The Future of Japanese Gaming
Is the Xbox 360 doomed in Japan or can Microsoft jump-start its
presence? What Japanese games are worth your while in the West? IGN
reports.
by Douglass C. Perry
June 27, 2006 - Unlike the original Xbox, Microsoft built the Xbox
360 as a worldwide gaming hardware unit. Different than its first
box, the Xbox 360 was forged with careful planning, whether we're
talking about aesthetics, technical capabilities, or the potential
wealth of software from American, European and Japanese developers.
While Bill Gates' company was unable to capitalize in any
significant way with the original Xbox on the Japanese market,
Microsoft surprised everyone with its big catches for Xbox 360,
from Square Enix to Q Entertainment to Mistwalker's Hironobu
Sakaguchi.
Then the system launched in Japan. Nobody would have dreamed the
Xbox 360 would sell worse in Japan than the original Xbox. With
Peter Moore, Microsoft's executive vice president of interactive
entertainment, heading efforts in Japan, corralling developers and
wooing big-name designers over to the Xbox 360, things seemed
bright. With Square on board with Final Fantasy XI, with Q
Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi lined up, with Capcom, Tecmo,
Flagship, and Namco on board, man, you would have thought that
Microsoft had all its ducks lined all in a row. On paper, and for
all intents and purposes, it had. Yet, the Xbox 360 launch in Japan
was an unmitigated flop.
Every Party: Not the kind of game that stokes a console
launch.
Given the soft launch on December 10, 2005 -- replete with weak
games (did anyone really need to play Ridge Racer 6? TetrisÂ…a
launch title? And the unimpressive Every Party), the delay of Dead
Or Alive 4 -- and less than 100,000 units sold through by January
2006, Microsoft has found itself in a bind. This particular bind is
both short and long term. In the short run, Microsoft's Japanese
launch showed little reason to buy the system, and most gamers,
publishers, and analysts saw that the surprisingly poor performance
as a potential problem. But game sales change everyone's minds. If
the system could just get enough good games on retail shelves, the
sleek, off-white Xbox 360 could perhaps gain that all-important
foothold it needs to be a truly successful worldwide console
manufacturer.
Right now, the numbers just don't add up. With weekly sales of
Japanese games ranging from a stunningly low 15 to 20 units per
week through June, things have gone from bad to worse. Is Japan
unbreakable, finicky, or apathetic? Can Microsoft really pull this
thing off? Theoretically, yes it can; anything is possible.
Microsoft remains optimistic. While the Japanese launch wasn't
terrific, many more games are in the development pipeline. In fact,
the really crucial games haven't even shown yet. Japanese
publishers used to look at Japan as the primary and only valuable
gaming market. But times have changed since the PlayStation
heydays. Several long years of a rough economy have hurt arcades
and console sales. As a result, in part, Japanese developers have
merged. Witness Konami's purchase of Hudson (among other
companies), and Square's and Enix's merger. Games now cost tens of
millions to create, with teams of 100-plus people per title, so
larger companies are a safer bet than smaller ones.
Chromehounds: Big mechs shooting each other. Awesome or
average?
Looking at Microsoft's picture from a bigger perspective, it
appears as if some companies are giving the 360 the cold shoulder.
Sure, Microsoft has definitely done good work by securing solid,
quality titles from companies such as Namco, but on the other hand,
these same companies have given bigger franchises to Sony instead.
The 360 gets Ridge Racer 6, yet the PS3 gets Ridge Racer 7 and
Tekken 6? It's no wonder the kids on the Internet are shouting
"sabotage!" Could it be unwavering nationalism rearing its ugly
head? After all, Microsoft is an American company. That doesn't
seem to be the case, at least according to some developers. One
problem is simply a lack of awareness of the international market.
At least one developer has stated that the problem isn't system
loyalty or some sort of perverted racism. It's simply a lack of
knowledge on the part of the Japanese developer -- although
admittedly, Microsoft hasn't been a shining beacon of intelligence
in Japan either. "Go High Def", anyone?
Nationalism, lack of awareness, poor start, whatever the case may
be; the long term picture looks brighter than the short. There are
some heavyweight titles coming from and to the Land of the Rising
Sun, and each one of these has the potential to kick-start Xbox 360
sales in Japan. If you look closely, you'll see that Microsoft, in
lieu of strict dependence on Japanese publishers to support its
cause, is publishing a significant number of games in Japan by
itself. In some cases Microsoft has persuaded Japanese developers
with a powerful machine and a leading-edge online component. In
other cases, it's providing eye-popping publishing deals that are
more likely than not impossible for Japanese developers to turn
down. Either way, the next two years of development should benefit
Xbox 360 fans on both shores greatly.
