United States software giant Microsoft went on the offensive on the home turf of its Japanese rivals on Saturday, launching its sleek new Xbox 360 console ahead of the holiday season.
About 200 game fans queued up for the main launch event that began at 7am local time at a music store in central Tokyo’s fashionable Shibuya district.
”We signal the beginning of what we believe will be market leadership even here in Japan,” Xbox marketing head Peter Moore said at the launch.
Yoshihiro Maruyama, who heads the Xbox division in Japan, said: ”We are feeling a very positive response. We want this machine to attract a far [bigger] number of Japanese users than the previous model.”
When Microsoft brought the first Xbox game console to Tokyo in 2002, it was nearly two years behind Sony’s PlayStation 2 and it has trailed behind ever since. This time it is doing its utmost to avoid history repeating itself.
The next-generation Xbox 360, with a price tag of 39 795 yen ($330) comes ahead of next year’s launch of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution.
The Xbox 360 is equipped with a DVD player capable of handling CDs and digital photographs through a built-in Windows Media Centre — the same bundle of applications found in Microsoft’s Windows XP PC operating system.
But despite its early market entry, consumers in Tokyo appeared muted on Saturday in their enthusiasm in contrast to the excitement generated at the console’s US debut on November 22.
Only about 10 people were in line when a central Tokyo outlet of the Bic Camera consumer electronics chain opened its Xbox sales counter at 7am.
Customer reactions ”are a bit subdued”, a senior store official said, adding that less than 50 consoles were sold in the first two hours of the launch.
”It’s not going to be a big hit in Japan,” said Kentaro Okamoto (26), one of the first Xbox 360 buyers. ”I buy every new game console … but normally Japanese customers only buy a machine when it’s made by Sony or Nintendo.”
Hard-core gamers overlap with heavy computer users and many of them have a negative image toward Microsoft’s Windows software because of its price, lack of after-sales support and unstable operating system, he said.
”Microsoft needs to make enormous efforts to overtake its Japanese competitors,” Okamoto said.
Another buyer, Mayuko Taniguchi (28), said she knows she is in ”a minority” of Japanese consumers who will buy the Microsoft console.
”I think many people would rather wait for PlayStation 3 or Revolution,” she said.
Analysts say the first Xbox, which was launched in November 2001 and came to Japan in February 2002, flopped there in part due to a lack of games that appealed to local tastes. — Sapa-AFP