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Microsoft wants to make Europe top priority for Xbox 360

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DVDBack23 @ Sep 22, 2007 23:55 | 20 comments

After data figures showed that worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii have overtaken the Xbox 360, Microsoft has decided to firmly set their sights on Europe.

Talking to an interviewer from Bloomberg, Microsoft's group product manager Aaron Greenberg said "The number one objective is to win on a global basis and that may mean winning some markets and losing others."

"Europe is our priority focus right now."

Last week however, Microsoft said it planned to not give up on the Japanese market by increasing the number of game titles available there. Even so, sales of the 360 have stalled since its introduction, lagging far behind the Wii and even the PS3.

"It's difficult to see Microsoft capturing a significant share'' in Japan, said Hiroshi Kamide, a Tokyo-based games analyst at KBC Securities Japan. "After two years on the market, Xbox's position in the country is such that it makes you wonder whether further efforts are even worth it."

To date, 446,201 Xbox 360s have been sold in Japan, accounting for a meager 8.7 percent of the new console market. On a per week basis, the 360 is regularly outsold by the PS3, the Wii and even the PS2.

My question to the reader: Should Microsoft give up on Japan?

Source:

GI.biz

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Comments

Comment by: xtago (Sep 23, 2007 09:17)

yes

Comment by: sssharp (Sep 23, 2007 09:51)

They need to pull a Sega and leave that market for the others.

Comment by: saltynuts (Sep 23, 2007 11:15)

Originally posted by sssharp:
They need to pull a Sega and leave that market for the others.

Why the 360 is a good console with some good games and a very good online community.and a high fail rate but there is a warrenty program in place to fix it ASAP

Comment by: nurbenji (Sep 23, 2007 12:50)

maybe its not doing so well outside america because its been on watchdog for being a faulty product. do a recall already or would that be too much bad publicity that no one would buy one. unless you are american, damn those guys are stupid. they buy it because its microsoft, hmm software company. they'll make a good peice of hardware huh. d'oh!

Comment by: mrtoast2 (Sep 23, 2007 12:58)

No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Comment by: vinny13 (Sep 23, 2007 13:03)

1945.

Comment by: DVDBack23 (Sep 23, 2007 13:23)

I feel myself doing this alot.. if I hear one more racist comment or any reference to World War II, that person is getting banned. Hopefully this is understood.

Comment by: jimmer (Sep 23, 2007 14:14)

if Microsoft had those perverted/pedophile sim games those japs seem to love, then the 360 would be flying off the shelves

Comment by: bennyb815 (Sep 23, 2007 14:44)

Beautiful Katamari appears to be an attempt to help their sales, being an exclusive 360 game, but realy, they are quite fux0red in nippon

Comment by: jezchrizt (Sep 23, 2007 15:00)

bout f***ing time

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 23, 2007 15:40)

Lets see what they do befor we congratulate them, they always treated the EU as 2ndary since they are dead in asia, lower prices more support more games get it done!

Comment by: ChromeMud (Sep 23, 2007 17:12)

It would be a good move by Microsoft to focus on Europe.
I think this could also work for Sony to follow suit.
Sony have treated Europe the worst though with a high console price compared to the rest of the world,no Emotion chipset which should of lowered the price not raised it and releasing the PS3 so late.

I hope things will change for Europe but I'll believe it when I see it...

Comment by: kyo28 (Sep 24, 2007 03:21)

Originally posted by mrtoast2:
No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Kinldy keep your racist remarks to yourself please.

And no, the 360 isn't failing in Japan because it's not a Japanese brands. As I've repeated over and over again, a lot of foreign brands perform well in Japan like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Coca Cola, McDonalds and many others. The reason those brands succeed is because they've adapted to the local market, something Microsoft hasn't been able to do as of yet.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 24, 2007 13:09)

Quote:
Originally posted by mrtoast2:
No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Kinldy keep your racist remarks to yourself please.

And no, the 360 isn't failing in Japan because it's not a Japanese brands. As I've repeated over and over again, a lot of foreign brands perform well in Japan like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Coca Cola, McDonalds and many others. The reason those brands succeed is because they've adapted to the local market, something Microsoft hasn't been able to do as of yet.

That was a bit OTT, I think Jp populace jsut buys what they like much liek the US populace.

Comment by: vinny13 (Sep 24, 2007 18:47)

Quote:
Originally posted by mrtoast2:
No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Kinldy keep your racist remarks to yourself please.

And no, the 360 isn't failing in Japan because it's not a Japanese brands. As I've repeated over and over again, a lot of foreign brands perform well in Japan like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Coca Cola, McDonalds and many others. The reason those brands succeed is because they've adapted to the local market, something Microsoft hasn't been able to do as of yet.

Dude. That's fashion and food...

Chinese food does well here too... The PS3 doesn't.

That doesn't make sense does it?

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 24, 2007 18:58)

Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by mrtoast2:
No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Kinldy keep your racist remarks to yourself please.

And no, the 360 isn't failing in Japan because it's not a Japanese brands. As I've repeated over and over again, a lot of foreign brands perform well in Japan like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Coca Cola, McDonalds and many others. The reason those brands succeed is because they've adapted to the local market, something Microsoft hasn't been able to do as of yet.
Dude. That's fashion and food...

Chinese food does well here too... The PS3 doesn't.

That doesn't make sense does it?

PS3 is failing because of a lack of games and the OTT price(soon that will be out the window with a 400$ core and MGS and FF),MS is failing in Jp because of price lack of games and poor barnd power in the market.

Comment by: kyo28 (Sep 25, 2007 05:26)

Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by mrtoast2:
No. Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products. If you have ever lived in Japan you can see that all over the place, they even have certain "establishments" that have signs stating "Japanese Only" and they don't allow americans or europeans. The Japs hate us, they are really a sneaky two faced people.

Kinldy keep your racist remarks to yourself please.

And no, the 360 isn't failing in Japan because it's not a Japanese brands. As I've repeated over and over again, a lot of foreign brands perform well in Japan like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Coca Cola, McDonalds and many others. The reason those brands succeed is because they've adapted to the local market, something Microsoft hasn't been able to do as of yet.
Dude. That's fashion and food...

Chinese food does well here too... The PS3 doesn't.

That doesn't make sense does it?

It's makes perfect sense to me. I replied to the following statement of another poster:
"Its because the Japs do not like to buy American products."
So I gave examples of US brands that are doing well in Japan to counter this argument. Such generalized and borderline racist presuppositions are not valid reasons to explain the failing of the 360 in Japan.

US or any foreign brands CAN succeed in Japan provided they adapt their product and marketing strategy to the local market. MS clearly didn't hit the right spot with their product to seduce Japanese consumer, because the don't have enough games aimed at Japanese gamers, virtually no brand recognition and poor customer support/quality.

Comment by: cartucho (Sep 25, 2007 07:02)

of course!!! they figure out they just can;t do anything else in the US and Canada.. they finally figured out Wii and PS3 will own the market in the next few years so i guess they are moving to Europe. Not sure if they will be able to pull another HALO franchise game. Maybe gears might do the trick but not too sure if the second one will be as good as the original.

Comment by: borhan9 (Sep 28, 2007 20:09)

Originally posted by sssharp:
They need to pull a Sega and leave that market for the others.

I tend to agree here due to the fact that Microsoft is a computer software company not a gaming company. However sega was great and was a gaming company you can not compare the two in the same boat.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 28, 2007 20:23)

Quote:
Originally posted by sssharp:
They need to pull a Sega and leave that market for the others.
I tend to agree here due to the fact that Microsoft is a computer software company not a gaming company. However sega was great and was a gaming company you can not compare the two in the same boat.

MS needs to setup acouple of repair factories and call centers if they can keep devs to make multi regoin games I think thats all MS really needs to do, unless you want crappy locolized dubed games :P