Re: Japanese Sales: PS3 outsells Xbox 360 9:1
Skwisgaar Skwigelf
"Jordan" <lu...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1188133796.2...@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Aug 26, 3:41 am, "JDrowzy" <NOM...@mail.com> wrote:
> > http://www.psu.com/Japanese-Sales--PS3-outsells-Xbox-360-9-1-News--a1...
> >
> > In the current Japanese sales charts, the PlayStation 3 is now
outselling
> > the Xbox 360 by a margin of nearly 9:1.
>
> Yes, and the PS3 is being outsold by the Wii 3.4:1 and the DS Lite 7:1
>
> Nintendo DS Lite - 153,819
> Wii - 73,938
> PLAYSTATION 3 - 21,720
>
> But then we've already established that Japan is a niche market
and a CLOSED market. What few American goods make it in are deliberately
limited in the quantities they are allowed to sell. If Japan were an open
market, the figures would be more in line with the rest of the world, with
the 360 outselling the PoS3 by about 10:1.
Doug Jacobs
> and a CLOSED market. What few American goods make it in are deliberately
> limited in the quantities they are allowed to sell. If Japan were an open
> market, the figures would be more in line with the rest of the world, with
> the 360 outselling the PoS3 by about 10:1.
I'm calling BS on this.
Plenty of American products do very well in Japan.
The problem is many American companies don't bother to tailor their
product for the Japanese market. People complain about how poorly the
Xbox did in Japan, and cry racism, favoritism, nationalism, etc. However
did you know that many of the XBox games released into Japan WEREN'T EVEN
LOCALIZED INTO JAPANESE? Conversely, would YOU buy a video game that
wasn't in English - including the packaging, manual, and all the in-game
menus, dialog, etc.? Are you displaying racist, nationalist, or
favoritist leanings by refusing to buy such a product?
This doesn't even address the issue that Japan != America. Different
cultures, different tastes. Why is this so hard for people to
understand? Those American companies that DO understand this flourish in
Japan. Pizza Hut in Japan, for instance, offers pizzas with toppings like
squid, octopus and corn. Why? Because that's what the Japanese like on
their pizza. Likewise, tastes in gaming are also going to differ.
PC-inspired military FPS and TPS titles have never been popular in Japan.
Since the Xbox (and 360) offer a lot of games in this genre, would you expect
them to sell well in Japan? Likewise, many Japanese titles probably
wouldn't go over very well in the US. How about that JR Train
Simulator? Yeah, that's going to go over well in a country that doesn't
even know what "JR" is, muchless ever ridden on it. Sure, there are some
games that are popular in both cultures, but to assume that any game from
the US must automatically be a smash hit over in Japan is just stupid.
Microsoft has been working to get more Japanese development support for
the 360 - and it shows. A special edition of the 360 bundled with Blue
Dragon sold out almost immediately. This shows that, given interesting
titles, the Japanese *will* buy an American game console. It's all about
the games - not the nationality of the company selling the hardware.
--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.