Quote:
Originally Posted by StripMahjong
There just aren't enough games that appeal to the Japanese market on 360. It will be interesting to see if this changes with all of the RPGs on the way, but it may be too little too late.
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This.
The original Xbox didn`t have the type of games to appeal to the Japanese market... So there is no real expectation that the 360 will have them either. And at this point, Microsoft is marketing the 360 as what it is in the US - a console known for FPS. The thing is, FPS don`t really appeal to the Japanese market. Even if it`s a great game, in general people in Japan don`t really like western(?) character designs. It`s hard to make a system look appealing when you`re bragging about it being great for something someone doesn`t have all that much interest in to begin with.
The PS3 also doesn`t have much out that appeals to normal Japanese gamers. Sure, MGS came out, but other than that the selection is very slim. However, people who enjoyed the PS2 have the expectation that good games will eventually come out on the PS3 too.
It`s silly to say it`s simply because Japan doesn`t like to buy things not made in Japan, or that there is a prejudice against the system, etc...
The biggest problem is this - The system barely sells, but those it does sell are sold largely to people who enjoy the type of games popular on the 360 in the US (FPS, Racing, etc) -> Microsoft misreads this, and pushes those games -> The same niche market becomes even stronger fans, so those who aren`t part of the niche market come to see the 360 as something ONLY for those people -> Stronger fans in the niche market buy more games that don`t appeal to a wider Japanese audience -> Again, more marketing focusing on the type of games that ARE selling -> Repeat endlessly.
They need to find some way to escape that circle. Hopefully Tales can help to some extent, as Blue Dragon was seriously botched... And Trusty Bell + Lost Odyssey didn`t have the power to fix that.