James Delahunty
10 Dec 2005 8:49
Today, Microsoft's next generation console, the Xbox 360, has launched in Japan, where the company hopes to steal some of the market away from Sony Corp. So far the company has struggled to gain ground on Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co Ltd. in Japan, leaving it a distant third place (with the first Xbox). Microsoft hopes this time around it can win the hearts of gamers there and dethrone Sony as the dominant games console maker. "We are up and running here," Microsoft's Xbox marketing chief Peter Moore told Reuters.
Microsoft threw a launch party for gamers in in Tokyo's Shibuya, a shopping and entertainment centre. "We think (Japan) is the springboard to Asia," said Moore. He believes that Xbox Live will aid in the success of the Xbox 360 console in Japan. He also added that at the store he attended for the launch, several hundred consoles sold out very fast. Only the premium pack is being sold in Japan for 37,900 yen.
Microsoft is aiming to sell one million consoles in Japan by next summer; a rather ambitious figure considering the company has not yet managed to sell half a million Xbox consoles there. Now though, Microsoft has the advantage of being first to release a next generation console, and has months over Sony and Nintendo whom will (are expected to) release the PlayStation 3 and Revolution consoles respectively in 2006.
Microsoft is being criticised for it's initial game line-up for the console however. It is considered a mostly Western flavor, favoring shooting games over role-playing games that are more popular in Japan.
Source:
Reuters