Even if the Japanese dislike for the American console is very present, the Xbox Series is already doing better than the Xbox One, but it’s not folichon. For his part, Phil Spencer flirts with the Japanese public.
The magazine Famitsu revealed in its latest edition sales figures for Microsoft consoles in the archipelago. If we know that the American giant is not in conquered territory on the other side of the Pacific, it is all the more visible with the figures under the eyes. It is also for this reason that Xbox no longer officially communicates on its sales for several years.
Famitsu therefore took stock for them by counting by hand all the copies (that’s fine, there aren’t that many) sold on Japanese territory, just to see if the Xbox Series was at disaster level Xbox One in his days. Verdict: Microsoft’s new console already doing better! Difficult to know why, but we know that the promotional campaign has not forgotten the Japanese public as at the launch of the previous machine.
It is now said that Phil Spencer would like to get a little closer to his Japanese fans, with in particular the ambition to establish a little more the console on a territory which has always been acquired by the local flagships, PlayStation and Nintendo. Moreover, a few days ago, the Xbox Wire Japan was inaugurated, a localized version of the site which should reach an audience currently excluded from the brand’s official communications.
We’ve come a long way since our first Xbox console sale in Japan in February 2002. Last year at the Tokyo Game Show 2021 Xbox Stream, we celebrated the richness of our relationship with Japanese fans by launching the Xbox Cloud Gaming. We also announced the full Japanese localization of highly anticipated Starfield and Redfall titles and celebrated our growing partnerships with Japanese indie developers.
We also remember that Spencer approached studios in Japan, via the acquisition of Zenimax at the time, and kept in mind that more partnerships should be made in this country:
I’ve been talking for a long time about our desire to have a bigger first-party presence in Japan. I can’t wait to talk to the team at Tango Gameworks (studio of Zenimax, editor’s note) and get to know them
Before the release of the Xbox Series, the latter had announced a brand offensive in Japan to win the hearts of an audience for the moment in disenchantment. This is one of the reasons why the Game Pass was launched in early 2020 in the country. Meanwhile in total, Microsoft has sold 2,345,975 consoles in Japanas of February 6, 2022, which is good but not great.
