While the Microsoft XBOX 360 has been doping very well globally, for some reason, in Japan many more people are opting for the more expensive PS3 or Nintendo Wii and are waiting until these two consoles launch before they purchase a next generation gaming console. Surveys as well as sales reports have confirmed this.

If we compare the Playstation 2 and the XBOX 360, in the last week of June in Japan, over 20,000 PS2 consoles were sold while less than 2000 XBOX 360 consoles were sold.

“Globally we are doing very well but Japan has always been tough,” said Darren Huston, president and chief executive officer of Microsoft’s Japan unit. “We launched early and with not enough Japan-specific content. We need to do deliver more Japanese content that Japanese gamers want. That’s why we continue to work super hard with Japanese game developers and publishers. It’s why our efforts with Sakaguchi-san and Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are so important, because those are the kinds of titles that can really drive new users to our platform. [We need to] demonstrate to everybody in Japan that we’re very serious about being more successful in Japan. I think our expectations are realistic there; we don’t expect to win in Japan but we definitely expect to do better [with 360]. And we need to deliver on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.”

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