Arcade 360 to see lower price in Japan
by Terrence Stasse 
{ Feb 14th 2008 at 5:00PM }
Struggling as they are in Japan, Microsoft has pulled another move in a desperate attempt to gain (or perhaps simply lose no more) ground. The Premium 360 there had previously been priced at 34,800 yen, and on March the 6th Microsoft will launch the Arcade to the tune 27,800 yen, which is (one would think not coincidentally) much closer to the Wii's Japan price of 25,000 yen. With this new price effecting only the Arcade SKU it's difficult to see how this could gain Microsoft anything at all, as with the sale of Arcade units the consumer is still not receiving the entire experience (Live, HDD required content, etc) and may not end up being a loyal customer. Just how hard is Microsoft willing to push in Japan? Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon have already released and that didn't change much at all, so what will it take? Will this price drop do anything to sales? Readers, is Japan a lost cause for the 360?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Microswirl @ Feb 14th 2008 5:11PM
Maybe Microsoft should change its name to "Toshiba" over in Japan. I think Japanese people just have an irrational hatred of Microsoft.
itsburnsie @ Feb 14th 2008 5:22PM
Actually, according to my friend who's living there right now, they're just very nationalistic... and therefore don't like to buy anything outside of Japan, from the west particularly.
Also I've heard the letter "X" has a negative connotation in the culture. I'm not sure if that's true, but if it is, that would explain some of it too.
I don't think MS should give up on Japan... but I don't think they have to worry about trying to hard to win the island either. Nothing they do seems to work.
ryan @ Feb 14th 2008 7:48PM
this is to itsburnsie btw (stupid reply system!!)
by that logic then the Japenese must really hate the X button on their Sixaxis eh?
Roto13 @ Feb 14th 2008 5:16PM
It would take nothing short of a miracle for Xbox not to lose assloads of money this generation in Japan.
jacobmarsh @ Feb 15th 2008 4:31PM
there is pretty much an "x" on every current game console controller: ds, psp, ps3, 360.
well, i was thinking this wasn't a bad deal to get an hdmi xbox, but with the low US/Yen exchange rate (104Y:$1) its not that much cheaper than the US versions. oh well
Tony @ Feb 14th 2008 5:21PM
I think they'll be in a better position next generation... but they fucked up so much the first time around in that country, who can blame the Japanese for being apprehensive about the 360? I sure can't.
MS has a long way to go there and it's not just because of supposed xenophobia.
stealthur @ Feb 14th 2008 5:37PM
Yes its a lost cause. Give up on the 360 all together... thx.
Ebola @ Feb 14th 2008 5:44PM
LOL!! Maybe they know crappy quality when they see it. Give it up MS spend that money elsewhere.
SadisticHam @ Feb 14th 2008 5:48PM
They should aim for Europe. They still stand a chance here and Japan isn't anything majorly important when you have Europe and America bagged. It's just extra money in your pocket.
Instead there trying to win over people that wont come and ignoring Europe while the PS3 creeps in.
George Arauz @ Feb 14th 2008 6:07PM
Just like a smart man.. you should know when to "pull out" lol. The Japs dont want to see an American made competition be best in their land.
Orenthol @ Feb 14th 2008 6:26PM
Why would anyone with typical Japanese tastes buy an XBOX 360?
It has pretty much next to nothing for the audience. Maybe a couple of games.. but that's it. That's IT.
It's the same reason the PS3 is failing there too. It's selling on almost name value alone there, with little for the Japanese audience.
JJ @ Feb 14th 2008 7:55PM
Maybe they need to look at their marketing mix a bit better next time.
I dunno Orenthol, PS3 is beggining to pick up there, its no Wii, but its doing decent sales, the problem is, most of japan is moving towards handhelds mainly.
I think thats the big thing.
But heck SSBB did dang near a million its first week and even DMC4 has moved more than a quarter of a million copies on the PS3 alone over there (and 50k or so on the 360), so its not a TOTAL lost cause for pS3 or 360, as long as they get the games people play.
Jeramy @ Feb 14th 2008 8:09PM
who says the arcade doesn't allow live? i'm pretty damn sure you can run live off of a memory card, which (unless the japan sku is different) is included in the arcade sku.
Merehorseplay @ Feb 14th 2008 8:41PM
Loyal to their country, loyal to their brand. Microsoft doesn't get it because there isn't a lot of brand loyalty here in the good o'l USA where we drive Japanese and european cars, use a lot of china and mexican goods.they should just work on making their product the best it can be for this market. I.E. FREE live gold memberships, blueray players, access to the internet, cheaper and bigger hard drives for all that content they want us to download,fix DRM issues, and make a more reliable product. Did miss anything?
DelSource @ Feb 15th 2008 9:39PM
What's all this crap about Japan only buying Japanese? Have any of you been there? Do you know anyone Japanese? Obviously not otherwise you'd know that claim is utter rubbish.