the Tales games kind of fit in to the grouping.
Turnbased RPGs are still big as well apparently...
... so turned based third person action game?
SaanZ
MS needs to make more homosexual school boy games. That'll put 360 over the edge in Japan.
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): The way I see it is this: You can appeal to a country and culture of which 100 million people are closely related to, or you can target a 300 million strong country plus every other English-speaking nation in the world, which greatly expands your sales.
If I owned a game company, I'd probably like the job security involved in serving the latter than the former.
Then again, I hate the way some game companies seem to pander to other regions because it's what they see as "what the consumer wants". Case in point being The Last Remnant where I read an interview with one of the developer staff and he said they were going with the typical JRPG bright-eyed hero for the Japanese buyers and a dark, emo anti-hero for the American audience. My reaction was something along the lines of "Fuck you. I don't need my tastes to be generalized based on my nationality."
I'm paraphrasing all that, but it's pretty much what was said. It was in EGM, if anyone's wondering.
@Mucudadada: Natal won't push console sales until there is enough UNIQUE software available on the platform to support it.
For instance, Wii Fit came with an (at the time) revolutionary piece of software. But for me, it was having things like Shaun White Snowboarding on the horizon that made us go ahead and purchase it.
also, at the time there were rumors of a Jet Set/Grind Radio coming to the Wii.... visions of playing that on the balance board were dancing in my head for some time!! le sigh....
Crash__Man
@VergessenHeld: And it also has terrible camera-work that can give folks motion sickness or headaches.
@TT: No MS fucked it up when there was hardware problems, poor support, lack of "exciting" games for the Japanese market also they had True Fantasy Live Online which many folks had bought in order to play and lots of people were looking forward to. MS pulled the plug, ran away shortly after. Leaving a very very bad taste in the mouth of everyone. Didnt help that the system was massive and the average user does not want something that big sitting around their place.
Japanese could care less about the WWII refs since they go making WWII games all the time. Well strategy games anyways to be more correct.
@Witzbold: I wish more people played Operation Darkness. T-T
It's Fire Emblem in WWII with nazi zombies and vampires leading the Gestapo. And your characters turn into fucking werewolves. How awesome is that?
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): Folks will always need a form of escape. Even more so in Japan where people in the city are wound up pretty tight like a spring. Its why so many people seem to also be in their own little worlds most of the time. Its the only way one can stay sane without caving to the pressure of the enviro they live in.
Sure people may get home late and what not, but still that does not stop folks from doing what helps them relax.
Also doesnt seem to help your case that most of your friends are not gamers.
Since folks who are not gamers well obviosly wont game.
The problem with the example you are giving is the fact that it can work for any society in general. People are different, therefore have different hobbies.
The large financial commitment part you can also put that up to folks who have "collectors sickness" where they like to purchase something they like, but at the same time they do not have the time or capacity to well perhaps use / play with said product. Same goes with folks who buy music as in CDs but not everyone has the time to listen to everything.
Times change, people change, economies change.
Good for them.
SuprShin
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): *Colorado
@TT: I honestly believed you because I wouldn't put it past humans to be clueless enough to do something like that unintentionally.
***
I remember in a post with Witsbold a long time ago, he mentioned something about MS canceling some high-profile games for the original Xbox (I forget the name) but do you think that's what killed the momentum? If so, would bring them back fix the hurt or is the butt lacerated beyond repair at this point?
In Short: Did MS Kobe the Japanese Market and will Colorodo ever forget?
@Xhacker02: Yes its obviously the fault of the demon machine made by the white devils. And not the many other factors that were decisions made by MS which reflect poorly upon their own product(s).
Seriously though there is a lot of popular foreign products in Japan. A lot which are more popular than domestic stuff. So we can rule out the obvious easy answer everyone seems to run to which is xenophobia.
@Ueziel: I wonder how much of that is Microsoft and how much of it is Japanese developers wanting to expand to the Western market. Look at Capcom, Square, etc... it seems that devs and pubs in Japan are clamoring to get under some Western umbrella and the biggest one around is MS at the moment. I completely agree with you that Japanese-centric games will sell better in Japan but do these developers want to make them or is the Western honey-pot just too sweet?
A real non-issue for me. Frankly, it doesn't matter how well Microsoft "does" in another country with a vastly contrasting culture.
All most gamers really care about is how well their console of choice is faring in their region/country.
Seriously, why would I care how well Microsoft is doing in a territory that enjoys games that I don't?
@Witzbold: This is AMURIKA dammit! We don't care 'bout no Japon-aise hooplah!
@svenhoek: hand over*
svenhoek: Fuck Fireworks. Ghostbusting.
@ban on rape games because with an extra peripheral or two, you would have made money hand of fist.
svenhoek: Fuck Fireworks. Ghostbusting.
@Witzbold: Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, The Last Remanent, Infinite Undiscovery, Blue Dragon, and Eternal Sonata. All JRPGs with a considerable amount of hype before release, all exclusive to the 360.
Even though these games increased 360 sales, a couple of those titles have been or are being re-released on the PS3, with extra content. That and perhaps the releases of multiple FPS exclusives drive crowds away from the console.
If its not any of these factors, then does MS still get shunned by many consumers because its a Western console?
@Witzbold: Well, he would probably know better than we would about how it's doing there, wouldn't he?
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): I think what needs to happen is for Microsoft to tell them to not make games for a global audience, but to just let them make games for Japan and then bring them out here. The most popular games in Japan on 360 have all been games like Idolmaster or Tales of Vesperia or Lost Odyssey. Stuff that doesn't attempt to cater to the US really at all. It just exists.
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): no, I am half kidding. did I sound particularly serious? haha. I dont believe in jinxes so much. but, naming your project after a battle against Japan is not in good taste.
THe first Xbox was actually really popular when it first launched in Japan. It just didnt keep ip it's momentum.
TT
"well" is relative.
@TT: Are you serious?
@SketchyIndividual:
"They have a good opportunity for growth, but of course Sony is a Japanese company and Microsoft is known as a business software company, so brand image is one point."
hahah when i read that im like but nintendo is a japanese company too :D why not talk about them xD
@Witzbold: Well lets expound on a facet: Do people have a "long"-enough home life (as in time spent at home) to warrant a large financial commitment to home gaming? (Maybe my ideas are colored by the fact many of my friends in Japan don't have a real home life and though some of them are gamers, most of them aren't)
@SwKninja:
That was a great game too but pretty much with the recent charts kotaku showed about japan market like weekly people buy 360's like 2000 ps3 at least 10k or more a week its like i dont think they will catch up
@ctorrans: We're surrounded by our own markets daily, we know the ins and outs of them and what's going on at any given time. When you think about it, they really aren't emphasizing Japan's market, it's just we don't see as much of it as we do our own so it can be misinterpreted as being put above others.
I find it incredibly interesting how things go down around the world, so I welcome news from Japan and other parts of the world with open arms.
Though MS's Xbox is 3rd, they're being outsold by 3-to-1 on average these days by Sony's PS3. They were being outsold 6-to-1 a year and half ago. They way I see it they are doing better but since they've just celebrated their 1 million milestone, and are still only at a third of the install base of its nearest competitor (the PS3), they have a large ways to go before reaching parity.
I'm not sure what it'll take for MS to see that gap lessen other then a commitment to delivering good games for the region. Sadly, that will likely involve massive investments which they'll have to write off this generation.
It seems like the formula of what the Japanese market is constantly on the change. It was Dragon Quest but now it seems to be monster hunter. Will a company betting on things that were successful in the past or things that are currently successful come in time (given the long production cycles of games) to match the likes of the Japanese market? That's a hard one... it's an even harder one for a company like MS who has practically no first-party Japanese devs who can look into the future. Third-party is their life support but I'm not sure with the weakening Japanese gaming market that MS will stick with the heavy investments necessary to keep their foot in Japan's door.
@SketchyIndividual: Everyone was repeating that on TF2 today. Is this the new thing everyone is doing? I'll make sure to go out today to do this while it's still cool.
(I don't care about Xbox, but what the heck?)
Paul_Is_Drunk
@ctorrans:
Just like your local news, Kotaku reports on issues around the world. It's good to think outside your own borders.
@ctorrans: Well maybe also its the fact that there are a lot of fans of Japan and the market here.
Or perhaps the fact the site is called KOTAKU which is a play off of Japanese words could be another part.
Oh and pie charts are always fun. Cept for the person making them.
I've been a surprised at the relative success the 360 has had in Japan. I bought mine in late 2006 at about a $100 discount, resigned to the idea that the system might well fail in Japan before long and I'd have to get all my games through the internet. For awhile that seemed to be the case, as the 360 seemed to get less and less shelf space, and the store I bought mine from stopped carrying it all together.
But about a year or so ago I realized things had turned around significantly. Suddenly 360 games are a lot more visible, and in many stores the 360 has as much shelf space as the PS3. It's only anecdotal evidence for the success of the 360, but as an owner myself, it's been a pleasant surprise.
Airion
@gn2007: That sounds like a bit of a stretch. I don't think there's anything more to it than an opinion. I actually agree with both wanting a PS3 price cut and the 360 doing "OK" in Japan, and I'm definitely not being paid for saying that - though I wish I was.
Matsubara.
....
Alternate
@(Zombie) Goldwings: Nope its possible, just gotta try harder.
At least whoever is in charge now seems to get it than whoever was before. Now their next fun issue is convincing the others in MS that what they do / target is worth it.
@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): People dont play with mobile phones in their homes. They do it in the train for the most part or other locations away from home where one usually has a tv or personal computer.
Thanks for playing try again.
@ctorrans: Because they're just as important as we are.
@ctorrans: The charts are available to them. Kotaku also posts Australian charts and others when they get them.
@Ben Nadler:
People in Japan won't have much of a choice with Final Fantasy anyway because it's exclusive to PS3 in Japan. Anyway, Microsoft has done somewhat better with getting games geared toward the Japanese audience on 360 as there has has been a slew of JRPGS on 360 that the original Xbox failed to obtain.
SwKninja
@Ben Nadler: sorry, I dont know how my comment got under here.
TT
I always thought MS jinxed themselves in Japan when they codenamed the first Xbox "Project Midway"
TT
@Witzbold: How much more can MS play catchup though until the Japanese warm up to it? There were a lot of decent JRPGs that had acclaim/(timed) exclusivity in some shape or form like Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, *groan* Star Ocean, etc and although that helped, it's still a losing battle.
It seems to me this is an uphill battle where the hill is standing in a 90 degree angle.
I always thought MS jinxed themselves in Japan when they codenamed the first Xbox "Project Midway"
TT
@ctorrans: It's because Asians are better then us crackers at video games.
(I'm so getting disemvoweled for that, but I assure you it was a jest)
@Witzbold: With the success of the mobile market as of late, do you think Japan wants the online experience from home?
I've never understood why so much focus is placed on Japanese sales. Is it because it reflects the direction the entire game market is headed or just because pie charts are fun?
ctorrans
@Ben Nadler: There "were" exclusives.
That still didnt work.
The 360 is more of a niche machine here in Japan.
The library of games justifies that statement.
@gn2007: Because anyone needs to be told how well a Nintendo product sold in Japan.
@gn2007:
I would argue that Blue Dragon gave the 360 a boost in Japan as well...
SwKninja
Sure, they may be doing better, but they really dropped the ball this generation I think.
Announcements of Metal Gear and Final Fantasy coming are great to current owners, such as myself, but for those in Japan, they probably had bought their system of choice, be it Wii or PS3, long before these two were announced for 360. I don't think many people there are going to buy a new system for a game coming out on a system they already own. There aren't enough exclusives that the Japanese people respond to on Xbox (for example, Gears of War and Halo). Now, if we got an exclusive Metal Gear or Final Fantasy, sure. But multi-plat versions? Not gonna change sales significantly. Try again next generation, guys. Get exclusives, get 'em Japanese, get 'em early!
@Mucudadada:
Maybe if Milo is replaced with a school girl who has tentacles.
That and its no suprise that the 360 is doing better since MS didnt turn tail and run also pulled the plug on a title that lots of the original owners were waiting for with the original Xbox.
So folks gotta warm up to it eventually. Also that MS has been showing signs of actually caring about the market here lately. Still though they got a lot to catch up on. At least the online components work well allowing for friends to game and communicate seamlessly.
after the last article about Tecmo Koei. Honestly sounds like someone is like paying them to say this or what cause the only game i know that probably helped the 360 in japan is umm star ocean 4 nothing else but that new date game with the bartender girl is getting a lot of hype. BUT i doubt that will change japans market and honestly you know whats funny he said nothing ABOUT NINTENDO :D
just sony and microsoft...
sounds fishy
This is my shocked face:
Oh, wait, it isn't there. My bad.
All the consoles are going to have some measure of success with every gamer, regardless of where they're from.
Widely expanded audiences are the name of the game this generation.
I'm interested to see how interested the Japanese market is in Natal. Does anyone have any information regarding that?
I wouldnt say exactly "well" but it is doing "ok" considering most of the titles on it is not really tailored for the market here.
Yes I know there are a lot of JRPGs now and such, but how many of them were real blockbuster titles?
With that aside dudes gotta spin it good, hes the CEO and Koei does well sorry Tecmo Koei both do a lot of work for MS also.
@Witzbold: "any asshole can "appear" to know what they are talking about"
You said it, looking at you witz when I repeat it, god man you had reply's to the first what 6 posts? it's like your trying to run the show!
amg0D
@The Swearing Gramps: The PSN is getting some games that look really great, like Fat Princess and the Punisher, but XBLA has alreadly had games of that kind of calibur for far longer, and has only been getting more since the size limit was removed.
Yeah, those old fighting games are clearly very quickly ported over.. but people eat them up, just as they do tower games.
For the most part, the quality of games on XBLA is far higher. Plus, trials help.
Highwinter
I don`t like x360 nor PS3... I think the best competitor is the Wii. Afterall graphics are good only when watching, nobody pays much attention to graphics ala x360/PS3... it`s gameplay that counts, because it`s GAME so it`s GAMEPLAY if it was GRAPHICS it would be GRAPHICS PLAY.... got my point now... :"D
Ilian Zapryanov