MS Fails to Draw Japanese Gamers
New survey suggests that the company's work to get into the heads of the Japanese isn't working.
Microsoft got many things right with Xbox but building Japanese support was not one of them.
Even Japanese-developed games such as Dead or Alive 4don't seem to be able to sway gamers
After suffering in the country with only half a million Xboxes sold in more than three years, Microsoft has upped its Japanese campaign for Xbox 360 by securing exclusive games from top Japanese developers and by planning to launch the console almost simultaneously with the release in the US at the end of the year. But it isn't working.
A recent survey by research firm Info Plant, reported by US site GameDaily, shows that out of 1,000 men and women between 10 and 59 years of age only 2 per cent said they planned to buy an Xbox 360.
The survey paints a bleak picture for Nintendo, too, which was ticked by just 8 per cent of responders.
The overwhelming favourite - if it can be called that at this early stage, before any of the three next-gen consoles has been released - was Sony's PlayStation 3, which was fingered by 60 per cent of those surveyed.
Does association with Xbox doom Xbox 360?
Japan is the smallest of the three major video game markets behind North America and Europe, with 23 million current-generation consoles sold compared to around 52 million in North America and 35 million in Europe, according to recent figures from analyst firm Screen Digest.
But success in Japan is worth more to Microsoft than just the obvious higher console sales in the country.
More Xbox 360s sold in Japan would lead to better support from Japanese developers, which in turn would lead to more support for Xbox 360 in North America and Europe from fans - witting or not - of Japanese franchises.
Microsoft has focussed its attention in Japan on getting well-known Japanese developers to make games just for Xbox 360. The three biggest catches so far have been Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of the Final Fantasy series), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez) and Yoshiki Okamoto (Street Fighter).
Microsoft's getting games from renowned game creators may, however, not be enough.
A potentially more serious problem pointed out by the survey is that of name recognition. Many responders said that the PlayStation name was a key factor in their decision about which console to get in the next generation.
And with the Xbox brand associated with such a poorly performing console, Microsoft's new console could be in for a hard time from the Japanese simply because of the name on the box.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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