Will the Japanese ever buy US made hardware/games?

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From Kotaku:

This is the list of the top 50 selling XBox 360 games in Japan since it's launch there:

http://kotaku.com/338099/xbox-360-games-dont-sell-in-japan

There have only been just over 1.8 million XBox 360 games TOTAL sold in Japan. CoD 4 has sold more than that in America by itself.

And it's not like Microsoft has not tried this generation. They have gotten exclusivity to popular games like Katamari and Ace Combat that were Playstation staples, worked with the former FF creator's new studio, Mistwalker, to put out 2 exclusive JRPG's, and Square Enix is making two JRPG's for the 360 also.

So my question is not only with Microsoft, but any North American hardware or software (Mass Effect, Oblivion, GTA, etc.) ever successfully sell in Japan?
 
I doubt it. May see some software sell well (i.e. some western game for a Sony or Nintendo console), but probably not hardware.
 
Japanese, simply won't buy a 360 simply for the fact that its made by a U.S. company. Its as simple as that. I have a ps3 not a 360, however its true. They feel like they are better than everyone else and everyother country. Its quite sad.
 
[quote name='pinkofloydo']Japanese, simply won't buy a 360 simply for the fact that its made by a U.S. company. Its as simple as that. I have a ps3 not a 360, however its true. They feel like they are better than everyone else and everyother country. Its quite sad.[/quote]

That's crap. They don't think they are better than everyone else and every other country. The Xbox 360 just doesn't have a lot of games that cater to the tastes of the Japanese.
 
yes, Japanese always buy our USA games, just not the masses.

aside from being an obvious ass about it, I still don't think american developers get the point for what japanese gamer want, though there's no definite answer. plus there's no need to entirely penetrate that market in terms of software sales.
 
[quote name='pinkofloydo']Japanese, simply won't buy a 360 simply for the fact that its made by a U.S. company. Its as simple as that. I have a ps3 not a 360, however its true. They feel like they are better than everyone else and everyother country. Its quite sad.[/quote]

Way to lump an entire country of people into a cookie cutter. All video game nerds are fat, live in their parents basement and eat cheetos too, right?
 
The ipod sells rather well in Japan. I'm sure it isn't a stability issue either since they bought the PS2 en masse.
 
[quote name='pinkofloydo']Japanese, simply won't buy a 360 simply for the fact that its made by a U.S. company. Its as simple as that. I have a ps3 not a 360, however its true. They feel like they are better than everyone else and everyother country. Its quite sad.[/QUOTE]


Poor generalization for a whole country. It is all about the product.


Here is an article on Japan and Portable Music Device Sales

Apple iPOD vs. Sony Portable Music Players.

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/7952/

"Apple tramples Sony in Japan: iPod grabs 60-percent share of DMP market, Sony drops under 10-percent"
 
I don't know that MS will ever be able to penetrate the Japanese market. As much as I hate to say it, the truth is that Microsoft does not need Japan to be successful. American titles have always sold well on the XBox, and Japanese developers like Capcom (whose Lost Planet and Dead Rising titles both sold over a million copies) are tailoring games to the US market, realizing that the consumer base is more than large enough to turn a profit without necessarily worrying about their home country.
 
[quote name='RelentlessRolento']yes, Japanese always buy our USA games, just not the masses.

aside from being an obvious ass about it, I still don't think american developers get the point for what japanese gamer want, though there's no definite answer. plus there's no need to entirely penetrate that market in terms of software sales.[/QUOTE]

MS' problem is that they're "kinda" trying, but they pat themselves on the back like they're personally fellating every Japanese gamer and still being told to fuck right off.

It's akin to the age-old (idiotic) idea that one game, or a few games, make a console. It's an absurd argument; GTA alone did not make the PS2. Its library did. Halo 3 did not make the 360. Its library did.

But its library is very western (i.e., FPS and sports-game heavy). Mistwalker is trying, but RPG players may be excited about the prospect of the "names" involved in Mistwalker - but it's still 2 fuckin' games, and that's it. Blue Dragon DS, as well (even being developed outside of Mistwalker, I think) shows how finicky developers are who want to support the 360. And besides, Blue Dragon is totally milquetoast as far as RPGs go, despite all the smackings of "star power" behind the scenes.

Don't get me wrong; these games sell. They sold 60K copies of Blue Dragon the first week, I think. But once everyone realized that it was the gaming equivalent of "Damn Yankees," it stopped selling.

Katamari? That ship has sailed. It's a one-trick pony, I'm afraid. And before you say "DATING SIMS" or "PHOENIX WRIGHT," those have narratives behind them. Katamari's is paper thin at best.

MS also has "Idolmaster" on the 360; I'm not certain what that is, but it's apparently something that makes all the middle-aged sararimen swoon. I think.

All in all, they're making some progress relative to the original Xbox in Japan - but until they manage to build up a substantial library of games, don't expect to see much movement.

It's similar to the ardent anti-Wii or anti-PS3 kids in the US. They'll declare "oh, there are just no games for it!" Well, there's not enough of an exclusive library in the minds of those people. The same can be said, IMO, for the 360 in Japan.

Don't they also have a line of games, like "Xbox World Collection" or some shit? Just totally unchanged from the US version, save for the format and cover art having kana on it? How insulting is that? "We don't even feel like changing a fuckin' thing for you, so here, have a game with no Japanese in it at all!" It's quite condescending, I think, and may turn off a lot of gamers.

It's much more complex than "xenophobia," IMO.
 
Japanese have awful tastes in games. This is true. They would rather play the 10th edition of a dating sim game, with the only new feature being new hat colors for the characters cats, than something like BioShock, COD4, or *insert quality American developed, non-FPS game here*.

And before someone chimes in with "Well, Americans buy the same Madden every year!", the Japanese do the same thing, only it's not Madden, it's Pro Evolution Soccer or those ridiculous "Let's Make a Soccer Team!" sim games.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']
It's similar to the ardent anti-Wii or anti-PS3 kids in the US. They'll declare "oh, there are just no games for it!" Well, there's not enough of an exclusive library in the minds of those people. The same can be said, IMO, for the 360 in Japan.
[/QUOTE]

It think that's it in a nutshell, though on the large scale I don't think it involves anti-(insert console) fanboyism.

In Japan, the 360 just doesn't have enough exclusives that Japanese gamer's consider MUST PLAY types of games to bother buying the console.

Really on different that someone like me not buying a PS3 as it doesn't have enough exclusives that are must play for me, or someone that doesn't like Nintendo's first party stuff not buying a Wii as it won't have enough exclusives for them to need the console etc.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Japanese have awful tastes in games. This is true. They would rather play the 10th edition of a dating sim game, with the only new feature being new hat colors for the characters cats, than something like BioShock, COD4, or *insert quality American developed, non-FPS game here*.

And before someone chimes in with "Well, Americans buy the same Madden every year!", the Japanese do the same thing, only it's not Madden, it's Pro Evolution Soccer or those ridiculous "Let's Make a Soccer Team!" sim games.[/QUOTE]


I think you're mixing preferences with good games. I prefer to play games like DoAX2 over bioshock knowing that bioshock is considered a great game and DoAX2 is considered a poop mound. I just find that I get more fun out of a shitty game in a genre I like alot more than a good game that everyone says I gotta play because it's better than my crap. Don't bitch back at me either because just be happy you play good games and I play games I prefer, no matter how shitty they are. And yes most people prefer the good games and I my own shit. Like US and Japan, views on what they want to play differ greatly for different reasons.

also, if you read all that, it's probably too jumbled to make any sense.


this makes less sense:

5704896.jpg
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']It think that's it in a nutshell, though on the large scale I don't think it involves anti-(insert console) fanboyism.[/QUOTE]

I didn't mean to imply that; more, I meant to suggest that, for those who own whatever system it is, they find themselves attracted to games that, were they not owners of the console, wouldn't sway them towards buying it (e.g., Zack and Wiki, Heavenly Sword/Folklore, or Forza/Halo 3).

The example games are arbitrary and vary from gamer to gamer, but the fact is that similar to the accusations of ______ console having "no games worth playing," from a Japanese perspective, there really are only a handful of titles that are enticing. And a handful is not enough.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I didn't mean to imply that; more, I meant to suggest that, for those who own whatever system it is, they find themselves attracted to games that, were they not owners of the console, wouldn't sway them towards buying it (e.g., Zack and Wiki, Heavenly Sword/Folklore, or Forza/Halo 3).

The example games are arbitrary and vary from gamer to gamer, but the fact is that similar to the accusations of ______ console having "no games worth playing," from a Japanese perspective, there really are only a handful of titles that are enticing. And a handful is not enough.[/QUOTE]


True. There's always more to play than just the games that are personal system sellers for you.

But those shouldn't really factor much into one's purchasing decision IMO, as the AAA games are what people end up spending most of their time and money on (with exceptions of course, as some prefer niche genres etc.) as that's why they sale the most, have the most people playing online etc.

The AAA exclusives are the meat and potatoes of a console's library, the multiplatform games and smaller/niche titles are just the gravy.

Personally, with my super limited time, and owning two consoles (Wii60) I pretty much stick to the AAA games as I barely have time to play all of those.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Americans have awful tastes in games. This is true. They would rather play the 100th FPS game, with the only new feature being new weapons, than something like Persona 3, Rogue Galaxy or *insert quality Japanese developed, non-RPG game here*.

And before someone chimes in with "Well, Japanese buy the same PES every year!", the Americans do the same thing, only it's not PES, it's Madden or those ridiculous "Let's Make a Football Team!" sim games.[/quote]
?
 
[quote name='Foolman']?[/quote]So you're trying to say games like Call of Duty 4 or BioShock, "100th fps game(s)" are the US equivalent of all those DS and PS2 games like Dynasty Warriors XIII or Pokemon Turqoise? No frickin' way. Do you ever see American developed games coming out with "Final Mix" or "Directors Cut" editions? No, because they don't sell here. They sell like mad in Japan. And the only ones you DO see in America are from established JAPANES franchises like Metal Gear Solid or Devil May Cry. And Americans do buy RPG's. Games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are proof. Do the Japanese even ATTEMPT to buy FPS? No. The Japanese are the most assimilated culture in the damn world. If some J-Pop star suddenly decided to eat her own shit, and make a DS game out of it, every Japanese teenage or 20 something in the country would be playing "Make Your Own 2 girls 1 cup Music Video!" for the DS.
 
Xbox needs more cheap japanese/fake RPGs, more hentai...or games with small girls in school uniforms piloting big robots...5 yr olds with huge tits...cooking sims, and simple 2D shooter/fighters.

These things the Japanese appear to adore.

Look at classic gaming- they have a whole console dedicated to Hentai gaming (sure, the PCFX does have 1 other title that doesn't have an adult theme).

I would say someone needs to combine all their favs together, like some big Final Fantasy...Pokemon...Sailor Moon deal..but then that's pretty much every fake-RPG that comes out of Japan. The End.

Oh, while Americans love the obvious, I'm of the firm belief that no one loves the obvious more than the Japanese gamer- either something is seriously, seriously lost in translations, or it's just sooo bad. Also, what's up with all the thinly veiled anti-American sentiment in many Japanese games?

Who cares what they want.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Japanese have awful tastes in games. This is true. [/quote]

Way to generalize a group of people. Different society, different values, diffrent culture and as such different likes and dislikes. I'm not going out on a limb to defend Japanese games but to say it's awful because you don't like it is just your own opinion.

[quote name='VanillaGorilla'] Do you ever see American developed games coming out with "Final Mix" or "Directors Cut" editions? No, because they don't sell here. They sell like mad in Japan. And the only ones you DO see in America are from established JAPANES franchises like Metal Gear Solid or Devil May Cry.[/quote]

Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion Game of the Year Edition, Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year/Gold(don't remember which it's called), Call of Duty 3: whatever it is, Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga(I think that's the name, don't remember specifically but it came out very recently.) Those are just to name a few and every single one of those are very much Western games. Don't know how well the newer SKU's did compared to the original but it's out there.
 
[quote name='apkp']Way to generalize a group of people. Different society, different values, diffrent culture and as such different likes and dislikes. I'm not going out on a limb to defend Japanese games but to say it's awful because you don't like it is just your own opinion.



Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion Game of the Year Edition, Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year/Gold(don't remember which it's called), Call of Duty 3: whatever it is, Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga(I think that's the name, don't remember specifically but it came out very recently.) Those are just to name a few and every single one of those are very much Western games. Don't know how well the newer SKU's did compared to the original but it's out there.[/quote]So you have a couple examples, compared to the hundreds of times it happens in Japan.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']So you have a couple examples, compared to the hundreds of times it happens in Japan.[/quote]

Ok.
 
Probably not. The Japanese have a very eclectic taste for games. Some find it stifling. So much in fact that many Japanese developers have gone on record saying that they hate the Japanese consumer base because they want the same thing over and over and are less apt to try new software types. Of course the same could be said about the U.S in regards to western Rpg's and FPS, but as a society the Japanese honor tradition far more than us which in turn leads to the above. Many companies also feel that the Japanese market is becoming less and less important. From a numbers perspective they are far less than Asia (growing quickly), the U.S and Europe. Basically they are not essential to a successful game launch. Cater to the U.S/Asia/Europe audience and you have more than enough success. I believe there are several books about this topic as well, some interesting reads to say the least.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']

Don't get me wrong; these games sell. They sold 60K copies of Blue Dragon the first week, I think. But once everyone realized that it was the gaming equivalent of "Damn Yankees," it stopped selling.

[/quote]

I know what you're saying here, I just don't get the reference.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']So you're trying to say games like Call of Duty 4 or BioShock, "100th fps game(s)" are the US equivalent of all those DS and PS2 games like Dynasty Warriors XIII or Pokemon Turqoise? No frickin' way.
[/quote]
Yes, but I didn't say they were bad games. I didn't imply that having the same type of game repeated over and over was bad, you did. I love the FPS genre, but it doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that America makes a shitload of them.
Do you ever see American developed games coming out with "Final Mix" or "Directors Cut" editions? No, because they don't sell here. They sell like mad in Japan. And the only ones you DO see in America are from established JAPANES franchises like Metal Gear Solid or Devil May Cry.
Our director cut editions are more disguised. Gears of War PC is a good example. Everyone with a brain can tell that this is a director's cut, it just isn't releasing on 360.
And Americans do buy RPG's. Games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are proof.
Americans buy Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Period. There are other RPGs.
Do the Japanese even ATTEMPT to buy FPS? No.
Well, do Americans even attempt to buy games like Fire Emblem? You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at sales charts, but the hardcore American community does, just like the hardcore Japanese community buys FPS games. They are few, but they are there.
The Japanese are the most assimilated culture in the damn world. If some J-Pop star suddenly decided to eat her own shit, and make a DS game out of it, every Japanese teenage or 20 something in the country would be playing "Make Your Own 2 girls 1 cup Music Video!" for the DS.
I could easily switch some words here and there and make this true for America also.
 
[quote name='Rozz']I know what you're saying here, I just don't get the reference.[/QUOTE]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_Yankees_(band)

They were a butt-rock "supergroup" in the early 90's who were from very prominent rock acts of the 70's/80's (Ted Nugent, Styx, and Night Ranger); while selling a lot of records, were fucking terrible musically. So, while Mistwalker has Sakaguchi and Uematsu (or at least 2-3 of the more prominent Final Fantasy guys), plus Toriyama on art detail, you would expect a game far, far, far better than the laziness that Blue Dragon just oozes.

Don't get me wrong, I dig BD; but knowing who was behind making it, I can't help but feel quite let down, y'know?
 
[quote name='RelentlessRolento']go live in japan for half a year and try to tell me that Japanese people have bad taste.[/quote]Go live in Saudi Arabia and tell me that they dont treat women like shit.

I should know better than to attack Japanese pop culture, on a forum crawling with wannabes who would rather jack off to hentai than to an actual HUMAN female.
 
[quote name='SpecTrE3353']Way to lump an entire country of people into a cookie cutter. All video game nerds are fat, live in their parents basement and eat cheetos too, right?[/quote]

Yes. Anyone who has ever played a videogame is fat, lives in their parents basement and has cheetoh stains on every posession they own. Also, if they ever played a violent game they have shot up atleast one (1) public facility.

I like to jump on tortoises at the zoo in my spare time BTW.



In all seriousness, what about people like me? I waited in the Halo 3 line to get it, and loved Bioshock but I spend tons of time playing crazy shit like EDF and DOAX2. My current facination is Godzilla Unleashed on the Wii. What about those of us who like crazy japanese games AND fairly generic American ones? (Not calling Bioshock generic, calling Halo 3 an uber-canned sequel force-fed to the ignorant masses. Its true too, lets be honest.) Stuff does well here that doesn't there, and vice-versa. People need to stop being close-minded either way. To finish this off, Less QQ more PewPew.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Go live in Saudi Arabia and tell me that they dont treat women like shit.

I should know better than to attack Japanese pop culture, on a forum crawling with wannabes who would rather jack off to hentai than to an actual HUMAN female.[/quote]
You love to stereotype things that you don't like, awesome. Now you're resorting to insults :applause:

/sarcasm

[quote name='georox'] In all seriousness, what about people like me? I waited in the Halo 3 line to get it, and loved Bioshock but I spend tons of time playing crazy shit like EDF and DOAX2. My current facination is Godzilla Unleashed on the Wii. What about those of us who like crazy japanese games AND fairly generic American ones? (Not calling Bioshock generic, calling Halo 3 an uber-canned sequel force-fed to the ignorant masses. Its true too, lets be honest.) Stuff does well here that doesn't there, and vice-versa. People need to stop being close-minded either way. To finish this off, Less QQ more PewPew.[/quote]
Unlike some other people out there, I don't care where a game comes from. It could come from Europe, Austrailia, China, Japan-wherever. If the game is good and I have the means to play it(console/device + funds to get the game) then in most case's i'll make an attempt to play it. Good games are good games wherever they come from, where they come from has no impact on my enjoyment-at least for me.
 
Plenty of Foreign companies have had success in Japan, and their approach is decidedly different. Sega was originally an American company.

The key is assimilation and catering to their tastes, which takes a certain level of understanding of the market.

Sega reformed itself as a Japanese company. McDonalds, KFC, Apple have all had similar successes.

This is distinctly different from Microsoft's strategy. The 3 JRPGs this generation and a couple of pedo games isnt going to do it. One of the biggest draws of the XBOX brand in the west is online functionality. Thats not all that big there. Also, the marketing is reputed to be horrible.

The brand is dead, and there is basically nothing they can do to salvage it once the damage is done.

However, they have no choice but to keep trying, as support from the likes of Capcom, for example, are important abroad.
 
[quote name='georox']I like to jump on tortoises at the zoo in my spare time BTW.[/quote]

That's awesome... me too! It is actually my Thursday night ritual.
 
Why do we look upon Japan as our master, as if we are begging for some attention and a sign of acceptance? Our video game culture and market is twice the size of Japan. Case in point: Super Mario Galaxy sold about 250,000 copies in the first week in Japan and sold twice as much in the first week in USA.

The American gaming community has shown its love for gaming. We imported games that we knew would not be localized just because we wanted to play it so bad...AND WE DON'T EVEN KNOW JAPANESE! We modded our systems, we bought region by-pass software, many of us even went so far as to buy a Japanese console just to play Japanese games. We've had to sit through games in the 1990s with poor translations but we still played it to death because we liked them. We begged and begged for certain games to be localized and if it weren't for "quality-before-quantity" companies like Atlus, these games would not see the light of day here in the USA.

We've done our time and now that America is the largest video game market in the world, if they want our games, hey, go beg your companies to localize them just like we did. Import. Mod your systems. Wait, just like we did. And if you just wanna stick with your raise-a-pony-sims and train-a-triathlon, go right ahead and play those dumbass games. We are not so small like we used to be. I believe it's time for America to step up to become the center of video gaming. Case in point: Halo 3 grossed $300,000,000 in the first week. When was the last time Japan had a game that grossed even half of that?
 
They buy iPods because they're the best.

They're very tech savvy, they value blu-ray capabilities of Ps3, they understand the Cell processor, and the innards of the Ps3/Xbox 360.

They're not discriminating against the 360 or American products, they just prefer the Ps3 from all angles. And of course in general the average non-hardcore Japanese person interested in video games preferes the Wii over everything.
 
[quote name='nintendokid']Why do we look upon Japan as our master, as if we are begging for some attention and a sign of acceptance? Our video game culture and market is twice the size of Japan.[/QUOTE]

Take a powder.

I don't think anyone is saying "Japan is our master." They're saying "hey, Japan matters, and they don't seem to take kindly to US consoles. Why is that?"

And, as you admit, if their market is half the size of ours, and ours is so fuckin' huge, then Japan is a market you surely want to penetrate, no?
 
[quote name='meesterjojo']Xbox needs more cheap japanese/fake RPGs, more hentai...or games with small girls in school uniforms piloting big robots...5 yr olds with huge tits...cooking sims, and simple 2D shooter/fighters.

These things the Japanese appear to adore.

Look at classic gaming- they have a whole console dedicated to Hentai gaming (sure, the PCFX does have 1 other title that doesn't have an adult theme).

I would say someone needs to combine all their favs together, like some big Final Fantasy...Pokemon...Sailor Moon deal..but then that's pretty much every fake-RPG that comes out of Japan. The End.

Oh, while Americans love the obvious, I'm of the firm belief that no one loves the obvious more than the Japanese gamer- either something is seriously, seriously lost in translations, or it's just sooo bad. Also, what's up with all the thinly veiled anti-American sentiment in many Japanese games?

Who cares what they want.[/QUOTE]

Know what you're talking about. It was the Marty that had almost no Hentai games. Get your facts straight. The only games that were non-Hentai that were considered good are "Ultima VI or VII: The Black Gate" which Lord British himself certified as the best version. There is also "Splatterhouse" which is considered arcade perfect and a few other games, those being SNK ports I'm pretty sure.
PC-FX on the other hand had "Zenki", "Battle Heat", "Team Innocent", "Langrisser FX", etc. The list goes on of notables though is not terribly long.
Myke you have made some good points especially the one about MS patting themselves on the back.
One of MS's big problems is going after the big fish too much and altogether ignoring smaller, still prestigous one's they may be able to get that are preferably niche. Some of these companies, if MS really courts them, may find staunch supporters who keep exclusives on the 360 because of this. Nihon Falcom I have consistently bitched about MS not paying attention to to their detriment IMO. Watanabe product would be excellent on the 360 as I've heard the Japanese love them. I can tell you firsthand that "Cave Story" is a quality, albeit unknown Doujin(homemade) game from them that is better or as good as most of the XBLA original stuff. I think MS should make an attempt to look at non-Hentai Japanese PC devs that have done solid product.
edit: Oh yeah there are American extra editions, they're called "Gold" editions by Activision. See COD3 Gold, COD2 Gold, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold.
 
American developers (generally) make games with more substance than mini-game oriented titles, and that is what the Japanese audience is going nuts for ATM.
 
[quote name='rodeojones903']American developers (generally) make games with more substance than mini-game oriented titles, and that is what the Japanese audience is going nuts for ATM.[/QUOTE]

You joking?! COUGHWiiCOUGH. That goes for both.
 
[quote name='duncan36']They buy iPods because they're the best. [/quote]

They like the Ipod becuase it's trendy and overpriced.
 
Isn't WoW popular in Japan? I know my wife's cousins are addicted to it. They told me they had to import it and the guide.

Game stores don't even advertise the 360 in Japan. I've seen the daily flyers that come in the news paper and there's no mention of 360 games. Maybe they don't want to invest money in a system they know won't adhire to their prefrence in games.
 
[quote name='Nephlabobo']This is the stupidest thread I've ever seen on these boards.[/quote]

Whatever. This is a legitimate discussion so GTfuckO
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Whatever. This is a legitimate discussion so GTfuckO[/QUOTE]

I don't think so bub. It's a bunch of people insulting each other - not a discussion. And watch your language.
 
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