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Xbox 360 passes one million units sold in Japan

By Laura Parker and Dan Chiappini, GameSpot AUPosted Apr 21, 2009 3:21 am PT

Microsoft celebrates hardware-sales milestone with "thank you" campaign; plans to give away one million Microsoft points in Japan; Japanese 2009 release schedule outlined.

In February this year, the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii and PlayStation 3 in Japan for the week of February 16 to 22, when the Xbox 360-exclusive role-playing game Star Ocean: The Last Hope launched. Even with occasional sales spikes, Japan is hardly the poster child for Xbox 360 console sales globally.

At a media conference held in Japan today, Microsoft announced that it had finally surpassed the one million unit hardware-sale mark in the land of the rising sun, and will celebrate the occasion by giving away one million Microsoft points and a dashboard theme locally as part of a "thank you" campaign.

The announcement was made by Microsoft Japan president Takashi Sensui alongside announcements about upcoming retail and downloadable games for its Xbox Live Arcade service from various local industry luminaries.

Among these, Namco Bandai's Yoshihisa Kanesaka announced that the company will be bringing SoftMax-developed fantasy role-playing game Magna Carta 2 to the console with a slated Japanese release date of August 6.

Via video message, Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi again confirmed that Lost Planet 2 will feature four-player co-op support, and Dead Rising 2 producer Keiji Inafune discussed foreign developers handling the game's progress. He also aired a trailer for the game that showed the protagonist attacking zombies in a casino setting using various objects as weapons.

Tri-Ace's Takayuki Suguro took the stage to discuss new RPG End of Eternity, which is scheduled for release in winter 2009. A CG and short gameplay trailer were also shown, detailing the game's combat.

Microsoft Xbox marketing spokesman Joji Sakaguchi used the latter part of the briefing to detail and date upcoming Xbox 360 and XBLA games, including 2D fighting game BlazBlu: Calamity Trigger, which is due out June 26, and a new 3D Samurai Shodown game. Lode Runner is due to land on the service tomorrow, April 22, whereas Banjo-Kazooie sequel Banjo-Tooie and Virtual On will each be available from April 29. Mega Man 9 is due out in June for 800 Microsoft points and will include a new boss.

Space Invaders Extreme and four-player puzzle game OD Beat Drop were also teased, though neither had release schedules outlined, except for a promise that they would arrive in "spring." Bubble Bobble Neo and SNK Playmore's Gorou: Mark of the Wolves were name-checked for an estimated spring/summer launch window, whereas The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match is due in 2010.

Microsoft finished the presentation by announcing that Square Enix games Project Cube, Yosumin Live, and 0 Day Attack on Earth were all destined for release sometime in 2009.

193 Comments

  • SovietAgent

    Posted Aug 8, 2009 12:41 am PT

    I don't exactly get the significance of this,Japan is only 1 country of an entire world-wide market. And what's with all the PS3 fanboys bragging that more sales in Japan = more sales in general.

  • ThAdEa82

    Posted May 5, 2009 7:32 am PT

    Did someone say bubble bobble?

  • ThAdEa82

    Posted May 5, 2009 7:22 am PT

    So many wii owners say, the 360 has an amazing game library...what would be the point of buying a wii then? Oh because there is a game that seems sort of entertaining but it doesnt match up to other consoles?

  • srdjan311

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 4:39 pm PT

    that's pretty good for an xbox system in japan

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 12:50 pm PT

    @Jono789
    http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23186

    i dont lie
    14/4/09

  • hi-buzz

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 9:13 am PT

    they're doing pretty "good" with the numbers....

  • Inconnux

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 5:24 pm PT

    I'm not sure they should be bragging about this considering the Wii outsells it 8-1

  • JackHoleFace00

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 2:39 pm PT

    @jtthegame316
    You just illustrated my whole point. You say yourself you think the 360 is the better system, and MOST core gamers would agree that it is based mainly on the overall game library (yes I know Wii owners you disagree but put the fanboy-ism aside for a sec and listen to my point), and even as a PS3 owner, I admit that it stacks up (I mainly chose PS3 for MGS 4 and Blu-Ray, but admit 360 has some awesome games). Yet the Wii outsells the 360 over 8-to-1 and the PS3 outsells 360 3-to-1.

    In a nut shell, I'm just saying that even though the 360 is a quality product based on its games (not including the hardware reliability issues), it still is getting trounced in Japan, and I just wonder if they'll ever go for a US product, no matter how good it is.

  • Mamba219

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 1:37 pm PT

    enoslives, that is totally opinion based.

  • Jono789

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 11:58 am PT

    Brendan dont post lies... its really not healthy

  • brendanhunt1 posted Apr 22, 2009 11:55 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    brendanhunt1

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 11:55 am PT (hide)

    Xbox 360 = 162 exclusives
    Ps3 = 132 exclusives

    One out of every three PS3 games have an 80+ score, while Xbox 360 has one out of five titles that have an 80 + scores

    The average age of PS3s top 10 games is 9.3 months. Compare that with the average age of Xbox 360s top ten, which averages around 15.7 months

  • invictuslemming

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 11:11 am PT

    Less than 500,000 original Xbox's we're sold in Japan, more than a million 360's sold in current gen.

    They may not be massive numbers, but the trend is going in a positive direction, I'm sure Microsoft has accepted that they'll be last place in Japan, but with the inroads they're making this generation, its looking positive for the next-gen xbox

  • antibanner

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 10:30 am PT

    ps2 sold 40million in america.. ouch

  • c02z

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 10:24 am PT

    this means more rpg and more life span on xbox 360. wonderful

  • enoslives7

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 9:53 am PT

    That is a good point about how irrelevant japan is becoming to gaming. The best games are made in North America. Rockstar, Blizzard, Activision, and even the greedy EA absolutely own japanese game publishers. Still, Capcom does rehash alot of decent fighting games.

  • ISuPrEmAcY32I

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 8:36 am PT

    ebonyflame: "I would say they should just get out of Japan and call it a day but they have spent far to much money there now to just leave."

    @ebonyflame

    There's a lot of factors why staying in Japan is a good idea. One of the biggest is that classically many of the most well renowned game devs come out of Japan. To get these developers not only to make games for the x360, but to even go console exclusive, it is important to have a strong console base that will convince them it would be worth it. This may not pay off this generation, but when the next cycle of consoles come out, these early investments will start to pay off more and more for Microsoft.

  • Tebbit

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 6:53 am PT

    Well, it would be if FF13 was getting released on the 360 in Japan. ATM it's a PS3 exclusive there I believe.

  • Grandstream

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 5:58 am PT

    They forget that FF13 is supposed to release at the end of this year. And that's gonna be a critical sales figure for 360s and PS3's alike.

  • armed556

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 5:32 am PT

    good news for microsoft

  • StarlightHunter

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 4:18 am PT

    @Jedi_Dad, yeah all the 360's that were built after september last year are called the jasper 360's and have a new chipset, CPU and a better cooling system. so yeah the RROD most likely will never occur but same can't be said for the E74.

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