The head of the Japanese division of Xbox has resigned following the console's poor sales in the country. Microsoft was expecting a struggle in Japan but so far, Xbox One sales have been worse than last generation's Xbox 360 sales, in-fact, last week only 776 consoles were sold in the country.
Takashi Sensui may be stepping away from Xbox but he will continue to work at Microsoft at the company's US headquarters. Since the Xbox One's launch in Japan in September, 38,461 units have sold, which pales in comparison to the ten million total units world wide, 1 million of which were sold in the UK.
Most of the console's overall sold units went within the first week, things have been moving incredibly slowly since then. In comparison, the Wii U and Playstation 4 managed to sell over 300,000 units in their first two days on sale.
Microsoft has remained quiet when it comes to Xbox One performance in Japan, although Sensui did make it known that the company wasn't satisfied with current sales last month: “It's not as though we're satisfied with the current sales state”.
“Taking the first step was very important, and as for how to permeate the market from here, we hope to continue to do our best.”
Takashi Minami will be taking over as the head of Xbox in Japan, who just left Sony after 25 years in July earlier this year.
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KitGuru Says: Microsoft has always struggled to capture the Japanese market and things don't seem to be improving. Why do you guys think the Xbox is struggling in Japan? Could it be due to Sony and Nintendo dominance?
This is where sense with your wallet is glorified. These Japs are entirely honored based. Since XBONES despicable debut at E3, this is the end result. Meanwhile in England, “NO PROBLEMS SON WE WANTED IT ANYWAY” Though again the reason sales in Japan is low may be because mobile gaming is taking over.
I wish that some day these “gamers” get to talk with the Publi$hers/Micro$oft with their wallets.
How would you feel about having an article that reads “X-box fails in Germany” with a Swastika flying in the background?
That “Rising Sun” flag is the equivalent of a Nazi Swastika to those of us in Asia. Japan has many other iconic images you can easily use that have far less political implications, such as the tsunami or the fuji prints, so let’s stay away from the war criminal flag.
Apparently it’s a symbol of tradition and good fortune and is incorporated into commercial products and advertisements, like that picture above 😛 although still associated with Japanese imperialism I doubt it’s as big of a deal as a Nazi swastika
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
So is the swastika. It’s a sacred symbol. As far as it ‘not being as big of a deal,’ well, to me the Swatiska doesn’t really annoy me either, but when I’m pretty sure it’s not something the French (or the Brits) appreciate.
Well..what do u expect? Selling XBOX in japan? really, microsoft??? Japanese people usually like japanese things only. Believe me. I work at a japanese restaurant. The owners and the employees there usually like everything japanese … eat japanese food, go to japanese supermarkets, have japanese lawyers, go to japanese dentists, fix their cars with japanese mechanics, hire japanese employees.
How many Japanese publisher are signed up with M$ again? With no Japanese content, how the hell can you hope to sell anything in Japan???
what you guys is failing to understand is… the fan’s Microsoft had was the original PlayStation fans… And they all returned back home…