Japan completely sells out of Xbox 360 hardware

by Dustin Burg { Aug 20th 2008 at 9:30AM }

Well, well, well, look what odd Xbox 360 console sales news we have here. Xbox 360 hardware is completely sold out ... in Japan ... yes, Japan ... how WEIRD!

Over on Xbox.com's Japanese site, Microsoft issued an apology letter to potential Japanese 360 gamers admitting that console hardware is sold out in Japan and that they "deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers", hoping to replenish 360 console stock in the country as soon as possible. In other news, recently released JRPG Tales of Vesperia is 99.8% to "blame" for Japanese Xbox 360 sales and the subsequent lack of hardware in the country. Microsoft better send NAMCO-BANDAI a fruit basket or something.

Tags: japan, microsoft, namco, tales-of-vesperia, xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ice~ @ Aug 20th 2008 9:37AM

so I guess ToV is good?? lol, I'm thonkin bout pickin it up this Tuesday when it comes out

thisguyrighthere @ Aug 20th 2008 10:13AM

I'm wondering the same thing. The demo didn't impress me but I like the genre as a whole.

Nieker @ Aug 20th 2008 11:25AM

Blue Dragon sold out too... and man did that game stink.

Erik Stroud @ Aug 20th 2008 11:51AM

ToV wasn't that good to me. But, as long as more people are buying the 360, thats good.

mattclarkie @ Aug 20th 2008 9:45AM

Thankyou for linking to the letter, I was able to practice my Japanese.

It was very interesting especially when it said that Sony could suck on Master Chiefs helmet.

Saeth @ Aug 20th 2008 9:46AM

In before comment about selling out of launch consoles.

The_Punisher @ Aug 20th 2008 10:15AM

Wow, took them long enough to sell out of launch consoles. Maybe this will happen again when FF13 comes out.

(Haha, not really, i know it's not coming to 360 in japan, but after this i wonder why?).

=p

Fenix @ Aug 20th 2008 10:05AM

I saw this on IGN, and I also saw that there is a new 360 d-pad redesign! FTW! So, MS DOES listen! :)

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/900/900487p1.html

Jonah Falcon @ Aug 20th 2008 10:07AM

All 30 Xbox 360s were sold out.

Just kidding. I kid because I love.

LiqwidZero @ Aug 20th 2008 10:15AM

I have to admit, I didn't even think this would happen.

joeybeast @ Aug 20th 2008 10:20AM

Wait, they are out of Arcade as well?
They never sold out of Arcades.

LiqwidZero @ Aug 20th 2008 10:36AM

My local Wal-mart is always sold out of core/arcade models.

Fenix @ Aug 20th 2008 10:35AM

I just hope this trend continues with Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean and then what if all of a sudden they wake up and say "hey, Gears of War 2 IS kickass!" lol, that would be nice.

Rell @ Aug 20th 2008 10:44AM

And the shocking news just keeps coming.

Eduardo Hoeller @ Aug 20th 2008 11:00AM

Interesting... The only Tales game I've played for real was GC's Symphonia, I really liked it, but it was not a system seller in any way. I downloaded Vesperia demo but honestly JRPG's demos are never very exciting. Maybe I'll get to Vesperia someday, but right now, I'm too caught up into Lost Odyssey (yeah, I now I cound find time to devote to it...)

XDragon @ Aug 20th 2008 11:23AM

Thats impressive considering. I wouldn't expect this to continue outside of other future releases of exclusive JRPGs. MS sure sounds like they're learning their lessons! I hope Namco-Bandai gets more credit for this!

Tamyu @ Aug 20th 2008 11:28AM

This really just goes to show how very little Microsoft knows the Japanese market. Everyone and their dog in Japan predicted Vesperia would sell like crazy... But instead of pushing it or even readying more consoles (It was a given they`d sell a lot - preorders of the console+game pack were full within days of the preorder period starting), they just sat back.

No big commercials. No huge in-store displays.
Both things that were done for Halo and Bioshock - both games that don`t really appeal all that much to the Japanese market.

Come on Microsoft - take a look at the market!! It`s not hard to see what is going to sell! There was so much opportunity to market this and sell more - or even just have enough consoles available to retailers to cover the demand... But nope, a wasted chance.

Hak @ Aug 20th 2008 12:15PM

I'm pretty sure Squeenix haven't learn their lesson.....

My cat @ Aug 20th 2008 1:34PM

Japan likes them some RPGs. Who knew?

Obviously, Microsoft doesn't know (or care) about the Japanese market. Have they learned anything from this?
If they want money, and I know that they do, then hopefully the answer is yes.

Gabriel @ Aug 20th 2008 1:35PM

I'm pretty sure Square Enix is going to see from this event that XBOX 360 can attract JRPG players enough to release FFXIII on XBOX 360 in Japan. Official word has been changed on various occasions in the past so don't count out that possibility. Namco even has doubts that Tekken 6 will be PS3 exclusive, which would be a real shocker for fans of the series. We've gotten to a point where we can truly say, "Never say never," about anything and everything in the gaming industry. God bless.

Jake @ Aug 20th 2008 2:53PM

If it worked for dumb Wii owners, it's guarenteed to work for dumb 360 owners..

CLUE: They have a big warehouse full of them, they will dropfeed supplies to stores to make it look like the 360 ius desirable in Japan, becuse the shelves are always empty...