Xbox 360 kicks the locals for one week in Japan

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 18 September 2008 17:09

Your IT - Entertainment

Take your glasses off, give them a clean, and then read this again.  Yep, the Xbox 360 is top of the sales pile in Japan this week.  Whooping rival Sony PS3 and even the Nintendo Wii, how?

How can Microsoft’s Xbox 360 which is sitting a distant last in hardware sales come out so far on top this week in Japan?

Having garnered only a 7 percent market share against home town rivals PS3 and Wii it is always going to be an uphill battle for the Microsoft machine.

But recently it has been doing okay, selling out during one week in August and now topping the charts with the following numbers.

Japan Hardware Sales, September 8 - 14

28,681 - Xbox 360
27,057 - Wii
8,050 - PS3

Of course a price drop, and increase in specifications makes the Xbox 360 attractive.  With the 60GB Xbox 360 model hitting the market coupled with a 5,000 yen price drop on September 11 it is not too surprising that discerning Japanese wallets have opened somewhat.

The biggest factor however seems to be game exclusivity though.  Like the August sellout on the back of Tales of Vesperia, this time it is a new Square Enix exclusive driving Xbox 360 sales.

Infinite Undiscovery sits smack bang in the Japanese demographical love for a Role Play Game.  Like the price cut and hard dive boost, this latest game from the makers of Final Fantasy hit shops on September 11

So the Wii had an off week – and the Xbox 360 had one, well, out of the box.  Next week we will do it all again.