The Xbox 360 Launches in Japan! Microsoft’s tri-launch Plan Apparently a Success

11 December 2005

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Posted by:Josh

Microsoft’s near-simountaneous worldwide launch of the Xbox 360, which included North America and Europe, finally culminated with the release of the system in Japan.

The eastern nation’s support is considered crucial to the success of Microsoft and the Xbox line of systems in the video game realm. While the system has done amazingly well without major Japanese support in Western nations, the support of Japan for the original Xbox was dismal in Asian nations, including Japan, whose consumers weren’t accepting of the American outsider and it’s Western-style console, which was considered much to big and clunky for the Japanese living space, and whose game library lacked Japanese-style games, especially RPG’s, a genre that’s been vital, around the world, to the success of Sony’s systems .

Now Microsoft is doing everything in it’s power to dramatically improve the situation with the 360, and so far initial impressions of the Japanese launch seem to be suprisingly better than expected, or at least that’s how early reports so far have seemed to point.

Microsoft held a 360 pre-launch party for hardcore Xbox supporters at the Xbox 360 Lounge, a nice, plush, brand-spanking new building built solely to give Japanese gamers a chance to check out the 360 early and showcase upcoming Microsoft events. The pre-launch party was only for the hardest of hardcore fans, who’s attendees were made up of invite-only Xbox Live subscribers who had been lucky enough to score a ticket to get in. It started on Friday and ran up until the actual launch of the 360 Saturday morning. By 9pm more than 80 people had already gathered outside the Xbox 360 Lounge to get in. The crowd grew as the hour neared, and it seemed that most of the 120 lucky winners were lined up before the doors opened.

Inside gamers were treated to several Xbox 360 launch titles set up to 11 systems with nice HDTV’s. Several important people gave speeches, including MS Japan’s Xbox Marketing Chief, Koide Masahiro and Microsoft Japan’s Xbox Live marketing manager Tsurubuchi Tadashige, who demoed a game with a wireless 360 controller on a large, 200-inch screen projected onto the wall. The place was packed out and the fans were ecstatic, with the crowd going wild when he demonstrated a classic game of Gauntlet downloaded via the Live Arcade and demonstrated how friends could invite friends to play online together.

Afterward the crowd was once-again in awe as Peter Moore stepped to the stage, the Microsoft corporate vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing, and the main man behind the Xbox 360.

“It gives me great pleasure here, less than nine hours before the launch in Japan of the Xbox 360, to speak to some of the most loyal fans in Japan,” said Moore.

“The last two weeks have been an incredible success story for Xbox 360 throughout North America,” he continued. “On the evening of November 22nd, four and a half thousand retail stores in North America opened their doors at midnight to welcome hundreds of thousands of fans to be the first to get their hands on the Xbox 360. As I’m sure you know, the Xbox 360 in North America was sold out within the first two hours of sale.”

Moore then addressed the console’s European launch. “We then moved to Europe on December 2nd at midnight, thousands of stores across Europe, from the UK to France to Germany to Italy, opened their doors to the Xbox 360 fans, and the Xbox 360 was sold out within 75 minutes.”

Finally, Moore came to the Japanese launch, saying “and so here we are now in Tokyo, just a few hours away from bringing the Xbox 360 to Xbox Live subscribers, some of the most loyal gamers that have stuck with us throughout the years. There have been some difficult times here in Japan, but I think this next generation will pay off your loyalty, and then some.”

All in all, the pre-launch party was a raging success, and it eventually led to the real-deal, the official spot of the Xbox 360 launch, which took place in the Shibuya Tsutaya Shopping Center, which is located at an intersection right outside the Shibuya train station (which is one of the famous landmarks in Tokyo) and has become a popular place for game companies to launch new products. Microsoft had also chosen the center to launch their original Xbox.

Before the launch, the center had handed out numbered tickets to ensure order, so gamers didn’t have to worry about lining up. Even so, an hour before the system launched at 7pm there was already a line more than 80 people.

The Shibuya Tsutaya Xbox 360 launch event was hosted by Hisanori Yoshida, a famous DJ from the Nippon Broadcasting radio station. Yoshida, an owner of the original Xbox, expressed his excitement over the launch of the Xbox 360. He also confessed that he couldn’t stop playing Halo 2 the previous night, when he should have been resting for his big job this morning.

Fired up by Yoshida, the crowd went wild when Yoshihiro Maruyama, Microsoft Japan’s Xbox operations chief, came up on stage. “Thank you all for coming so early to the countdown ceremony today,” said Maruyama. “We’ve finally been able to make our way to the Xbox 360′s launch here in Japan. We’ve all been doing our best to respond to everyone’s expectations, and we’re finally going to be able to deliver it today. We’re anxious to see if everyone will enjoy it.”

When asked by Yoshida about his own gaming tastes, Maruyama revealed that he likes racing games. “I’ve played a lot of Ridge Racer 6,” said Maruyama. “I keep on racing the courses in time trial mode to see if I can score below one minute. It takes me a while to get used to racing games. I try to memorize the courses and figure out where to drift.”

Maruyama also recommended another racing game. “Microsoft will release Project Gotham 3 in January [in Japan],” he told the crowd. “I think we’ve already said it before, but it recreates cities like Shinjuku [in Tokyo], Las Vegas, London, and New York, in a very realistic fashion. You can really check out the billboards and other objects as you drive around. I’ve rode around the city of Shinjuku a lot [in the game], and I could see the pubs and stores that I go to, which is pretty cool.”

This was followed-up by another showing by none other than Peter Moore, who stepped on-stage with an exuberent “Ohayougozaimasu!”–”good morning” in Japanese. The crowd responded with a huge cheer (and a giggle at the punctuation).

He then continued in English. “Thank you for getting up so early in the morning here to welcome the new era of gaming with the Xbox 360,” he said through a translator. “On November 22nd, just a few weeks ago, we were very proud to introduce the Xbox 360 into the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people were able to buy the console that night, and have been playing great games ever since.” said Moore, who went on to explain that the console has also a big a hit in Europe.

“But as exciting as those two events were, nothing is more exciting for me personally than to be here in Tokyo this morning, with seven minutes to go to the launch of Xbox 360 here in Japan,” continued Moore, who has been committed to penetrating the Japanese game market, where the original Xbox never gained major popularity.

“I want to give my thanks to the hundreds of people who work at Microsoft here in Tokyo that have labored the last two and a half [to] three years to enable to get us here,” Moore said. “And perhaps equally as importantly, my thanks to the fans of the Xbox here in Japan, who have been so loyal to us though our difficult times in the first generation. Your loyalty will pay off with incredible gaming experiences in the next generation.”

After Moore finished his speech, a huge Hight Def monitor started counting down the remaining six-minutes, 360 seconds, till the opening of the store. During the last 60 seconds, a short video where various people, including game developers, shouted the console’s name starting rolling. When the clock struck zero, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appeared on screen to holler “Xbox 360!” in Japanese. He did not, however, appear at the event in person as some had hoped.

The first person in line was eventually ushered onto the stage after the clock hit zero to be the first man in Japan to get his hands on a 360. He was 22-year old Shibuya Tsutaya, a graphic designer. He had stayed over all night at his work, since he was in the area, to come down to be the first in-line. The eager customer admited however, that he didn’t actually own an original Xbox, and when asked by host Yoshiba if he’d be playing with his girlfriend, he quietly mumbled and dodged the question. He was later teased by Peter Moore, who said, “I’d like to tell our lucky winner, that he’s a guaranteed girlfriend with every Xbox 360.” The 360′s first costumer also had this to say, when asked to comment, “I’m especially looking forward to the graphics. I heard that the visuals will be extremely beautiful with the shift to high definition. I really got interested in the Xbox 360 after I checked it out at the Xbox 360 Lounge.”

After the store was opened and the people commensed, the two execs, Moore and Maruyama had some stern comments aimed at their competitors, “”History tells us that no great empire lasts forever,” said Moore. “In the case of the Sony PlayStation, obviously it has been a great empire. But when a superior culture comes along, typically, it means the end of that empire. We believe that the superior culture is the Xbox 360 games experience, particularly the Xbox Live experience, which will bring communities from around the world together through gaming.”

Moore also said he believes that the Xbox 360 will help Microsoft become a leader in the Japanese game market. “The most important thing is that we have the support of every major Japanese publisher … and I’m very proud that we’ve able to get that support from the Japanese development community.”

Moore concluded with even grander statements. “This is not a sprint. This is a marathon. Life cycles of consoles last for many years, and it’s now a global business. We’re the first company in the world to launch globally in the United States, Europe, and then Japan in 18 days. We think that gives us phenomenal momentum against our competition. We’re very optimistic about our numbers. Obviously on a long-term basis, it’s our goal to drive towards complete market leadership around the world.”

Maruyama talked more about the current status of the Xbox 360 in Japan, and revealed that some additional surprises should be waiting during the remaining few weeks of 2005.

“As you may all know, we’ve had an uphill battle with our current-generation platform,” conceded Maruyama. “Our approach this time is to consistently provide good titles to the Japanese users, and make everyone acknowledge that the Xbox 360 is different. We believe that doing so will make our business flourish. We see Sony as a rival, but we think that the most important thing is to deliver [good] entertainment.”

“We’ve already said that six titles are being released today, and four additional titles are coming out within the year,” continued Maruyama. “During the year, we’ll also announce several new titles that are being developed for the Xbox 360. We will also release details on a number of other games that are already announced, especially Blue Dragon, which is being developed under Microsoft. We should be able to show off some new footage.”

In the end, Microsoft’s own launch-events seem to have been a success, especially when compared to statements made earlier from stores as well as analysts who commented that the excitement that is usually in the air for a new console launch just didn’t seem to be there for the imminent 360 launch. According to some early reports, the turnout at other stores across the nation weren’t as big as Microsoft’s main launch event at the Shibuya Tsutaya Shopping Center, but it’s still too early to really tell. But from the apparent look of things, there was more excitement generated for the system than initially thought.

The future does look bright for Microsoft though, as the 360 launched WITHOUT two huge Japanese games, including Dead or Alive 4 and Blue Dragon, and so if the launch proves to be a success even despite that fact, then maybe the 360 might have a better off chance than expected at capturing the hearts and minds of Japanese consumers, and Japanese developers (many of who are already on board pledging at least some kind of support for the 360, including Square Enix who will release Final Fantasy IX on the console).

Regardless, Microsoft and Sony’s intense upcoming battle for console dominance, with the 360 battling the PS3, can only offer good things for us gamers. Cause when console manufacturers fight, gamers win.