Xbox 360 sold out in Japan; M$ unprepared

Caught completely unprepared for the success that they'd long striven for, but apparently had abandoned all hope of attaining, the Xbox 360 is completely out of stock in Japan.

The Xbox 360 is completely out of stock at most Japanese retailers,with stores unable to restock  immediately due to unexpected demand.

After years of poor sales, with the format selling an average of only2,000 or 3,000 units a month, demand has shot up following the releaseof Namco Bandai’s Tales Of Vesperia.

Generally regarded as Japan’s third most popular role-playing franchise (after Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, but not including Pokemon), the new Tales game is exclusive to the Xbox 360.

The game sold 108,000 units in its first week and as a result became the fastest selling Xbox 360 title so far in Japan. At the same time, its release saw the Xbox 360’s hardware sales increase almost fivefold, to a total of 24,962 units – compared to 9,508 units for the PlayStation 3.

A message on the Japanese Xbox 360 website has apologized for the lack of stock, with blog site Kotaku translating the textas: "Currently, the Xbox 360 is sold out, and retailers are unable torestock their supply. This is a result of our own sales targets beingexceeded by the actual customer sales. We deeply apologize for thisinconvenience to our customers, retailers and business partners.

"Here at Microsoft, we are moving forward quickly with consoleproduction, and plan to ship the standard Xbox 360 model out thisSeptember. Furthermore, we will sequentially be shipping out the Eliteand the Arcade models. We ask that you please patiently wait until theconsole is shipped."

So only a couple million more before it matters?

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Good news, though kind of worrying for the PS3.

I am hopeful that they can break into the japanese market, it really needs to happen, american and europeans embrace japanese consoles why cant they do the same for us?  It almost feels racist that the 360 sells so poorly there when it is clearly beyond doubt the best console at the moment.

See Eddie it was Tales of Vesperia that won the Jap's over.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

emofag


It almost feels racist that the 360 sells so poorly there when it is clearly beyond doubt the best console at the moment.

Xenophobic is more like it.

It could simply be that the Xbox brand has never been associated with games that appeal to a Japanese market.

Because they don't have units available to sell in the JP market, they've done themselves a disservice in their sales numbers. It'd be a nice PR move to show a spike that high in sales....

Or, if they're smart, they'll get a vicegrip on supply, and keep the demand coming. Sony's had success with it, Nintendo's had success with it, it's time for them to pick up the ball.

Eddie_the_Hated


It could simply be that the Xbox brand has never been associated with games that appeal to a Japanese market.

Because they don't have units available to sell in the JP market, they've done themselves a disservice in their sales numbers. It'd be a nice PR move to show a spike that high in sales....

Or, if they're smart, they'll get a vicegrip on supply, and keep the demand coming. Sony's had success with it, Nintendo's had success with it, it's time for them to pick up the ball.

Right now I think it's more important for them to gain market penetration.  Hopefully they have some more Japanese oriented titles in the pipeline that are releasing sooner than later.  If they can get some additional games to break into that top 20, that would show some "real" progress.

Anybody know if there are any soon to be released games that may appeal to the market over there?