Microsoft and the Japanese Mind

The man in charge of Xbox in Japan eyes out the challenges ahead.

Microsoft's biggest enemy in Japan is itself. Xbox launched there in February 2002 and in the three years since it has moved into around half a million homes. That's not very good, and the company is hoping to convince gamers that this time things will be different.

Microsoft has worked hard to round up
Japanese developer support

The man responsible for that convincing is Yoshihiro Maruyama, previously of RPG giant Square Enix and now in charge of Xbox in Japan.

"My challenge is to change the mindset of the Japanese consumers and let them know that there's lots of new gaming experiences available on 360 on top of what they've been playing on PlayStation 2," Maruyama said in a recent interview with Game Informer.

Microsoft's goal with Xbox 360 is to bring in those Japanese gamers who were sceptical of its debut console. Maruyama insists that Microsoft's being an American company has nothing to do with the failure of the Xbox in Japan.

For Xbox 360, the major challenge for Maruyama is one of conveying the message that his company is committed to giving Japanese gamers what they want: good games.

"We have a great gaming experience as long as we can offer those unique gaming experiences, but we have to communicate properly because our competition has a much bigger mindshare."

Ridge Racer 6 is one of the newly announced
weapons in the Xbox 360 arsenal

A big part of getting Japanese gamers on the Xbox 360 is having homegrown games for them to play. Microsoft has made deals for exclusive Xbox 360 games from three big-name game creators: Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez) and Yoshiki Okamoto (Street Fighter).

The Xbox Summit 2005, held this week in Tokyo, also saw the announcement of dozens of games for Xbox 360, including Resident Evil 5 and Ridge Racer 6.

"Our strategy for Japan is very straightforward," said Maruyama. "We offer a compelling gaming experience for Japanese consumers which excites the minds of the consumers here in Japan."

But there's more to this than just success in Japan. While the country's wares are less successful in the West than they have been in the past, there are still millions of gamers around the world that grew up with long-standing Japanese franchises, such as Final Fantasy.

More Japanese games for Japan also means more Japanese games for the rest of the world, and that ticks an important checkbox for Xbox 360 as it will bring in Western fans of Japanese games. There's also the benefit of not falling behind Sony, which is guaranteed strong support from outside game creators.

Microsoft has now pinpointed the major obstacles to success in Japan and what remains is to see if the Japanese audience bites.

Xbox 360 will be released in Europe, North America and Japan this Christmas.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games