Microsoft lowers Japanese 360 price w/new bundle
Microsoft has had lots of trouble gaining a real foothold in the Japanese marketplace, which is absolutely dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft is hoping upcoming games like Japanese RPG by the creator of Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon, will help to sway more Japanese gamers into taking the plunge.
And today Microsoft announced that they are “cutting the price” of the 360 in Japan, however there is a very big string that comes attached with this new offer. The newly priced 360 will NOT include a hard drive. The price has been slashed from 39,785 ($340) to 29,800 yen ($255).
Update: To make up for the lack of a hard drive, the new package (which will be on sale alongside the $340 hard-drive-included package) will include two games. Project Gotham 3 and N3 (Ninety-Nine Nights).
Unlike in other territories though, Microsoft has only released one 360 package in Japan, so they are effectively swapping packages . . . not actually cutting the price (although it will be cheaper to the Japanese). The package Japan is now getting would be the equivalent of the Core System here in the US, which does not include the hard drive.
Reuters quotes sources that say 158,654 Xbox 360 units have been sold in Japan to date. That forms a tiny percentage of the 5 million units that have been sold worldwide through June.
Categories: News
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