Microsoft conveniently forgets Wii as it boasts 11.6 million Xbox 360s sold
In the lead up to the launch of the much hyped Halo 3, Microsoft has proudly announced that it has sold more than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles in 37 countries.
What, of course, it hasn’t said, is that it took almost two years to sell these units (the Xbox 360 was released in November 2005), and that according to some reports, cumulative sales of the Nintendo Wii (released November 2006) have already surpassed those of the Xbox 360.
What Microsoft also isn’t saying us that in the all important Japanese market it has sold just 400,000 Xbox 360s, which contrasts to sales of 3.4 million Wiis.
Even in the US, the Xbox 360’s home turf, the Wii is catching up, rapidly. Microsoft has sold 6.3 million Xbox 360s in the US, while Nintendo has sold 4 million Wiis.
It’s widely recognized that if a gaming console is going to be a major player in the world market, it needs to make it in the intensely competitive Japanese market.
To this end, just ten days ago Microsoft announced a “star-studded Lineup of Japanese developers and blockbuster new games for Xbox 360″.
At the Xbox 360 Briefing 2007 in Tokyo two of Japan’s most celebrated game developers, Tomonobu Itagaki from Team NINJA/Tecmo and Hironobu Sakaguchi from Mistwalker, joined Takashi Sensui, general manager of the Home and Entertainment Division at Microsoft, to announce their support for the Xbox 360 platform.
Itagaki highlighted the announcement that Team NINJA will develop NINJA GAIDEN 2, while Sakaguchi revealed pricing and availability for Mistwalker’s upcoming role-playing game Lost Odyssey.
While it’s great that Microsoft is working hard to rev up the Japanese market, given the Wii’s lead in Japan, you’ve got to wonder whether the sad truth is that Microsoft is doing too little, too late.
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9 Responses to “Microsoft conveniently forgets Wii as it boasts 11.6 million Xbox 360s sold”
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September 22nd, 2007
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
September 22nd, 2007
[...] Chris Baldwin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhile it’s great that Microsoft is working hard to rev up the Japanese market, given the Wii’s lead in Japan, you’ve got to wonder whether the sad truth is that Microsoft is doing too little, too late. [...]
September 22nd, 2007
[...] post by John Pospisil and software by Elliott [...]
September 22nd, 2007
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
September 22nd, 2007
[...] Chris Baldwin wrote an interesting post todayHere’s a quick excerptWhile it’s great that Microsoft is working hard to rev up the Japanese market, given the Wii’s lead in Japan, you’ve got to wonder whether the sad truth is that Microsoft is doing too little, too late. [...]
September 22nd, 2007
They may be doing “too little, too late”, but it seems odd to expect that MS would announce any sales numbers besides their own when they are not in first place. I can’t imagine them issuing a press release that stated they had been passed in less than a year. Why would they do that?
Also, you have to at least give them some credit for not abandoning their very small user base. I’m sure it would be cheaper to forget about Japan, rather than buying up developer resources and courting the big guys over there, but they keep at it. Any Japanese 360 owner should be glad that MS is throwing money at them. Then again, MS is pretty much throwing money at this entire industry.
September 22nd, 2007
[...] David Hinkle wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptWhat, of course, it hasn’t said, is that it took almost two years to sell these units (the Xbox 360 was released in November 2005), and that according to some reports, cumulative sales of the Nintendo Wii (released November 2006) have … [...]
September 23rd, 2007
[...] Original post by John Pospisil [...]
November 12th, 2007
[...] the rest of this great post here [...]