Japanese Gamers Don’t Like Shooters

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a heated battle for second place close to anything like what we’re seeing between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. While the PS3 isn’t receiving too much love in America, there’s a whole other story in Japan: it’s actually catching up to the weekly sales numbers of the Wii. Meanwhile, the 360 flops around like pre-sushi. The PS3 enjoying a lead over the 360 in Japan isn’t exactly new news, but the contrasting sales figures between Japan and the USA make you wonder why this is.

We may share a passion for drunken karaoke, but Japanese and American gamers have different ideas of fun when it comes to video games. American gamers will wait in line for hours for the next Halo or Grand Theft Auto, and even miss work for a new Madden. Whereas Japanese gamers would skip school for the next Dragon Quest, wait in line overnight for the next Final Fantasy game, or spend the day at the arcade or pachinko parlor.

Now, Xbox has kind of been known as the system for shooters, and according to Famitsu, J-Gamers don’t dig shooters. According to their article, nearly 75% of Famitsu’s readers have played FPS or TPS games, but only about half of them (roughly 37.5%) said that they would play those kinds of games again. Reasons for this included: “I’m not interested.”; “The games seem difficult.”; “I don’t know what the point of these games is.”; “I’m worried about playing them because I’m a beginner.”
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Does this mean the Xbox 360 is doomed liked its predecessor? Not necessarily. From what I’ve seen of the recently released Mobile Suit Gundam – Operation: Troy, the gameplay, or at least part of it, is done as both FPS and TPS against humans and mechs. This may be Microsoft trying to expose more J-gamers to shooters through a popular Japanese franchise: sneaky, but brilliant.

I’ll give Microsoft this; it does seem like they are trying to break away from their shooters-only image in Japan (and here, for some of us) by trying to do more Japanese-style RPGs. While games like Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms, and Lost Odyssey haven’t met the same level of success as some other Xbox titles, Microsoft seems committed to turning out more.

If the Xbox 360 is going to do better in Japan, they need a hit RPG that J-gamers will love so much they will be compelled to do cosplay of it and produce countless stacks of doujinshi. (If you don’t get this reference, you’re probably better off.) The 360 also needs more exclusive titles tied to the Japanese media, but they have to have some effort put into them and be enjoyable. Releasing some of these titles in America could also be a great way to appeal to the American-otakus who have preferred Sony up to now. At least, that’s what it’ll take to win me over.