The Japanese ignored the start of sales of Xbox One in the Land of the Rising Sun

Yesterday, the Xbox One game console from Microsoft officially went on sale in Japan. A photo report from the scene demonstrates the complete disinterest of local residents in the American box.

Needless to say, but Microsoft has always had a complicated relationship with Japan. The blame for all is the wrong attitude of Americans to the Eastern way of thinking. The Japanese love their country very much and try to support local producers. The Americans, with their inherent businesslike approach, are trying to convince local residents that their product is much better than local peers in all respects, rather than only repelling potential buyers who do not like this aggressive policy.

Some time ago, Bill Gates himself flew to the presentation of the very first Xbox in Japan, who from the stage convinced the Japanese of the advantages of their product. But then the Japanese only shrugged their shoulders and went home. The second Microsoft console, the Xbox 360, was selling much better, thanks in large part to the many exclusive games from Japanese studios that were developed by an American company. But this did not help the Xbox 360 to win a serious piece of the market from competitors, Sony and Nintendo. From the Xbox One for the same reason, no one expected any special achievements, but what was the real state of affairs?

Japanese Internet users have begun to publish in huge quantities photos of empty electronics stores and the lines that are missing from them from those who want to buy the Xbox One.

The fake account of Sony President Kazuo Hirai, famous for his witty jokes about the gaming industry, immediately told his subscribers that the name of the American Xbox One console accurately predicts the sales numbers of this console in Japan, hinting that only one box will be sold.

The gaming industry insider under the nickname shinobi602, who has direct access to confidential information, including financial information, has shared with his readers that almost no one in Japan has pre-ordered Xbox One.

Video game developer Dylan Cuthbert, who works closely with Nintendo and Sony, laughed about the fact that the Xbox One went on sale, but the Japanese are simply not aware of this event.

But for the most part, the comments boiled down to a discussion of “amazingly crowded” queues in front of stores where sales of the console began.

It should be noted here that the Japanese on the eve of the start of sales of something interesting for them like to line up in front of stores even in the evening, so that at the time of discovery they can buy the desired product, whether it is a new smartphone, video game or game console. Especially for those who wish, store owners build special fencing with orange cones and ribbons so that people know where they need to get up in order to be in line. The Japanese are very polite, do not push, do not fight and do not argue about who came before. They quietly and peacefully uphold the line, and then quietly buy what they came to the store for. But not at this time. Queues simply did not exist.

No, of course, Microsoft organized parties for everyone to get acquainted with the new game console, but even at such parties people were within one or two dozen, who most likely came to watch the guest stars.

You might think that this picture depicts happy Xbox One customers, but in reality these are just the presenters of the event organized by Microsoft. Maybe they just paid off with attachments for their work?

In the morning, one of the witnesses managed to find a queue of about ten people at one of the largest stores, which is not bad, considering the big picture.

Here's what the stores looked like when they opened in the morning

And this is how the line looked in front of one of the stores at the time of the start of sales of the Sony PlayStation 4 console in February of this year. I think that comments are superfluous.

It is surprising that even the fact that Microsoft gives every customer a six-month subscription to the Xbox Live Gold service does not help sales of the console. The September game show Tokyo Game Show 2014 may slightly change the situation in the gaming market of Japan, because there will be presented new games from local studios, which, in turn, may attract public attention to the Xbox One. But today, Microsoft is not doing very well.

Finally, a comic cartoon from one of the Internet users. He put a crowd of virtual spectators from the racing game Forza Motorsport 5 on the scene from the scene, which only the lazy didn’t laugh at the time, because these characters are a crowd of several photos of people who differ from each other only in the color of their clothes. Such is the sad humor.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/entertainment/yaponcy-proignorirovali-nachalo-prodazh-xbox-one-v-strane-vosxodyashhego-solnca.html.