August 20, 2008 |

Xbox 360 sold out in Japan - Microsoft has fit of delight

By Dave Parrack

What happens when your product suddenly starts selling in much greater numbers that you are used to? Why you sell out of course, everyone knows that. It’s just that I didn’t expect it to ever happen to the Xbox 360… in Japan. Oh my.

Last week saw me gobsmacked when I reported that the Xbox 360 had outsold the PS3 for the week ending August 10th. Yeah okay, it was only one week, and it wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it’s still a fact worth noting when the Xbox 360 is deemed to be an utter failure in the land of the rising sun.

And now there is something even more intriguing to note: the Xbox 360 has sold out in Japan. All stock has totally and utterly sold out across the whole country.

Microsoft Japan were forced to issue a statement almost apologising for the lack of stock available. I say almost because the statement, translated in to English by Kotaku, feels almost more gloating than anything else. And who can blame Microsoft after doing what no-one thought would ever happen.

The reason for the sell out is purely down to the release of Tales Of Vesperia, a bizarre little RPG that the Japanese have gone mad for. The release of the game saw queues outside shops in the Akihabara electronics district of Tokyo. And the Xbox 360 Tales Of Vesperia bundle seems to have done wonders for the console’s fortunes.

What’s important to remember is that demand may have outstripped supply on this occasion but that probably wasn’t very hard to do seeing as Microsoft was likely to have kept supply quite low in the first place. Microsoft is now ramping up production, with potential Xbox 360 owners in Japan having to wait until at least next month before they can get their hands on one.

This may not mean anything long-term for the Xbox 360 in Japan, but Microsoft will at least take some comfort in knowing that if the games are there to tempt the Japanese in, its console can sell in large numbers. The publicity from this sell-out could also help foster sales further down the line, especially with more Japanese-style RPGs such as Infinite Undiscovery on the way.

Related:

Xbox 360 outsells Wii, PS3 in Japan - wonders will never cease

Xbox 360 lags far behind PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii in Japan

Microsoft releasing new Xbox 360 SKU in Japan in last gasp to gain respectability

Xbox 360 price cuts come to Japan - now cheaper than PS3 & Wii

Wii continues global massacre of PS3, Xbox 360

Sign up for the BLORGE email newsletter

Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 10:00 pm under Hardware, Microsoft, Opinion, Sales Figures, Xbox 360.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
Stumble It! Tips N4G

9 Responses to “Xbox 360 sold out in Japan - Microsoft has fit of delight”

1. Matt:
   August 20th, 2008
   

   MS shouldn’t be too happy.

   By the time they can adjust to this increased demand, some quriky new thing will be there for the PS3 or Wii, and the 360 will be forgotten…again…but we all know how quickly sales can change in Japan…they might have had another week or two in them, though…oops!

2. GaryBusey:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   Exactly. If a single game (especially a reasonably obscure one) is responsible for the increase in sales, you would expect it to be shortlived. The 360’s new price wouldn’t have hurt either.

3. CAD:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   Well it could go the other way. Tails is only 1 of how many JRPG’s coming to 360. Something like 4-5 games plus with tails doing so good I wouldn’t be suprised if Japan and the whole Asian Region also got Final Fantasy as well. It only makes sense. Plus you got to remember 360 has a huge library so if they have purchased the console then I can only see more games being bought for the system. It’s premature to say this but by the end of this years I bet this will become more of a trend.

4. winner:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   wow. Maybe it’s not a dead duck in Japan after all. Good on them!

5. Bourne:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   one week only? definatly

6. winner:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   I am not so sure Bourne. There are quite a few good quality JRPGs coming out on 360 over the next few months. Things have gotten mightily interesting over in Japan.

7. SW:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   FF mite not have the same effect, remember alot of japs already have a ps3 so they will just pick it up for that.

   I’m sure all these rpg’s will shift 360s tho, shame they don’t interest me I may try FF tho Maybe

8. darkwhitehair:
   August 21st, 2008
   

   so far Ive been to 3 Best Buys… 2 Gamestops and 1 Radioshack…
   not one of them have any PS3s left… they are all sold out…

   you dont see me whooping and cheering…

   but atleast new RPGs are making the 360 more popular.. lets hope the games are good…

9. winner:
   August 22nd, 2008
   

   Haha Canary Islands…

Leave a Reply:

You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!