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Microsoft slashes 360 price in Japan

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DVDBack23 @ Sep 03, 2009 00:29 | 3 comments

Microsoft has announced they will be slashing the price of the Xbox 360 Elite in Japan beginning tomorrow, dropping the price from JPY 39,800 to JPY 29,800. That drop is about the equivalent of $100 USD, the same drop North American customers received last week.

"With the price cut, we hope to boost demand for the Xbox game console. The Christmas and year-end shopping season is very important for us," added MS director of Xbox marketing in Japan Joji Sakaguchi, via the AP. "We are confident that we will do well during the upcoming holiday season. We cannot lose," he added.

Of note, the Elite bundle will no longer ship with an HDMI cable and the other models available, the HDD-less Arcade model and the 60GB Pro model will remain unchanged. The Pro's pricing however, is now at the discretion of the retailer, as the model is being phased out.

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Comments

Comment by: IPRFenix (Sep 03, 2009 20:23)

Unfortunately, the Japanese generally aren't interested in what the console offers, game wise. Save of course for certain exclusive Japanese titles. They ridicule the RRoD more harshly than anyone else. Some of their big retail stores there have been known to intentionally display RRoD'd 360 units..

MS would have to make damn sure they only stock Jaspers, and drop the price another $50-$100 if they want a good holiday there.

Comment by: DXR88 (Sep 04, 2009 03:28)

Originally posted by IPRFenix:
Unfortunately, the Japanese generally aren't interested in what the console offers, game wise. Save of course for certain exclusive Japanese titles. They ridicule the RRoD more harshly than anyone else. Some of their big retail stores there have been known to intentionally display RRoD'd 360 units..

MS would have to make damn sure they only stock Jaspers, and drop the price another $50-$100 if they want a good holiday there.

if they did the same in the states we wouldn't have failing unit's they would have all been fixed by now or the ps3 would have been the next big thing.

Comment by: inagasake (Sep 05, 2009 15:59)

The Xbox 360 is basically a niche console over there. It's not going to appeal to the mainstream Japanese gamer but it will to the hardcore gaming otaku who has an open enough mind to try western games (though obviously the Japanese 360 exclusives help a lot too). The Xbox 360 in Japan has the highest attach rate this gen (vgchartz) despite the low hardware install base. So it's very clear that the Xbox 360 has a pretty hardcore fanbase in Japan. If Japanese 360 gamers are buying more games per head than PS3 and Wii gamers, that's a good sign. This seems to be a universal phenomenon. 360 gamers buy more games.