It seems the Japanese are Playstation lovers through and through and no Xbox 360 is going to change that. In a recent poll conducted by a Japanese news service, 1,000 gamers were asked to pick their most-wanted Next Gen console. A pitiful 2% picked the Xbox 360 as a coveted possession. Sony received a more digestible fate with the Playstation 3 garnishing an impressive 60% of that 1,000.It would appear that not much has changed in Japan, as far as Xbox popularity goes. Since its launch, the Xbox has sold only 460,000 units in Japan, a far cry from the Playstation 2 which sold the same amount in its first 2 days of its release.
The reason Japanese gamers find the PS3 more appealing is partly the massive brand recognition Sony has, of course; but it's also probably got a lot to do with the sheer numbers of sequels, franchises, and re-makes that Sony has at its power to command. Read the survey data: eighty percent want well-known franchises; 71.2 want RPGs. You're looking at another long string of repetitive Square Enix titles, my friend. As much as we might complain about lack of innovative game titles in the West, Japan has it even worse. Some of the quirkiest, most fascinating games ever made come from Japanese game studios, but they wither under the unending domination of Dragon Quest. A new console launch is not going to change that trend any time soon. Too bad.
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