Niitsuma: Xbox 360’s low Japanese sales “a cultural thing”

It’s no surprise when you hear weekly reports of Xbox 360‘s low sales in Japan. The Microsoft console has been doing terribly in the region since it launched. However, is it due to culture or something else? Marvel vs. Capcom 3 producer Ryota Niitsuma has weighed in his thoughts.

“It might be a cultural thing,” Niitsuma told X360A last week. “Because after all, when a typical Japanese person hears about Sony and Microsoft – as two different brands – they tend to be able to relate to Sony a lot more than Microsoft. Microsoft is something that is just quite alien in a way.”

“When Microsoft brings something good, they tend not to really explain it,” he continued, “They say, “This is amazing! This is awesome! What do you think?” but I think Japanese consumers usually require a bit more guidance.”

“They tend to be in need of further explanation, so you have to say, “This is big and awesome! And this part is made of this and that’s why it’s good. And this could do this much things and that’s why it’s good,” and I think Sony is probably, so far, better in explaining things to the Japanese market.”

Niitsuma explains that it also has to do with Microsoft’s involvement locally.

“Perhaps what Microsoft hasn’t quite done yet is to pay attention to maybe, smaller parts. So relationships with retail, local events… Sony tends to do everything at the same time, whereas Microsoft do big things in fewer fields, again, it’s all my gut feelings, but that’s what I think.”

My opinion? The games. PlayStation 3 tends to get a lot more love from the RPG side of things, especially in Japan. Xbox 360 sales spiked when Tales of Vesperia debuted on the console (was it their all time high?). As per now, Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive to PS3 in the region and games like Ar Tonelico 3, Next Tales of, Disgaea 4, and such only aid its case more.