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Xbox 360 Continues to do Well in Japan: What Does it Mean?

Britney Zilz writes:

"The Xbox 360 has once again beaten out the Playstation 3 in Japan. This has been a continuing trend in the Japanese markets, ever since the 360's price cut a few weeks ago. Though the Wii and Nintendo DS have more than double Microsoft's sales, the fact that the 360 is moving forward looks promising. But what does it mean for Microsoft and gamers?"

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BloodySinner - contributor
Published: 432 days 21 hours ago | Article | Xbox 360

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1 LightningPS3PS3 | 432 days 23 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

1.1 LightningPS3PS3 | 432 days 23 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

Breakfast - 432 days 22 hours ago

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1.2 - Why would you be worried about a console...?

nevermind.

xbox is the best.

:)

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Emmo - 432 days 22 hours ago

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1.3 -

This report was too biased the fact that he used this line "Though I do think it’s safe to say that they’ll stay on top of the PS3 for quite a while." shows it.

Any reasonable 360 owner knows that the PS3 will sell tons when WKC and FFXIII comes out.

@ Lightning PS3PS3
Just thought I would point out that is was last week that the 360 beat PS3 by 1k the previous weeks were 2.5k, 6k and 20k. 360 is getting closer to where it needs to be, but I cannot see a way it will beat the PS3 on a permernant basis. They would have to get FFXIII and I do not see that happening in Japan.

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1.4 Lanoire | 432 days 20 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

Emmo - 432 days 19 hours ago

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1.5 -

@ Lanoire

WKC will indeed be massive, but I think you are going to be dissapointed at LBP's performance and HOME is just a beta.

I think you are forgetting that apart from Last Remnant, MS has Fable 2 and it is going to sell well. Fallout 3 is going to sell on the 360 too.
GTAIV is going to sell well on both systems, better on the PS3.
Please do not ignore 360s NXE and Avatars either.

360 is in the race now in Japan.

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CrazzyMan - 432 days 18 hours ago

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1.6 -

x360 sales:

Media Create Sales: 09/08 - 09/14
28,188
Media Create Sales: 09/15 - 09/21
13,777
Media Create Sales: 09/22 - 09/28
11,291
Media Create Sales: 09/29 - 10/05
8,271

PS3 sales:

Media Create Numbers: 06/09 - 06/15
75,311

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Death - 432 days 14 hours ago

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1.7 - Lanoire,

You would have to be blind to not see that sales for the 360 are coming down, but they are still more than twice as high as they were before the increase. For the month of September sales were 53,547 for the Xbox 360 and 33,071 for the PS3. That is over 20,000 more Xbox 360 sales than PS3. For Japan, that is impressive. I don't think anybody expected Microsoft to beat Sony a fourth week in a row, but they did, even if it was only 1,000 units.

To put things in perspective, Sony has owned Japan for the past decade over two generations of consoles. Microsoft has had almost no presence there. Today Sony's lifetimes sales for the PS3 in Japan is 2 million compared to Microsoft's 3/4 million. You have 2 options, either Microsoft is doing awesome in Japan having almost half of the market share Sony has or neither is doing well.

-Death

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Megatron08 - 432 days 12 hours ago

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1.8 -

I dont think FF13 isnt out of the question for 360 in japan. It take no time at all to port it to the 360 and its still a year off. If MS can keep the sales up and show SE that it be worth while to release it on the 360 then I think that they do it. I think the 360 needs to break the 1 million mark maybe even 1.5 for to show SE that it could be worth the time and money to port it to the 360.

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RemmM - 432 days 3 hours ago

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1.9 - Pfft why is this a big deal? The 360 , PS3 and Wii are just consoles

Its the GAMES that make the console. Its been proven with the PS1 and PS2.

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avacadosnorkel - 432 days 22 hours ago

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2 - What was supposed to happen?

3rd party games have always been the tilting point for a console.

Nintendo have always made games but when they lost the 3rd party (N64 and Gamecube) they fell off.

The original XBOX was a better performance system than the PS2 but it didn't have the 3rd party support like Sony had.

Now apply this theory to this gen and you'll see the end result today...
Nintendo has the most 3rd party because it's cheap and easy to make games for...(1st)
360 is 2nd with 3rd party and it's going to stay that way until MS releases the next XBOX....(2nd)
and Sony was on top for so long they thought they could do it again by themselves.

If that doesn't make sense to you and you are slow look at it like this - 3rd party games are the movie games...Resident Evils, Tomb Raiders, Final Fantasys, etc.

1st and 2nd party games are never movies.

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hfaze - 432 days ago

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2.1 - Wait, what???

Are you trying to say that Sony doesn't have third party developer support for the PS3? LOL...

Sony may be losing third party EXCLUSIVITY on games, but other than Ace Combat 6 and Beautiful Katamari, I can't think of any other previously Sony exclusive titles going exclusive for the 360.

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avacadosnorkel - 431 days 23 hours ago

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2.2 - still waiting for Dead Rising PS3

and all the RPGs that the 360 is showing right now about to be released.

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BIoodmask - 432 days 22 hours ago

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3 - It means

that Microsoft has offered the Japanese consumer an affordable console. They have also took the time to put together a games portfolio that suits Eastern tastes.

Not to mention that they have taken aggressive marketing strategies for that region. One of them was having the Square-Enix booth right next to them at TGS. With some of the SE titles on display in only the Microsoft booth.

http://kotaku.com/5060936/s...

It isn't really a suprise that the Japanese consumers are warming up to the 360. After all the main point of any console is playing the games that you find enjoyable.

Plus Japanese publishers are making a good return on Xbox 360 development.

http://www.videogaming247.c...

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AclayPS3 - 432 days 22 hours ago

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4 -

The only thing it means is that Microsoft will have to have JRPG's releasing for the 360 constantly in Japan every month if they want to maintain the sales that they have had so far.

The Last Remnant will more than likely give the 360 another boost in Japan before the end of the year, but White Knight Chronicles on the PS3 will easily counter The Last Remnant and will send PS3 sales through the roof in late December and the momentum from White Knight should last throughout January.

Then Star Ocean 4 in February for the 360 will help the console out in Japan yet again and will give it an edge against the PS3 for a good month or so.... but once the Final Fantasy Advent Children PS3 bundles drop the following month in March 2009, it will send PS3 sales through the roof and more.

The 360 has had all these JRPG's and has always been cheaper than the PS3 but hasn't even managed to sell a Million in Japan yet in nearly 3 YEARS, but the PS3 has been more expensive and has had VERY little JRPG's, but it's sold over 2 million in less than 2 YEARS.

The only way I can see the 360 having a future in Japan this generation is if FFXIII is released for the 360 over there, but since that's not happening, the 360's success in Japan will only be short lived.

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IntelligentAj - 432 days 21 hours ago

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5 -

Is it just me or is a big deal being made of the 360 surging in sales after the release of not just 2 exclusive Jrpg's but also a price drop. What were you people expecting?

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KingDizzi - 432 days 20 hours ago

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6 -

The writer of the article is an idiot, how he think 360 will outsell the Wii and DS in Japan is beyond me. Next he makes it as though MS have the choice to make FFXIII for Japan when it is actually SE who choose and lastly the 360 will stay on top of PS3 in Japan for a while to come?

Retardation is an awful thing, saying the 360 will outsell the PS3 from now on due to one month of it doing so with all those games and price cuts is......well retardation. Why do the gaming media and idiots alike ignore that the PS3 has outsold 360 for 20 months in Japan?

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Blu Ray3 - 432 days 20 hours ago

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7 - The Japanese are well aware of who MS is,and RROD.

Need I explain this,hope not.

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