Microsoft cuts Xbox 360 price in Japan, adds Value Pack

Console maker discounts Premium and Core consoles in Land of the Rising Sun; limited-edition bundle packs in Viva Piñata and Forza Motorsport 2.

It's well known that the Xbox 360 hasn't taken hold in Japan as much as Microsoft might like, where it's competing against homegrown rivals in the Nintendo Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Earlier this month, Sony announced that the PS3 would be getting a price cut in Japan in time for the holidays, and that a new ceramic white colour would be introduced exclusively to the country. Now, Microsoft has responded by chopping a little off the prices of its two Xbox 360 console models.

Effective November 1, the new price for the 20GB bundle is ¥34,800 (approx $306), down from ¥39,795 ($350). Likewise, the Core system will sell for the reduced price of ¥27,800 ($245), down from its previous listing of ¥29,800 ($263).

Not to be beaten by Sony on the value pack concept, Microsoft is also releasing a "limited" Value Pack for its system. The 20GB Value Pack retails for ¥34,800 ($306) and will come with first-party titles Viva Piñata and Forza Motorsport 2, although it won't have an HDMI cable.

247 Comments

  • sickside6

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:15 am PT

    Dorohala; your right but they have to try

  • TryMe01

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 6:57 pm PT

    making the most SKUs of console systems seems the way for this generation of gaming

  • dorohala

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 1:55 pm PT

    They are wasting their time in japan, japan were giving away xbox 360 for free LOL! Nobody likes the console.

  • v8nnwilder

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 6:59 am PT

    Is it just me....? Microsoft keeps cutting prices for the Japanese market as it knows that is the only way to get them to buy it, but how come everyone else in the world still gets shafted with the price?

    I bought a PS3 because I wanted one and it did cost a lot of money fair enough... But i will definitely buy the 360 Elite if it didn't cost almost the same as the PS3 (well in my country it does). It surely seems MS can afford to cut prices when ever they "feel" like it... But while they making money out of the loyal Xbox supporters they they keep cutting the price for the Japanese that clearly aren't that interested in it... Save those price cuts and develop games for the Japanese market instead and then see what happens.

  • HXCDEW

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 4:59 pm PT

    Another desperate and futile attempt by M$ to capture the Japanese market. Give it up! Why would the Japanese gamers buy a broken hardware when they have the two best consoles for the games they like? M$ should just give the pricecut to US or Europe.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 4:20 pm PT

    I think I've heard "Land of the Rising Sun" one too many times

  • cenobyte21

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    as long as microsoft is showing the U.S. some of that kind of love, im all for it. I just recently jumped into the market for an xbox 360, and if they hint at lowering the price here, ill wait.

  • Jebril

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 12:21 pm PT

    Thats cuz no one is playing Warhawk right now.....everyone's on Halo sorry to tell ya that. :]

    JK JK I love playing Warhawk every day!

  • darkride66

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 12:04 pm PT

    hovanPS3. You forgot 12 year olds who continually yell racist and homophobic slurs online with Halo 3. That's fun.
    Anyone else notice they have to mute a least 2 idiots at the start of every match? And it seems like 50% of the players aren't even old enough to play a mature rated game. Thankfully this problem isn't noticeable in Warhawk yet.

  • hovanPS3

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 11:54 am PT

    At least they know they're missing the RROD, noisy DVD-drive, no wi-fi and the inablility to play High Def content.

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 11:52 am PT

    The Japanese don't know what there missing on the X-Box 360... it's a shame.

  • Thornscar

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 9:18 am PT

    The Japanese take pride in only buying Japanese. It's part of their culture. On top of that the Japanese know how to make games for the Japanese. Microsoft is doing very well here though with Halo, BioShock, etc. So no worries mates!

  • MSG-Deathscythe

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 1:49 am PT

    a lot of good points made in the posts here which proves that the japanese are not biased against american made products: 1) ms doesn't make quality products. I agree, 3-rings of death (which i had experienced 3 times) and with years of creating operating systems, vista still s**ks! 2) the ipod sells well in japan; 3) no good jrpgs, blue dragon could've helped if it wasn't mediocre; and 4) they know that this is just a clearance sale for "duct taped" 360s. the japanese people know that the core version a.k.a. arcade version will be useless when games require an hd and that all current 360s will be nothing more than paperweight if the rumored hd-dvd equipped 360 comes out and games are made to run on hd-dvd drives only. clever traps ms, but gamers are getting smarter every day.

  • vahid_xbox_360

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 1:25 am PT

    Microsoft have done a great job. well done

  • robowarriorx

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 10:23 pm PT

    Microsoft will probably never take Nintendo, due to it's stranglehold on the handheld market, but they may be able to get a higher installed base if they continue to push deals like this. I mean, EVERYTHING is more expensive in Japan, so if it can hit a sweet spot in terms of price it couldn't hurt. Maybe when VF5 comes out it'll help...or MS will get REALLY smart and tap Capcom for some sort of exclusive Monster Hunter

  • MrSickVisionz

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 9:39 pm PT

    MS won't win in Japan. They love american culture but I think japn feels that they are the tech leaders and buying tech from other countries is treason.

    Really it doesn't even matter. Wii has already won Japan and outsells both the PS3 and 360. MS has done a good job of courting jpn developers though. I think thats all they really wanted to do this time around.

  • hovanPS3

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 8:56 pm PT

    XanderZane "M$ knows they can't win in Japan because Japanese gamers hate American game consoles."

    Bold statement my American friend. I can turn around and say the same thing...well The Americans hate the japanese console so they end up buying a 360.

    The truth: 120 000 000 MILLION PS2's are sold right now...
    Your telling me half, and I'm only taking half here...60 000 000 million won't buy a PS3 at a reasonable price in 2008/09/10??

    Xbox1 sold 20 million
    Xbox360 has sold almost 12 million in 2 years

    It's par on par with the original Xbox, which in my opinion is a big dissapointment if you ask me. Your 2nd generation Xbox (360) will sell as much as your 1st generation....it's a shame. It's not doing any better...
    And seing that M$ loves cutting the life cycle of consoles down to this new trend of 4 years...expect a new Xbox annoucment in a year from now and a new Xbox720 in 2009, which YOU XBOX OWNERS should realize that it's a LOW BLOW from M$ and all they care about is your $$$....

  • dragonpuppy

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 8:37 pm PT

    I find this hard to believe, but Lair is actually 5th on the charts...amazing...

  • XanderZane

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:35 pm PT

    The XBox 360 hardware did have issues, but it's been addressed and is being fixed as I type this. That fact that XBox 360 in the U.S. is outselling the PS3 in all 3 regions combined speaks volumn about what gamers care about. It's the GAMES. Not the Cell, Not Blu-Ray, but GAMES!!! Simple as that. ________________________________

    hovanPS3 what do you want, the japanese people know how to buy a quality product and the Xbox 360 is NOT a quality console. ***************************************

    And the Xbox 360 U.S. sales is outselling the PS3 in all 3 regions. lol!! So your put is pretty mute. M$ knows they can't win in Japan because Japanese gamers hate American game consoles. The PS3 is failing miserably in the states. The last 2 weeks the PS3 only outsold the XBox 360 in Japan by 2500 units. No where near 10:1 ratio. lmao!! Stop making up numbers. http://vgchartz.com/japweekly.php

    _____________________________
    spelledarn The PS3 is outselling the 360 by a 10-1 margin in Japan. It's a disaster for Microsoft. I doubt a price cut will fix that.

  • Guts5

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:34 pm PT

    "IGDetail If you want to support developers who rush things to market, go ahead... that's your choice."

    Or do you mean a system that was causing house fires? This same system has a massive recall because the power supply and cord were bad. It was the PS2. Both of my PS2 never actually caught the house on fire, but the DVD drive burned out on both. But I'm smart enough to know that ALL electronic equipment is risky when new, because it hasn't been mass produced. Mass produciton of anything always gets better with time. It's the same reason brand new TVs, computers, and other equipment have a 90 day warranty... it's needed. FYI the xbox never broke and was superior in performance to the PS2. Like I said earlier... and Japan never bought it. So, you have evidence disproving your theory, but you can believe whatever you want.

  • hovanPS3

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:11 pm PT

    IGDetail said "The Japanese recognize high-end electronic equipment better than us in the states... apparently we settle for junk as long as the duct tape holds."

    Well said.

    Get a PS3

  • hovanPS3

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:07 pm PT

    what do you want, the japanese people know how to buy a quality product and the Xbox 360 is NOT a quality console.

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:02 pm PT

    sounds like a pretty good deal to me. lucky japanese.

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:58 pm PT

    I wish the japs would see the light and buy the 360, it has more RPGs than PS3 and wii, and it is jsut a great console, come on people, buy it!

  • popsadent

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:00 pm PT

    Its nice to see them trying and cutting prices in japan, but im sorry to say its gonna take a little more than this to crack the japanese market to the ends they'd like to see. They are gonna have to nap a FF game or something, that would do it. But alas, i dont think its gonna happen.

  • IGDetail

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 4:53 pm PT

    IGuts5 "The Xbox was a superior piece of equipment to the PS2 in every way. PS2 supporst at the time said it doesn't matter which one is more powerful. I will count you as one of them. They said it's all about the games. Which is in fact true, but now... PS3 lovers are trying to use that weak argument in reverse. TSK TSK TSK"

    Lol. I'm just saying that the 360 was a rush job and breaks when you breathe on it wrong... I own both systems and the PS3 feels, looks, and works better than my 360 which I already had to return once. If you want to support developers who rush things to market, go ahead... that's your choice.

  • spelledarn

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 4:52 pm PT

    The PS3 is outselling the 360 by a 10-1 margin in Japan. It's a disaster for Microsoft. I doubt a price cut will fix that.

  • Zerosumgame

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 4:43 pm PT

    Thats why there is a lot of dollar store in the States, no wonder. Price is what you pay, value is what you get.

  • skyvader

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 4:16 pm PT

    We americans like lower prices but in japan they see that as a reflection to the quality of the merchandise. MS should jack the price up because maybe they will think it is made better because it cost more.

  • Guts5

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    dragonpuppy You could very well be right. LO may help MS gain marketshare, I'm not confident that it will. But if it happens then good for MS, if not... iI'll have to believe it's one of those other things I mentioned.

  • dragonpuppy

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:35 pm PT

    Guts5, how is an Ipod different from an MP3 player? They both play MP3s. Then again, I'm not a real tech expert so you will have to enlighten me how comparing an Ipod to Sony's MP3 player is like comparing apples and oranges.

    Here's the thing about JRPGs, you need a lot of them. No one will buy a console for ONE JRPG, especially the Japanese. Look at the PS2, it was loaded with them. The PS3 will most likely be loaded with them too along with the Wii(I hope) this time around. If Microsoft wants market penetration, they need to secure more. It might be hard to do since Sony seems to have a death grip on JRPGs, but I think Lost Oddessy will turn things around for them.

  • chibi-acer

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    MS has the right price point. Now they just need to back it up with the games. In Japan, at least.

  • Delongman

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:21 pm PT

    Tenacious Microsoft! I appreciate this effort! Keep trying hard MS!

  • assaslin

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:17 pm PT

    Mmmmmh, I see your point dragonpuppy, very good argument.

  • Guts5

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:17 pm PT

    dragonpuppy That's a good point and we may well have made a dent with the ipod. ipod is a bit different than the standard mp3 player though. Kinda apples and oranges. My last post may well shed more light on the stance I provided.

    jrpgs are a whole different thing. When the creator of FF makes Blue Dragon and the 360 still doesn't sell... that blows holes in the jrpg thing. It's just as simple and easy as the rest of jrpgs.... put in time and you win etc... I've heard tons of American's say they would buy a PS3 just for FF etc... So, if it were about jrpgs... then the 360 should have sold. As time goes by all these other possibilites have been more and more disproven. Unless they buy it in droves when Lost Odyssey comes out, Sakguchis other jrpg. Such as the things I mentioned in the post before.

    It's plain and simple economics, national pride, and biases as to why Japan will not by MS. I believe there is nothing MS could do, short of giving the 360 away free to Japan that would grow the market. That's just my opinion based on the evidence I've seen.

  • dragonpuppy

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:06 pm PT

    Guts5, your argument would hold water if it wasn't for the fact that the Ipod sells well in Japan as it does in the US. Here's something for you, Apple's Ipod overtook Sony's MP3 players in Japan. I know it's old, and I'll try to find a better example later.

    http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/344/C5263/

    Now please just get over the fact that the Japanese don't buy a lot of American products because they don't see a better value over their own products. It's nothing special. The Xbox sucks in Japan because there were no good JRPGs. The 360 will continue to suck in Japan until Microsoft gets it's hands on a credited Japanese developer and releases a quality JRPG.

  • Guts5

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:53 pm PT

    "julius035 Guts5, your entire post is rigged with logical fallacies... the japanese youth is no different to the american youth, and their motivations for not buying 360s have nothing to do with wanting japanese money to stay in the country... and what do test scores have to do with that? at all? i mean really..."

    Well kids do not buy stuff, their parents do. It is widely know that American test scores in math, science, etc... lag behind many other countries. So, their grasp of economics happens at a younger age. These are not falacies. They are facts. It's easy to attack a post, but you are incorrect. If it's not price, if it's not quality of games, if it's not superior performance because the XBOX was superior to the PS2, if it's not the color was black because the XBOX was black, you're left with things that have nothing to do with the acutal product... Japan will not buy American for some of the reasons I stated, but not all. They are the primary reasons. You can disagree all you like, but if you think I'm wrong provide a good reason... why else they wouldn't buy American. I'm all ears. None of this is an attack on Japan. I applaud them for having standards and national pride. My entire point was Microsoft is wasting their time, because they aren't going to over come the biases that exist.

  • julius035

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:44 pm PT

    Guts5, your entire post is rigged with logical fallacies... the japanese youth is no different to the american youth, and their motivations for not buying 360s have nothing to do with wanting japanese money to stay in the country... and what do test scores have to do with that? at all? i mean really...

  • assaslin

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:44 pm PT

    Ok, they have a hard time making it in Japan. they are trying hard and that's good. But its like that sometimes. It's a totally different culture and they don't like anything American and buy products from their homecountry. America does the same on some products and I understand that. But the thing is, just buy the one you think is the one that fits you the most and that has the games that you like the most and stop attacking the other guys choices. I have a 360 and a Wii, I am super happy about both and I still qish the best of success to PS3

  • Guts5

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:42 pm PT

    "IGDetail The Japanese recognize high-end electronic equipment better than us in the states... apparently we settle for junk as long as the duct tape holds."

    The Xbox was a superior piece of equipment to the PS2 in every way. PS2 supporst at the time said it doesn't matter which one is more powerful. I will count you as one of them. They said it's all about the games. Which is in fact true, but now... PS3 lovers are trying to use that weak argument in reverse. TSK TSK TSK

  • bigtimegamer413

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    Its about time Micrsoft did something about the poor sales in Japan.....But still, its not that much of a difference.

  • Mokosomo

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:38 pm PT

    Those games are horrible additions to a value pack in Japan considering the audience.

  • metalupyourass9

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:36 pm PT

    the 360 will soon become like the dreamcast

  • rico212

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:34 pm PT

    i wonder if they will be doing something like that here?

  • Ket87

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:31 pm PT

    Its starting toget better there though. Halo 3 gave it a bit of a boost there and now dropping 5,000 yen off the price and throwing in two games will help as well.

  • IGDetail

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:29 pm PT

    The Japanese recognize high-end electronic equipment better than us in the states... apparently we settle for junk as long as the duct tape holds.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:25 pm PT

    The value pack would be much more effective if they included Blue Dragon instead of Forza or Viva Pinata.

  • Squeets

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    this is good because all the nice designs on forza are from Japanese artist... maybe we will get some new ones soon...

  • CJL182

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    Negligible effect.

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