The original Xbox sold poorly in Japan, and Microsoft wants to avoid another spanking from Sony in the second biggest global game market.
As an American company offering a new game console with a small library of titles, Microsoft found itself receiving the sort of treatment its operating system rivals were used to seeing in the marketplace. With local company Sony building on a massive game library with the PS2, Japanese gamers chose it over the Xbox in droves.
But as it has done in markets where it entered and did not fare well, Microsoft has refocused its efforts and tried to learn from its failings. In Japan, gamers used to sophisticated titles had little use for the Xbox beyond playing Halo a few times.
In response, Microsoft has inked game development deals not only with industry leader Electronic Arts, but with Japanese standards Square Enix and Namco as well. Also, Microsoft has brought game industry insiders into the 360 fold, and offered a bigger cut of proceeds from game sales to their makers.
According to Reuters, a deal with Square Enix over development of a Final Fantasy title for the Xbox 360 came only after Microsoft agreed to let Xbox Final Fantasy gamers play against PC users as well as Xbox owners.
One interesting side note says Microsoft will launch the Xbox 360 by the end of the year in Europe and Japan. Previously, no less a Microsoft authority than Bill Gates himself said the Xbox 360 would have a November launch date.
Most people assumed this launch would coincide with the US Thanksgiving holiday in late November. But Microsoft has also stated that the foreign launches would happen about six weeks after the US debut.
It seems likely that Microsoft would want to take advantage of end-of-year holiday buying in as many markets as possible. If that six week figure is correct, it could mean Microsoft plans to launch the 360 earlier in November than expected.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
