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Re: The Video Game Console Thread
Looks Like Microsoft Is Finally Giving Up on Xbox in Japan
MICROSOFT WILL SKIP this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September, reports Japanese game mag Famitsu.
While it didn’t give a reason, abysmal Xbox One sales are surely the culprit. The company’s flagship console launched in Japan like a scud last September, and calling its progress “torpid” would be a kindness: Last week, Xbox One sold a laughable 149 units in Japan, compared to 15,000 PlayStation 4s and 10,000 Wii Us.
Xbox sales in Japan have been an albatross for Microsoft since the brand’s inception. The original Xbox failed to crack half a million units total in Japan, and its massive efforts to recruit heavy-hitter Japanese game developers for Xbox 360 only boosted sales to 1.5 million. By contrast, Sony’s PlayStation 2 and 3 bagged over 27 million units in Japan cumulatively, and Nintendo’s Wii managed nearly 13 million.
In November 2014, longtime Xbox Japan honcho Takashi Sensui exited his post for a job at Microsoft HQ in Redmond.
Japanese home and portable console sales have been on the downswing since the mid-2000s, mostly because of mobile gaming’s arrival and meteoric ascent. But even if you factor out Japan’s mania for mobile games like Puzzle & Dragons, the disparity between Microsoft and its devoted console-making rivals is stark enough to make you wonder why the company bothered with a Japanese Xbox One launch at all.
Is this what throwing in the towel looks like? Tokyo Game Show is the Eastern equivalent of our E3 Expo, but it’s also open to the public for half the show days. On its final day last year, it pulled over 100,000 people through its doors. Gamers around the world watch Tokyo Game Show coverage, too.
However doomed you want to assume the Xbox brand is in Japan, grabbing your ball and going home from the biggest marketing opportunity in the region only fuels the narrative that you’re done. Microsoft had flouted that narrative despite dismal sales for more than a decade, forklifting in gargantuan TGS booths year in, year out, and boatloads of Xbox games: the Xbox One’s 2014 TGS game showcase rivaled Sony’s PlayStation 4’s.
A little over a year ago, Xbox head Phil Spencer told GameSpot, “It’s critical for us in the industry that we continue to invest there and see great games come out.”
So much for that, then?
Source: http://www.wired.com/2015/07/microsoft-tgs-2015/
Looked like PS4 won the console war within a few months of launching, but Microsoft haven't been putting up a great fight and Nintendo pump out more consoles/devices than games every few years now.
Re: The Video Game Console Thread
149 sales in a week? Damn. Did Microsoft relabel it as Chinese Democracy? 
I have completely missed out on this generation of consoles. Kinda sad. I used to be a hardcore gamer but just lost interest for some reason. Hell, I haven't played Madden since 08. I have probably missed out on a ton of war games. I used to play Civ 4 a LOT. Never forget when they unveiled Civ V and it was pure shit. I hope there were firings over that fiasco.
Re: The Video Game Console Thread
Lofton when are you going to comment on how your sales predictions for Duke Nukem forever turned out 
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Re: The Video Game Console Thread
Aye not done batman yet. Summer (or what's meant to be summer) has gotten in the way.
Nothing really on the horizon for rest of year?? The division? Mgs in September I guess. Just cause 3?
Meh. Next yr should be better.
I still got to do Axiom Verge, project cars & Sherlock Holmes so I'm kinda ok for now I guess. Bar axiom verge I'm not really too bothered atm tho. I would highly recommend axiom verge if you like your metroidvania games, it's a total throwback.
It'll prob show up on ps+ at some stage but it's defo worth picking up if you see it on sale before then.
Need that witcher 3 dlc & ng+ feature (i wish I'd played it on hardest difficulty & will do so when the ng+ patch drops).
I still gotta do dragon age/bloodborne & even other stuff. Time tho. Life's too damn short!
- A Private Eye
- Rep: 77
Re: The Video Game Console Thread
Anyone playing the new Batman? I have a little. I like it do far. Controls for the batmobile duck but it's a fun game.
I was gonna wait, bought the instant download on PSN late at night because I changed my mind, downloaded it to my PS4, then got busy and still haven't really played it. I started it twice, do the Poison Ivy capture mission, then seem to get lost into other things. I need to play it.
Was utterly shocked how poor the review was for it on GameSpot. The Batmobile has certainly divided everyone. Some people love it, others utterly hate it and felt it ruined the game. In the brief time i've played it, I like it, not love it. But most of the time I move around Gotham the old fashioned-way with the Grapple Hook. It's really the only way to enjoy the graphics.
Re: The Video Game Console Thread
Anyone looking forward to Metal Gear Soild V next week? It's been a long time coming and the reviews so far have been amazing.
Only doubt I have was that expensive demo called Ground Zeroes last year.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: The Video Game Console Thread
I've heard the same thing. I would buy the game to support Kojima's last hurrah with Metal Gear. Even Konami is probably going to one day reboot it and make it lactluster. Or make a Metal Gear Solid themed pachinko machine (Which is just a more featured interactive slot machine.) Seriously I've said this before from other sources; but "Fuck Konami". They blacklist reviewers that call their bullshit out, they treat their employees or basically bread and butter (Hideo Kojima) like shit, Big Brother business practices surrounding their offices, canceled Silent Hills for bullshit reasons, removed P.T. from the Playstation Network cause they got butt hurt, and so many other reasons from years past. Also the reports of the CEO of the company going on a tirade and having departments move desks around on a consistent basis, random email changes on the fly, and other shady stuff.
