NEWS - Friday, November 18, 2005
Japanese Consumers Split On Xbox 360
A quarter of Japanese games consumers say they are willing to give Xbox 360 a chance, according to new research. 50% say they will definitely not buy the machine. 30% say they will buy it maybe this year, or maybe next. Lots of stats inside... The findings are part of a new survey released by Famitsu. It shows the usual antipathy to Microsoft’s machine among a hardcore, with dealers especially difficult to please - 26% think Xbox 360 "will be no better than Xbox", while 30% reckon it will be slightly better. The games, on all platforms, exciting the Japanese are mostly PS2 or DS - Kingdom Heart II (Square Enix, PS2), Rogue Galaxy (SCEI, PS2) and Tales of the Abyss (Namco, PS2) top the chart followed by Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS). Somewhat bemusing is the top-rated Xbox 360 game - Namco’s Ridge Racer 6. Here’s the research... How many games are you going to buy during this end of the year? - 73.4%: 1-3 - 15%: 4-5 - 8.6%: more than 6 - 3%: none Do you think this end of the year will be exciting for games? - 38.7%: It is going to be great - 35.1%: It should be okay - 15.6%: Should not change a lot - 10.6%: I don’t think so Dealers and shops’ side: - 41.1%: It should be okay - 23.3%: Should not change a lot - 19.2%: It should be good - 16.4%: I don’t think so Are you going to buy an X360? - 46%: I don’t have any plans to do so, now or later. - 23.8%: I’m wondering - 15.6%: At least not this year - 14.6%: I think so What do you think about the X360 (dealers and shops)? - 31.5%: Should be a little bit better than Xbox - 26%: Not even better than Xbox - 23.3%: Same than Xbox - 13.7%: etc - 5.5%: Much better than Xbox How much are you going to spend for this end of the year in video games? - 49%: 10000-30000 yens - 23.5%: around 10000 yens - 14.6%: more than 50000 yens - 12.9%: 30000-50000 yens Users’ expectations: - 40.8%: various - 18.3%: X360 - 16%: Kingdom Heart II - 11.5%: Rogue Galaxy - 7.1%: Mario Kart DS - 6.3%: BH4 Dealers and shops’ expectations: - 32.8%: various - 25%: Kingdom Heart II - 15.5%: Nintendo DS related - 13.8%: X360 - 12.9%: Tales of the Abyss Top 10 of the most wanted games from the users’ side: 1- Kingdom Heart II (Square Enix, PS2) 2- Rogue Galaxy (SCEI, PS2) 3- Tales of the Abyss(Namco, PS2) 4- Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS) 5- BH4 (Capcom, PS2) 6- Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom, PSP) 7- MGS3 Substance (Konami, PS2) 8- Oide Dobutsu no Mori (Nintendo, DS) 9- FFIV Advance (Square Enix, GBA) 10- Ridge Racer 6 (Namco, X360)Source: http://www.next-gen.biz
