US computer giant Microsoft said Monday it was launching a cheaper version of its Xbox 360 in Japan in an attempt to make inroads into the game-loving nation that has shunned the console.
(AFP/File/Paul J. Richards)TOKYO (AFP) - US computer giant Microsoft said Monday it was launching a cheaper version of its Xbox 360 in Japan in an attempt to make inroads into the game-loving nation that has shunned the console.
Microsoft will put the Xbox 360 Arcade on sale March 6 at a price of 27,800 yen (260 dollars), less than the 34,800 yen for the current machine.
Unlike the standard Xbox 360, the Arcade version has no hard drive. It comes with games -- mostly family-friendly ones appealing to casual gamers -- with other games downloadable from the Internet.
The Xbox has been a flop in Japan, home of video-game rivals Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. which together have a stranglehold on their main market. Some critics fault fast-paced, violent Xbox games with being out of touch with Japanese tastes.
The XBox 360 Arcade, released last year in North America, is just above the 25,000-yen price tag of Nintendo's hot-selling Wii, which includes an innovative motion-sensitive controller and aims at non-traditional gamers.
Sony in October also slashed the price of its next-generation PlayStation 3 in hopes of better competing with the Wii, which was launched at nearly the same time as the PS3 in late 2006.
Some 3.63 million Wii machines were sold in Japan last year, three times the 1.21 million PlayStation 3 consoles bought off the shelves.
A mere 260,000 Xbox 360 machines were sold in Japan last year, three times fewer than the last-generation PlayStation 2.
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
TOKYO - Microsoft Corp. will start selling a cheaper model of the Xbox 360 video game machine in Japan to woo gamers there, the U.S. software maker said Monday.
The entry-level offering goes on sale March 6 for about $260 — about a fifth less than the least expensive Xbox 360 now costs in Japan. The stripped-down version went on sale in the U.S. late last year for $279.99.The Xbox 360 has been struggling in Japan against rival products the Wii and PlayStation 3 from Japanese manufacturers Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp., respectively.
Microsoft doesn't give a regional breakdown but says it has sold 17.7 million Xbox 360 machines globally so far.
Nintendo has already sold more than 20 million of the newer Wii worldwide, wooing newcomers, including women and the elderly, with easier-to-play games and a game controller that directs on-screen movements in part by being moved around itself.
Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 machines worldwide.
Wii and PS3 both went on sale about the same time in late 2006, a year after the launch of the Xbox 360.
Tokyo-based Enterbrain, which publishes game magazines and tracks video game sales, says only 257,800 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in Japan last year, in contrast to 1.2 million PS3s and 3.6 million Wiis.
Life-to-date sales of the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on hit 269,000 in November, representing a 3.4% attach rate to the 360 console itself.
That's according to leading market researcher NPD Group, which released its November video game sales data late Thursday.
The newly-released data would seem to lend further insight to earlier numbers released by the HD DVD Promotions Group, which reported total sales of all dedicated HD DVD players (including the Xbox 360 add-on) at 750,000 players through November 25. The earlier numbers did not break out sales of the add-on vs sales of standalone HD DVD player sales.
November saw steep inclines across the board in the video game market, with sales of software, hardware and peripherals growing by 52% over last year's numbers. Game accessories alone accounted for $243 million in revenue.
