NEWS - Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Microsoft: Japanese Xbox 360 Sales “Expanding”
Speaking to Famitsu in a retrospective interview shortly after Microsoft sold its millionth Xbox 360 in the country, Sensui recounted forming plans to penetrate the market.
"The original Xbox came out 2002 [in Japan], but we had already started moving on the 360 by the following year," he said, according to a JoyStiq translation. "We talked with developers and spent a great deal of time discussing how we could make the 360 something that could satisfy gamers.
“The 360 has a wide range of large-scale RPGs in its library now, something that started with Blue Dragon, but I don’t think that would have been possible without those discussions. Releasing all those huge projects took more time than we planned, but I definitely believe we did the right thing with them,” he said.
And while Xbox 360 is generally comfortably outsold by rivals PS3 and Wii on a weekly basis in Japan, Sensui said that he was pleased with the system’s consistent performance.
"I really feel like we’re expanding now. It’s selling in a way that consoles never sold before. Back in the day, hardware would sell a huge inventory at launch and then quickly settle down, but seeing how the 360 has expanded its sales every year makes me very happy. I truly appreciate the support of the users and the perseverance of all the game developers that made it possible.
Source: http://www.edge-online.com/
