The Japanese Xbox One launch was an utter disaster and recent console sales have been shockingly bad. No wonder that today in Tokyo, newly minted Microsoft Japan boss Takuya Hirano was asked during in a Q&A whether or not the Xbox One was going to be pulled from the country’s market.
“We’re not withdrawing,” he said, PC Watch reports. “Because of Windows 10, even the Xbox One has new features that we’ll try to appeal [to Japanese consumers] with. We want to have an even higher quality line up of titles than now.”
Oh.
Well, it will be an uphill battle, but it’s one Xbox Japan knows well.
Picture: Kino_and_Hermes
Comments
8 responses to “Japan, The Xbox One Isn’t Giving Up On You Just Yet”
I find it so weird that Microsoft still even bother with the Japanese market after the failed XBOX original and XBOX 360 (in Japan)…
Trouble is that they feel like they have to maintain a presence so that they can get Japanese publishers to make games for Western audiences. It’s only partially working, with the likes of Arc System Works, Atlus, Capcom, NISA, Tecmo Koei, Marvelous AQL and Sega, not bringing games to Xbox One or only doing so for certain titles (e.g. Dead Rising 3). If Microsoft quits Japan altogether it would be a serious loss of face and a slap in the face to Japanese publishers, saying ‘we don’t consider the Japanese market important enough to even try’. Microsoft must be losing a huge amount of money by maintaining a Japanese presence, but I think it is doing so for the ultimate benefit of its Western markets.
5 Words, Monster Hunter on Xbox One
I would choke on my drink if that happened 🙂 The sheer insanity!
I would love this to happen, but isn’t a large part of Monster Hunter’s appeal in Japan the face to face social aspects?
Make it split screen!
It’s a bit of a misconception that 360 did “terrible” in Japan.
It actually had a great start thanks to some (at the time) exclusives like IdolMaster, Tales of Vesperia and so forth. The problem was MS’s following up with… doing absolutely nothing to cement more fan loyalty or getting more titles that would sell in Jp. Followed by the revelations most of those titles were timed exclusives followed by “complete” versions on PS3… well that’s the market sinking like the Titanic for MS…
This. People often forget that Microsoft worked hard to woo the Japanese with early 360 exclusives like Blue Dragon. There was just no follow-up and then they seemingly gave up on regular exclusives entirely, while doubling down on Kinect (which was an understandable dud in Japan). With the Xbone, they didn’t even bother.
I know it’s truth but I don’t enjoy reading it. This new gen xbox should have built on past successes (how ever small they were) and clinched a bigger audience this time around.
What the fuck were Microsoft thinking?! I have an xone and it just isn’t as great AS IT COULD OF BEEN. Irritating beyond belief, thank heavens the UI is getting a revamp, it’s an empty, souless place to be (for me).