Xbox 360 Sales in Japan

So the Xbox 360 was finally released in Japan, technology capital of the world, and as we’d predicted, things aren’t going so well over there for the Microsoft Machine.

Already console sales are winding down, after only having sold half of the expected 159,000 Xbox 360 consoles. That’s also less of what they sold of their original Xbox console.

Tsk tsk. Did Microsoft seriously expect any better?

The game line-up pretty much guaranteed failure in Japan. Just because the rest of the world is paying insane amounts of money for the console due to shortages, doesn’t mean the Japanese are going to pay good money to buy something that isn’t designed to appeal to them in the first place. Microsoft really dropped the ball with that one. They went in knowing that PlayStation has dominance in that part of the world, and they did nothing but assume that mere lack of competition would make people flock to their baby. A console is useless without games to play on it.

Meanwhile, people in North America and Europe continue to pay big bucks for the Xbox 360 as the holidays near, and peak shopping time approaches. All the while, the console itself continues to experience technical difficulties, causing its owners to get creative.

I’m sure the next Microsoft publicity campaign in Japan is going to read: “There are people in the world that must go without an Xbox 360 … don’t be wasteful.” With some sad-looking gamers sitting beneath an empty Christmas tree.

Heh.

[via Reuters]