Xbox 360 failed horribly in Japan. Knowing Microsoft, they hate losing and wont give up, the best example of this is in the saying "If you cant beat them, join them", but in Microsoft's case its "If you cant beat them, buy them".
Microsoft couldn't compete with Skype or Yahoo, so they decided to go out and buy them.
My idea is that Microsoft will try really hard next gen to get Japan to like their Xbox brand.
Microsoft will be thinking "we need to have better support from Japanese developers for the next xbox"
They will probably do the following, given the endless pits of cash they have:
1# Getting an exclusive deal with Team Ninja/Tecmo/Koei to make games like Dead or Alive to be exclusive, like they did with the xbox. They got Dead or Alive 4 to be exclusive.
2# During the early years of Xbox 360 they got Capcom on their side to make exclusive 360 games like Lost Planet, they also convinced them to make Devil May Cry 4 multi platform. One of the first if not the first JRPG's that came out on 360 from Ubisoft/From Software was Enchanted Arms. So I think that partnership will continue in terms of exclusive launch games that Capcom makes.
Microsoft knew that in order to have a big following in Japan they need to get high quality RPG's, and Mistwalker was the company they chose to make them the JRPG's. So for the Xbox 720 I think that trend will continue, but they will put more emphasis on JRPG's next gen and will do this:
1# Get Sakaguchi back to develop exclusive games for them for the Xbox 720.Give him a large budget to make multiple games at once, they did this once with Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey already. If they won't choose Sakaguchi then it will probably be someone else with a good name? But if they do plan on doing something like this, it will most likely be with Sakaguchi as they already have a relationship with him and he is already tried and tested.
2# They will get limited timed exclusivity to many JRPG's like they did Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata and Star Ocean. Maybe they will go for big name series like Final Fantasy and Tales Series, to get timed exclusivity this time? Remember they already got lots of timed exclusives from Square Enix like Infintie Undiscovery , they will probably go for big games now.
Microsoft really learned from experience whether these games will sell the Xbox 360 in Japan, and the answer is yes. Every time a JRPG was released, the 360 saw huge spikes in sales in Japan. See the Gematsu article where it mentions that Xbox 360's were sold out in Japan when Tales of Vesperia was launched. It was also sold out on amazon Japan. But they also must have learnt that it just wasn't enough. So I think next time they will go for BIG exclusive games....To be frank, all business have to start somewhere, an analogy can be made that "Microsoft has built the base/foundation of the house" and with the Xbox 720 they will have a greater chance, they are now ready "to fortify the house with walls and roofs". The original persona games never sold well in the USA, but now they are more well known and sell more.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
I think you mean "Will JAPAN support...." But your entire post is just amateurish fanboy garbage, from a 1-bubble Sony fanboy, so it matters not.
Token support only, the market has changed
Do exactly the same again then? yeah, maybe it will work next time round.
This blog is pure definition of insanity.
This blog sounds like an xbox fanboy looking at microsofts disasterous history in japan through rose tinted glasses.
"Microsoft has built the base/foundation of the house" and with the Xbox 720 they will have a greater chance, they are now ready "to fortify the house with walls and roofs" - this is hilarious!