Poll of the Day > What do you think it is mostly why xbox consoles sell so terribly in japan?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you think it does have to do with racism mostly, Like i've read others say on this site? Could it be most japanese people just think sony and nintendo have superior products? Or maybe it's mostly japanese people supporting their country's products?

mix of all 3
---

Had nothing to offer them
---

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?
---

Dikitain posted...

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?

i've heard one thing that japanese people are crazy about is american movies. Most watch that more than japanese movies

UT1999 posted...

Dikitain posted...

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?

i've heard one thing that japanese people are crazy about is american movies. Most watch that more than japanese movies

Probably because we're more interesting socially. Technically, not so much on their level
---

Dikitain posted...

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?

Disney
---

It's a domestic product. Also there's no real reason to get an Xbox other than to play halo. It fails to really distinguish itself as a product worth buying over it's competitor so when choosing between a domestic or foreign product they're going with the domestic one.
---

chaosbowser posted...

It's a domestic product. Also there's no real reason to get an Xbox other than to play halo. It fails to really distinguish itself as a product worth buying over it's competitor so when choosing between a domestic or foreign product they're going with the domestic one.

Don't forget gears of war though. And Forza. Lol
---

OneTimeBen posted...

Don't forget gears of war though.

It's hard not to forget about Gears these days
---

TheSlinja posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Don't forget gears of war though.

It's hard not to forget about Gears these days

Yeah there's a reason I didn't mention it. As for Forza There is a ps4 equivalent isn't there?
---

chaosbowser posted...

TheSlinja posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Don't forget gears of war though.

It's hard not to forget about Gears these days

Yeah there's a reason I didn't mention it. As for Forza There is a ps4 equivalent isn't there?

That is my point. My sarcasm is too strong.
---

OneTimeBen posted...

chaosbowser posted...

TheSlinja posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Don't forget gears of war though.

It's hard not to forget about Gears these days

Yeah there's a reason I didn't mention it. As for Forza There is a ps4 equivalent isn't there?

That is my point. My sarcasm is too strong.

XD
---

xbox consoles barely manage to distinguish themselves here in the west, let alone in the home country of sony and nintendo.

It also doesn't help that xbox sells itself on IPs that have significantly less weight in japan than they do in the west. And that's iportant to recognize. Call out "weeb crap" all you like, but in japan, weeb crap is just media. ANd xbox has absolutely goddamn nothing catered to the eastern consumer. On xbox (yes I know there's more, but to look at their marketing you wouldn't know it), you have your choices between western military shooters, western action games, and sports games. Sport games featuring primarily american and/or european teams most japanese folks don't know or care about in the least.In other words, the primary pillars of the xbox brand do absolutely nothing to cater to a japanese audience. Why the fuck should a japanese kid care one little bit about madden? I dunno.

"Oh, but darkbuster, madden's on ps4 too so neehhhhhhh" Yeah, but if you've ever seen a ps4 promo, they don't push games like it to the front of their campaigns. Nor do they push partnerships with espn that are functionally worthless to a japanese consumer.
---

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Look at Atari for example. The 2600 was selling like hot cakes all over the planet except in one country. Yep you've guessed it Japan.

MS knows exactly how Atari felt back in the 80's with their consoles failing there.
---

Racism? What?

The Xbox is almost too western for westerners.
---

hoggys2much99 posted...

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Unless it's Apple.
---

I think when Lost Odyssey(you know,the real FF13) released, the 360 sold a lot that week in J-pan.
I also think CoD: W@W sold well in J-pan as well.
---

OSarcasthma posted...

hoggys2much99 posted...

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Unless it's Apple.

Or a F-15
---

Real answer .. Japanese people support Japanese industry and products first. It's their culture. They do not like foreigners and do not support foreign companies.
---

OneTimeBen posted...

OSarcasthma posted...

hoggys2much99 posted...

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Unless it's Apple.

Or a F-15

good pts there. I've also heard that the japanese people really love apple over there. Has anybody ever heard about china? Which sells better over there? xbox or ps? Heck what about korea?

UT1999 posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

OSarcasthma posted...

hoggys2much99 posted...

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Unless it's Apple.

Or a F-15

good pts there. I've also heard that the japanese people really love apple over there. Has anybody ever heard about china? Which sells better over there? xbox or ps? Heck what about korea?

Not too many console sales numbers coming from those countries.
---

Xbox=No Box in Japan

Then there's the obvious Japanese prefer to buy Japanese products deal, the only things from American companies that had really long lasting widespread success in Japan are KFC, McDonalds, Disney, Lawson, and Apple.
---

Dikitain posted...

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?

Modern anime is based off Mickey Mouse....
---

TyVulpine posted...

Dikitain posted...

Baka gaijin console.

Like seriously, has anything not Japanese ever sold in Japan?

Modern anime is based off Mickey Mouse....

You mean cartoon animation? Then yeah.
---

The real question to ask is why the Xbox sells well in the West.

streamofthesky posted...

The real question to ask is why the Xbox sells well in the West.

dudebros and school children keeping up appearances with their peers.
---

never default to racism as the answer

thats how you create never ending race wars
---

who said it was racism that was the answer? But what if racism was a factor in this case or in any case, would it be bad to bring light to it?

Surprised that no one in this topic has brought up what's generally accepted to be the *actual* reason why Xbox sells terribly in Japan - most of Xbox's major hit games are from genres popular in the West but not popular in Japan (most notably FPS games). The Xbox consoles - particularly the original and 360 - also had a dearth of the genres that sell well in Japan, such as JRPGs.

There's also the fact that console gaming in general has somewhat declined in Japan - mobile gaming is all the rage right now (hence why Nintendo made its last two consoles very tablet-esque and both they and Sony are making games for smart phones these days) and Microsoft has never had a horse in that race.
---

UT1999 posted...

who said it was racism that was the answer? But what if racism was a factor in this case or in any case, would it be bad to bring light to it?

You did, you brought it up in the very first sentence of the very first post (and not the answer but a possible answer). Claims of racism should never be brought up half-heartedly or lightly. Either its a serious problem or it starts destructive rumors.

Lets honestly think about how incredibly stupid the implications are.
"This Microsoft product wont sell well in Japan because the Japanese people are racists".
We are talking about the sale of an object, how stupid would it be if you were accused of racism by another country because you didnt buy their product?
---

Its well known that the japanese are pretty xenophobic dude, this isnt just some offhand out of nowhere accusation
---

Read my opening post. I didn't say that was the answer to why it didn't sell well. I asked if others thought it was the reason. And i said that i read that other users have brought it up before on here.

TheSlinja posted...

Its well known that the japanese are pretty xenophobic dude, this isnt just some offhand out of nowhere accusation

Im sorry but not buying a foreign product does not make you racist, thats abysmally stupid if anyone actually believes that.
---

Some dislike of American products in Japan is totally justified. One reason why is they have better.
---

UT1999 posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

OSarcasthma posted...

hoggys2much99 posted...

Simple. It is because it is not Japanese technology. The Japanese seem to have a hatred for tech that isn't Japanese.

Unless it's Apple.

Or a F-15

good pts there. I've also heard that the japanese people really love apple over there. Has anybody ever heard about china? Which sells better over there? xbox or ps? Heck what about korea?

I don't have any exact figures, but I can speak from general knowledge and experience regarding game consoles in South Korea. In Korea, PC gaming is much bigger than console gaming. This is the result of a number of factors. Korean game companies tend to make more PC games (which itself partly results from the other factors). MMORPGS, multiplayer RTS games, and MOBAs tend to be big there, and these tend to be on PC. "PC rooms" (sort of like internet cafes but with gaming quality PCs already in place there with all the popular games installed) are plentiful and popular in Korea, which further supports playing of online PC games and helps spread the popularity. Many game companies offer PC room versions of their games which allow a player to access content for which they would otherwise have to pay (this was true of League of Legends when I was playing it there), or other methods of allowing players to try out things at the PC room. So, in general PCs tend to be the dominant platform.

They do have consoles in Korea, and they are getting more popular in recent years, but it's a smaller market share relative to Japan and the West. Part of this has to do with politics and trade. Up until the late 90s or early 2000s (I forget when exactly it changed off the top of my head), Japanese companies could not directly export products to South Korea to be sold on the Korean market (this was a lingering effect of the poor relations between the Koreas and Japan after Japan annexed Korea for 35 years until 1945). What they did do was establish relationships with Korean companies (e.g. Sega with Samsung, Nintendo with Hyundai, etc.) for the Korean companies to manufacture and sell the consoles in Korea under license. But sold and people were aware of them, but it seems they were not marketed as well or as aggressively. Plus, it was still known they Japanese products (the original Japanese company's logo remained on the console, in addition to that of the Korean company).

In more recent years (meaning the past decade or so), consoles have been gaining a bit in popularity, but PCs still dominate. There are some places similar to PC rooms that have game consoles available to play. I've mostly seen various Playstation consoles and Wii and Wii U in these settings. In fact, the common name for these places is "Peulseubang", which is a contraction of "PlayStation Room" in Korean. Portable consoles like the DS and 3DS are the most popular because they fill a niche that PCs cannot.

In short, console gaming has a presence in Korea, but it is relatively much smaller than PC gaming when compared to Japan and the West. In the 80's and 90's, the major consoles being Japanese held back their market penetration in Korea due to politics. Consoles gaming, especially portables, has grown a bit in the past decade, but still takes a definite backseat to PC gaming, which remains hugely popular.

Side note: I did pick up a few Korean versions of games for the DS there such as Super Mario 64 DS. They work on the American version of the console, the only difference between the language used in the game.
---