Hypothetical: Should MS quit Japan, should Nintendo follow in the UK?

Too often, I hear this whenever sales in Media Create and they talk Japanese sales of the Xbox. In that MS should just quit that market. Even in comments of a Censored Gaming video (which has interesting information on Censorship, but their comment section? Oh boy, and you thought this place was bad).

However there is another company that struggles in another island nation (or a union of other nations on an island, with a fragment on another island).

Company: Nintendo

Location: United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)

Even in the golden years of Nintendo (NES/SNES), they never had the popularity in the UK like they did in Japan and North America (US, Canada). In the 16-bit era, SEGA, even after the dreaded add-ons released for the Genesis/Megadrive, still won the UK over the SNES where Nintendo pulled through in that battle in NA and practically dominated Japan the whole time.

Then the N64 comes out and it's a similar story against the PlayStation AND Saturn, which was even the same deal in Japan. GameCube? Hell, rankings of sales were the same across the world BESIDES Japan where GameCube was second, (where in NA/EU, it was third).

The only time where I can call a fluke is with the Wii, where Nintendo won first place in the area for the first time (unless you played the only HD consoles count crap). Wii U then comes, and business as normal, where in NA and Japan, it was BAD. Though I hear is Switch is doing better in the UK, but I really don't know.

TLDR - even if you cite higher sales and handhelds, fact remains is that Nintendo has a history of struggling in Great Britain, just like Xbox does in Japan. And with this in mind, IF Xbox leaves Japan, should Nintendo do the same in the UK? They probably wouldn't leave Europe entirely either, just limit to the areas where they do historically better (to my understanding with talks with @Jag85), such as France and Germany.

I remember not so long ago in fact that the Wii U was pulled from some UK retailers. If Nintendo still makes even the smallest profit in the UK, it's still worth it. Japan on the other hand in regards to Xbox is so, so bad that it should of been pulled years ago.

octopath traveller launch just doubled bravelydefault sales.

i'd say nintendo is making a profit in UK.

We should all just give up when we’re losing

Nintendo is sold to kids in Europe, the teens and adults play on Playstatoin.

As for the Bone, i have said this for Europe as well and Japan pointed it out. Change the stupid name. X means death in Japan and no one likes to say "Xbox" when you don't speak english.

With US military presence in Japan, the Xbox will stay, even if just available in the PX. As for Ninty and UK, I don't know. They obviously don't see a reason to leave and these corporations employ people that do their jobs or research and markets analysis.

No, MS needs to change their marketing in Japan and change the name of the Xbox over there which literally translates to “DeathBox” in Japanese. I dunno why someone at MS didn’t catch on to that. They also need some JRPGs and games that appeal to Japanese gamers that are exclusive to Xbox.

Nintendo still has hope in UK, they just need more games to appeal to the UK gamer (3rd party games from the looks of things).

Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy if MS just abandoned Japan, the thought of reaching out to Japanese consumers. As long as they pay the developers to continue releasing those JRPG games in the West and maybe get some JRPG exclusives, it'd be for the best for MS not wasting money over there other then JRPG.

Nintendo has better chances in UK since everyone sees the value what the Switch can offer.

Lol, is that a threat?

And that is the attitude Japan doesn't like, so i can see why they still don't like the Bone.

Japan hired you to speak for the entire country?

Funny you say this, because Japan likes having US military there in country. LOL You cant see what I was saying? Some American service members still buy Xbox so it will stay as long as American service members are there.

@cainetao11: No, it just sounds like the US will bomb Japan if the Bone leaves it.

There is no correlation here at all. A does not equal B in this case.

Coming in last place in system wars does not equate to not making a profit... despite what this forum tells you.

When production cost more then revenue in a region. That's when you pull out. If you dont have this info then your opinion is moot.

@nintendoboy16: Why? do you think MS or Nintendo is losing money in those areas by being present?

But of course not. Neither company is hurt by being in those markets.

Good thing Microsoft has PC. Microsoft can rely on the PC market around the world.

Microsoft should have killed Xbox years ago. It never made a profit and has lost the company billions.

I took for granted people would realize I was referring to the Americans stationed in Japan that like Xbox. My apologies

Posts like this are LOL

MS gets shit for being teh greedy, money first American corporation that wont do things unless they can make money off of them.

Then people wish/say MS should drop Xbox because it doesn't make them money LOL

Nintendo not popular in UK? And to think Nintendo gave UK Fatal Frame II on Wii, disc version of Fatal Frame V, a year or two's advance on Metroid Zero Mission for Wii U eShop. Man, NoA blows.

Anyhow, I already detailed MS's key to success in Japan years ago, use Kinect in the Milo fashion, where Milo was that AI virtual boy who you could talk to, but instead of that make Milo a titillating schoolgirl who giggles and shit and is like "I went shopping today, look what I bought, should I try it on for you?" Man, no doubt Xbox sales would easily be 10x better than they are now, which is shit there, but still 10x better. Man, I bet they could even introduce a shopping mall to play dress up with them with and charge microtransactions and they'd eat the at shit up and ask for seconds. Why is Peter Molyneux not doing this?

Home consoles in Japan are simply dying, trash mobile animu gachi waifu bait shit games are where Nippon's gaming is at. Fate Grand Orders yearly revenue has passed 1.8b$ and guess what? 97% of that comes from Japan. That one game is outdoing Sony's first ps4 party titles combined world wide, 1.8b takes 60$ game over 30 million copies to reach, let that sink in. So if MS wants to go BIG in Japan, there's the answer.

@cainetao11: I think it was super obvious what you were saying. No idea why they went there...

Nintendo in the UK and Xbox in Japan are not even remotely comparable. Xbox has next to ZERO presence in the Japanese market. To the point where retailers don't want to bother wasting shelf space to stock it. Xbox has had many times where the console doesn't break 500 units a month. That is pure and utter rejection. Xbox won't pull out of Japan practically out of pride. They're scared of bad PR, when honestly, I don't think anyone would even notice.

Nintendo in the UK is just merely not selling as many Switches as the other two, but it's still selling fine. It's not even in the same ballpark.

Microsoft should follow this simple rule: if it ain't working, leave it :P

@lamprey263: Again, that was the Wii and it was a fluke in the UK.

Xbox is never going to sell well in Japan regardless of what it is named, or costs, or a few exclusives even if they are Japanese exclusives.

The reason is cultural. There are few product categories with dominant domestic Japanese companies where foreign competition has any significant market share with the exception of luxury/status goods. Otherwise the Japanese support their own industries. Where foreign firms do well is when there is no domestic brand, where the foreign brand is iconic or where the foreign brand is also a fashion statement. Preferably two or more.

Fatal Frame II on Wii in UK was it, Fatal Frame V released on disc for Wii U in UK (didn't in North America), and Metroid Zero Mission too was a Wii U eShop release that came to UK a year before it did in North America... but that's beside my original point, mainly trying to point out, that sure I could accept these later systems don't sell well but that just illustrates my point itself, damn NoA shits the bed being shown up in UK with better support from Nintendo for that territory whereas the more successful North American territory / Nintendo of America drops the ball on these things I mentioned.

Nintendo is making profit in the UK. Microsoft can afford the loses it collect in Japan. 85 Xbox sold last week in Japan which I still think is a high number.

@nintendoboy16:

Don't quite remember what I said, and what thread it was. But basically, Nintendo's console wars in Europe played out like this:

• Gen 3 - Sega Master System beat the NES in Europe. In the UK, the SMS gained a significant lead over the NES. On the EU mainland, the SMS and NES fought a close battle, with SMS winning some countries and the NES winning some countries. Germany was the country where the NES had the most success in Europe. But overall, the SMS won Europe.
• Gen 4 - Sega Mega Drive also beat the SNES in Europe. This time, by a wider margin. Along with a significant lead in the UK, Sega also won most mainland EU countries. Germany was pretty much the only country where the SNES beat the Mega Drive.
• Gen 5 - PS1 was the clear winner in the EU, beating the N64 everywhere. For the first time, however, Nintendo beat Sega in Europe, with the N64 coming out ahead of the Saturn, thanks to Sega's blunders. Nintendo actually improved in the UK during this gen, with the N64 outselling the NES and SNES in the UK.
• Gen 6 - Once again, Sony came out on top with the PS2. And the GameCube came third place, behind Xbox. The only EU country where the GameCube beat Xbox was Germany, which remained loyal to Nintendo.
• Gen 7 - The first time Nintendo actually won a console war in Europe. The Wii was a phenomenal success.
• Gen 8 - As we know, the Wii U flopped. But the Switch has been a smash hit.

The EU country where Nintendo consoles struggled most is the UK, the EU's biggest market. On the EU mainland, however, Nintendo did better. Especially in Germany, which has probably been Nintendo's most loyal market outside of Japan. So Nintendo's UK struggles don't necessarily represent the rest of Europe. But across Europe as a whole, Nintendo's pre-Wii consoles played second-fiddle (or third place) to other consoles.

As for the UK, Ninty's past struggles might not have much of an impact on its future. Nintendo handhelds have always done solid in the UK. And despite never winning a UK console war before the Wii, earlier Nintendo consoles still sold better in the UK than Xbox has in Japan. In addition, many younger Brit gamers don't even remember the 8-bit or 16-bit wars in the UK. Nintendo's losses during those eras had little effect on the NES Classic and SNES Classic, which did very well in the UK. And the Switch is selling similar numbers to the Xbone in the UK, despite being Xbox's biggest market outside of America.

Based on what? your arse doesn't count.

Based on your ass actually.

Fate/Grand Order has grossed over $2 billion, making it Sony's highest-grossing video game of all time, by far. It's grossed about as much as the combined revenue of Sony's top two best-selling console games (TLOU and GT3 each grossed around $1 billion). While FGO may very well be a trashy waifu gatcha bait, I'm glad to see the Fate/Stay Night franchise doing so well (I'd recommend the Fate/Stay Night visual novel and anime).

The only reason MS release in Japan is to still get slim support regarding publishers. I can see them canning the market next gen.

@Jag85: seen the anime way back, not the later ones tho

My ass, your ass, still verbal diahrea... as expected.

But i post facts, even if the source is you.