Microsoft Clings On in Japan

Delusional or tenacious? Either way, it looks like Microsoft is determined to give it a try.

Japan has not been kind to the Xbox 360. Microsoft launched the console there in December and things never really got started. Recent sales figures have the Xbox 360 selling around a thousand units a week - far worse than all hardware except the original Game Boy Advance and the Xbox. But Microsoft is refusing to give up.

MS won't let her play by herself

"Peter Moore, has repeatedly said that there would be no true success for Microsoft without Xbox's success in Japan," Microsoft's new Japan boss Takashi Sensui said at an Xbox 360 event this week, reports Next Generation. "Xbox has created such a stir in overseas markets including the United States and Europe. As the manager of Xbox operations in Japan, my task is to achieve the same success in Japan."

But causing anything close to a stir in Japan has proved hard for Microsoft. To pull out of this downward spiral, the company has announced several new games for the Xbox 360 from big-name Japanese developers, including Namco Bandai (Gundam, Pac-Man for Xbox Live Arcade, and new mech game Zegapain XOR), Star Ocean developer Tri-Ace, and Square Enix and GameArts (jointly developing shooter Sylph).

These games will add to games already in development by such notable developers as Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi (working on Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Cry On) and Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Ninety-Nine Nights).

All told, Japanese Xbox 360 owners will see the available library of games jump to 40 by the summer and double that by the end of the year.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games