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Microsoft tells Japanese gaming division to try, try again
Turns out, the home of Mario and Sonic is still a tough world to penetrate for Microsoft's gaming division, despite its near-decade presence in the market. While homegrown Nintendo and Sony products receive much of the love and Yen, newly-hatched industry outsiders are left to fend for themselves. Having finally broached the one million mark in Japan for its five-year-old console, MS is shifting the focus to its Kinect launch failures. Unsurprisingly, the full-body motion control accessory hasn't jump-kicked its way into as many Japanese hearts and households as the Ballmer-led company would like, so it's shuffling the deck at its Japanese outpost in order to spin the strategy a bit differently. Announced via press conference today, Takashi Sensui -- former head of the Home and Entertainment division -- will now oversee the newly created Interactive Entertainment Business division. Also in the works are some very culturally-tailored IPs for the Kinect platform: the Suda51-produced Codename D and a version of Steel Battalion from Capcom. Whatever the result of this renewed push may be, it sure won't be long before Microsoft gets to give Japan the old next generation college try. After all, third time's the charm. [Image credit via In.com]
Japan, does the big M need it?
In Gamasutra's latest "Analyze This" column, Howard Wen asks industry analysts a question that's been popping up a lot lately, "Does Microsoft really need Japan?" or, more specifically:"So how important should the Japanese market be in [Microsoft's] overall strategy for the 360? What do you think Microsoft specifically did wrong in Japan? Can they fix things before (or during) the arrivals of the Wii and PS3?"Wen also asked whether or not Microsoft needs Japanese games to entice North American's and Europeans who grew up on Japanese consoles.One of the best responses comes from analyst Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies:"I am not sure Microsoft did anything horribly wrong with Japan. The problem they face is that this is a market dominated by Sony, who employs many people in that country and are loyal to those products. If Microsoft has done anything wrong that needs to be fixed, it is a lack of understanding of the Japanese market."The article contains responses from several analysts and is worth a read. So, do you think Microsoft needs Japan to succeed in the world market? Are a few titles like Bullet Witch or Blue Dragon (or this one) enough?
