The Japanese market it hugely important. Games are a much bigger part of culture over there.

But the big thing is if the X-box doesn't sell well over there, Japanese developers will continue to be reluctant to publish any good exclusives for it. Which is a big deal to me and others who prefer platformers, traditional RPGs, etc. to western games like FPS's, RTS and Morrowind style RPGs.

Actually, that used to be true but console gaming has been steadily dropping in popularity in Japan as cell phones and cell phone mini-games have become the new popular trend. This is why Japanese developers have been increasingly focusing on the North American market with it's greater sales potential. That's probably the main reason why Xbox continues to get the Japanese development support that it currently has considering it's abysmal sales in Japan.

I agree Tamrock. I didn't mean to imply that Japan was the most important area in video games, just that it is still very important.

These threads just irritate me because people just skew the stats to support whichever system they like the best.

X-box fans try to undermine the importance of Japan, Europe and wherever else the X-box is behind the GCN. And GCN fans try to undermine the fact that the GCN is behind the X-box in the U.S.

They also try to overstate the facts in many cases. For example, the GCN really isn't doing all that well in Japan. It's doing a good deal better than the X-box, but it's not exactly flying of the shelves like the PS2.

It's just silly.

In reality, total worldwide sells are the only number that really matters, as that's the whole picture. Looking at one part is silly. A companies profits and/or losses come for the whole worldwide picture, not just one area.

Unfortunately, this article doesn't have clear breakdown of worldwide sales.

Through May it was:

30 million PS2s
4.5 million Gamecubes
3.5 million X-boxes

But that's obviously 2 months old and only covers a week or two of the post price drop period.

I really don't consider worldwide sales to be any better of a factor, considering that 60% of videogame profits/sales come from America, right?

1 system sold in America is worth more theoretically than a system sold in Europe, Australia or Japan even.

While worldwide sales are important, US is the most important market. Hence Xbox gets major support.

-Jim

I can wholeheartedly agree with that. If I never saw another sales figure thread on DVDTalk again, I would be quite happy. Unfortunately, some people love to predict doom for the systems they don't own and take every opportunity to post sales articles that might be construed as negative for a particular system. I'm lucky enough to own all the systems and I want to see them all succeed and indeed, I believe they will all succeed. I guess I will never understand the people who seem to want less competition.

What he said.

Do you have anything to back that up? Or are you just trying to harp on the American stats since the x-box is your favorite system and it's doing the best here?

I think if anyone was to be accused of harping stats for their favorite system *cough*nintendojoshhinkle*couch*, it wouldn't be me..

IT's a fact though, as in recent statements from videogame commpanies saying they planned to look to America for more of their profits.. Sega has said it, Tecmo has said it, I don't all of them, but I am sure they all mostly look to America for the bulk of their profits.

And its also a fact that more games are sold here than any other region...

I don't ask you to back up your statements every time you say something, and you certainly do say alot.. and we all love to hear it.

And yes Xbox is my favorite system, but that doesnt change the fact that it is doing better than Gamecube in America, nor the fact that the American videogame marketplace is the largest and best.

Regardless, I don't really care.. I enjoy playing/routing for the underdog.. Sega Saturn... Dreamcast... Chicago White Sox.. etc etc.. It's more fun that way.

-Jim

I don't really want to get in argument over this because I, nor anyone else for that matter, has any facts to back this up. But I must say back when I was pulling for the N64 to catch up to the PSX I tried to reason that it didn't matter how well a system did in Japan because North America was the bigger market. That turned out to be completely false of course. All the best developers are based in Japan and I think it's important to them that they make popular games for their homeland.

The PSX stomped the N64 in the US.

Um.. Besides the first party Nintendo games, what do you mean that all the developers developed games for their homeland? If by saying they developed games for their homeland, they made games for PSX, then yes.. But the only developers that really made great games for N64 were Nintendo, and their 2nd Party RARE, who is based in Europe, mind you.

People don't make games for their "homeland", they make them because a company sells them and makes money.

TECMO and SEGA certainly don't take the "homeland" idea to heart, as both are heavy Xbox supporters thus far. Only 1 example.

And most developrs have teams in AMerica, even if they are from a Japanese company.. Sonic Team is half in San Francisco.. Homeland?!

-Jim

I think most companies would feel it's important to sell products in their home country.

Was SEGA ever popular in Japan? The Genesis got trounced in Japan by the SNES and eventhough they held tight in the US market it was all downhill for SEGA from there.

Wasn't SEGA founded by an American?

The PSX stomped the N64 everywhere. The race was a lot closer in the US than it was in Japan though.

Microsoft has tons of cash, but the Xbox division is bleeding money, and investors in the US are finicky. The reality is that Microsoft can afford to lose on hundreds of millions on Xbox for its full lifespan, and still turn a profit every corner, but Wall Street is not a rational place, and skepticism about the Xbox could drop the company's stock value by billions in the blink of an eye. I think if Xbox continues to lose money, the brass at the top of Microsoft will pull the plug.

This is not 1999, and investors no longer tolerate divisions that lose money, even in profitable companies. Without the Xbox, Microsoft would have made more money this year, and when people are worried about their retirements, that fact is enough to convince some to look elsewhere.

So far, Microsoft has shown incredible commitment to Xbox. But if the economy continues to falter, I don't know how they can stick with it, considering it is losing money. So I'd say Microsoft is most likely of the 3 to "pull a sega."

"I think most companies would feel it's important to sell products in their home country."

Sure they would, doesn't mean thats the #1 goal.. Profit is #1.



"Was SEGA ever popular in Japan? The Genesis got trounced in Japan by the SNES and eventhough they held tight in the US market it was all downhill for SEGA from there"

Yes, SEGA SATURN was hugely popular in Japan, and the Dreamcast was relatively popular too, they are still selling games for it. That is GROSSLY wrong to say Sega went downhill in Japan after Genesis, as SEGA really STARTED to do well in Japan AFTER Sega Genesis.

"Wasn't SEGA founded by an American?"

Yes, but Sonic Team, nor any of the current Teams were around then. The SErvice GAmes of America is/was totally different than SEGA of Japan today.


You made ZERO valid points here. I am keeping score, in future posts, though.

-Jim

I think you're underestimating the importance of a company having successful products in its home market. There isn't really a way to prove this one way or another though.

You're gonna have to be back that up in some way. I can't believe the Saturn was "hugely popular" and I didn't think the DC sold that well either.

The company has a strong American connection. It's not so hard to believe that they would have a development house in the US.

The Sega Saturn's Japan user base only got up to 3 million. Hardly what one would call "hugely popular".

Indeed, Sega's consoles in Japan have never been successful. Even NEC's PC-Engine had a much larger Japanese user base than any of Sega's at any point in history.

And also, if you look at most of the best-selling games last year: GTA3, Metal Gear Solid 2, FFX, Gran Turismo 3, Super Mash Bros Melee - these were NOT made by US developers. Yeah, some, like Halo, Jax & Daxter, and obviously the sports games were, but I'd say most of thebest games come from *outside* the US and their developers.

Sega Saturn was one of the greatest along with the DC!

true gamers know what i mean

It's like a broken record. I think we need to make a sticky thread with ScandalUMD's "Xbox is doomed" argument so he doesn't feel the need to keep posting it in every other thread.

Agree...

Who is second and third really doesn't matter, both Nintendo and Microsoft will support their consoles to the bitter end. Microsoft's Xbox may be third worldwide, but its selling at a better pace than other failed systems like the Dreamcast (granted they will have to write off Japan as a market). When you combine that with the truckloads of cash Microsoft has sitting around and their long term look at this there is no reason to worry.

Buy the console (or consoles) you like and don't worry about the rest. The console you buy today will still be useable in 2005 so there is no real reason to worry.

When I bother with these threads, I only comment on the sales stats in them and any other stats out there from a reliable source.

If you want me to put any weight in your opinions on stuff like this, then you need stats, not just arbitrary made up statements like "the U.S. accounts for 60% of the gaming market." Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. It's a useless point to make with nothing to back it up IMO.

But anyway, these threads are pointless. All three systems are doing fine and are here to stay, and we can be fairly certain that all three companies will still be waging this war next generation as well.

There's honestly no non-fanboy reasoning to think otherwise.

Another way to put this is American may be the most important overall market but not important enough to totally exclude the PAL and JP markets from the picture. Many Xbox fanboys are extremely US-centric and fail to be able to see things on a more global scale.

Yeah, we all know Sony fanboys are multi-cultural members of peace corps, they sit around all day analyzing the world's problems in the hopes of someday achieving world peace. Many speak 3 languages or more, and most have visited every continent at least once.