There was a time, in the dewy morn of Xbox 360's life, when conventional wisdom dictated that "conquering" Japan was absolutely essential for Microsoft to succeed globally. Indeed, Microsoft has spent the last five years a-wooing Japanese consumers like some lovestruck sap, all to little avail.
Now that retailers are pulling Xbox 360 from shelves, the feeling is that the game is up. But is this really such devastating news for Xbox 360? After all, the machine has failed in Japan, and yet is apparently untroubled on a global scale.
Here's the reality about Japan: Unless you're a Japanese company, it doesn't really matter. According to one well-placed games publisher, who chose to remain anonymous, "it constitutes 18 percent of the global market for console games, but is declining at a faster rate than any other major territory, it's not that games publishers don't want to be successful there, it's just not a huge opportunity." Analyst Michael Pachter described the country as "about as important to western publishers as Scandinavia."
Microsoft did some really smart things as it attempted to win the hearts and minds of Japanese consumers. It managed to win support from leading developers (usually through the expedient of hard cash). It spent a lot of marketing dough. It's difficult to see what the company could have done better. But still it failed.
Japan has become less and less important to games industry spreadsheet jockeys, as they plot their future revenues. The growing markets are in Eastern Europe and South America, both of which are way more receptive to Western cultural tropes than Japan and Asia. Put simply, they just don't expect Japan to deliver much into their coffers.
Japan throws an extremely powerful cultural voice, and this makes it more difficult for outsiders to break through. It's not that the country is insulated or, as some would claim "weird", but that Japan creates so much of what it likes, that it doesn't need to import culture. You can't say the same about many other countries.
Japanese consumers are also prideful about their own brands. You don't see many foreign cars on Japanese roads, and this is even more the case in the games market where Sony and Nintendo are the local boys. Japan will buy foreign goods, but not if the local fare is at least as good.
Not only, but the country seems to love portable games consoles more than home consoles. Wii, the best-selling console of the current generation, has not hit anything like the same numbers as PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 has completely failed to come close to its predecessors achievements. The last few years have been about DS and PSP and mobile games.
Xbox 360 always had one hand tied behind its back, not helped by the view - expressed by various commentators over the years - that the console and the controller's form-factor are too vulgar and clunky for Japanese tastes.
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1189705p1.html
Now that retailers are pulling Xbox 360 from shelves, the feeling is that the game is up. But is this really such devastating news for Xbox 360? After all, the machine has failed in Japan, and yet is apparently untroubled on a global scale.
Here's the reality about Japan: Unless you're a Japanese company, it doesn't really matter. According to one well-placed games publisher, who chose to remain anonymous, "it constitutes 18 percent of the global market for console games, but is declining at a faster rate than any other major territory, it's not that games publishers don't want to be successful there, it's just not a huge opportunity." Analyst Michael Pachter described the country as "about as important to western publishers as Scandinavia."
Microsoft did some really smart things as it attempted to win the hearts and minds of Japanese consumers. It managed to win support from leading developers (usually through the expedient of hard cash). It spent a lot of marketing dough. It's difficult to see what the company could have done better. But still it failed.
Japan has become less and less important to games industry spreadsheet jockeys, as they plot their future revenues. The growing markets are in Eastern Europe and South America, both of which are way more receptive to Western cultural tropes than Japan and Asia. Put simply, they just don't expect Japan to deliver much into their coffers.
Japan throws an extremely powerful cultural voice, and this makes it more difficult for outsiders to break through. It's not that the country is insulated or, as some would claim "weird", but that Japan creates so much of what it likes, that it doesn't need to import culture. You can't say the same about many other countries.
Japanese consumers are also prideful about their own brands. You don't see many foreign cars on Japanese roads, and this is even more the case in the games market where Sony and Nintendo are the local boys. Japan will buy foreign goods, but not if the local fare is at least as good.
Not only, but the country seems to love portable games consoles more than home consoles. Wii, the best-selling console of the current generation, has not hit anything like the same numbers as PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 has completely failed to come close to its predecessors achievements. The last few years have been about DS and PSP and mobile games.
Xbox 360 always had one hand tied behind its back, not helped by the view - expressed by various commentators over the years - that the console and the controller's form-factor are too vulgar and clunky for Japanese tastes.
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1189705p1.html