14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox 360 is definitely a console that was met with some hostile feelings by residents outside of North America. Europe or Japan have been the big markets that have always eluded Microsoft, due to the customer's loyalty and good feelings towards the company's biggest rival, Sony. But recently a new trend has begun to appear in these territories, as the Xbox 360 is steadily but surely dominating the PlayStation 3 in terms of sales.
While this piece of news might not come as a shock when it comes to Europe, where the low price of the console has made it very attractive in the eyes of the customers, the big sales in the Japanese market came as a surprise to everyone, knowing the fact that the customers there are very patriotic and won't buy an imported product so easily.
This has surely been the result of the fact that Microsoft has partnered with several big Japanese publishers, like Square Enix, and funded various local studios in order for them to develop games that appeal to the domestic market for the Xbox 360. These sales are bound to keep increasing, as a producer from Square Enix, Shinji Hashimoto, has declared that these games will make the American console very attractive in the eyes of the Japanese customers.
"We expect the Xbox 360 to increase its Japanese market presence even more in the coming months," said Hashimoto. "There is a growing interest in Xbox 360 among Japanese users, due to the release of familiar titles, the increasing appeal of overseas titles, and the excellent reputation of the Xbox 360's network services."
He then went on to say that the company's position in regard to the consoles it produces games for was unbiased, as said by another Square Enix representative some time ago, but because the Japanese publisher wanted its brand to be recognized all around the world, the Xbox 360 was the most affordable platform to develop games for.
Some pretty interesting statements, which show that the Xbox 360 holds a very good position in Japan, and that things can only improve for Microsoft. Let's just hope that the company will continue to offer great services so as not to disappoint its users.