Home PEx Hobbies Electronic Gaming

Japan XBOX Chief Steps Down

Not sure what this will mean to the practically dead Japan XBOX business.


TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp MSFT.O said on Friday the head of its Xbox video-game business in Japan would step down and move to the U.S. headquarters, adding uncertainty over the fate of its already weak Japanese game operations.

Hirohisa Ohura, Microsoft Japan's managing director in charge of Xbox operations, will join a team led by Microsoft's chief Xbox officer, Robbie Bach, to work on corporate planning, Microsoft Japan said. The move will be effective January 1.

"There have been some gaps between the U.S. headquarters and the Japan side in understanding about the Japanese market, but we will have a pipeline to link both sides," a spokeswoman said.

Ohura's successor has not been appointed and would be sought from all over, including outside of the company and abroad, she said. In Japan, the world's second-largest video-game market, demand for Microsoft's Xbox console has badly lagged Sony Corp's 6758.T PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Co Ltd's 7974.OS GameCube.

Analysts say the failure of Xbox reflects a lack of software geared toward the taste of Japanese consumers, such as role-playing games.

By the end of September, Microsoft had sold just 278,860 Xbox consoles since its Japanese launch on February 22.

Meanwhile, 1.59 million GameCubes have been sold since they debuted on September 14, 2001, according to Enterbrain Inc, publisher of a popular Japanese game magazine.

Market leader Sony has sold 10.25 million PlayStation 2 consoles in Japan since it debuted in 2000.


  • nakakaawa naman ang Xbox! Talagang sa US na lang sila! Japanese have these bad ugali na sobra silang anti-foreign! But I dont dispute the fact that XBox has weak games for the Japanese, but 200,000+ units, come on it just shows how anti-foreign Japan is!
  • kailan naging masama ung pagiging patriotic?
  • Originally posted by bsbnick
    kailan naging masama ung pagiging patriotic?

    Its not patriotism I tell you! Americans are PATRIOTIC people, pero they buy whats more superior, so if a foreign good is uperior they buy it over their own local brands! The Hapones are simply anti-foreign, ok! I know that since I have Japanese dorm mates!
  • -japan xbox chief steps down-

    ano ngayon?
    big deal ba?
    masaya ka na?
  • Huh???!!! 3DO :lol:
  • err... I think it's more of MS not giving what the Japanese gamers wanted than Japan not giving M$ a chance...

    3d0's jap
    CDi's Jap
    DC's Jap

    they all failed in japan... so... i don't know. Is it still about not giving consoles from other countries a chance?
  • xtrmxtrm PEx Influencer ⭐⭐⭐
    don't ever 4get the suckiest gaming device ever the nintendo virtual boy. need a headache?
  • i seriously do not know what this move means, i acctually am convinced that M$ will keep the xbox on a life support system with its tremendous treasury reserve. It's not gonna get better games wise, pero it'll stay afloat courtesy of WinXP cash.

    Maybe, the guy got transported to the US. Para to inject a Japanese man's opinion sa mga business decisions ng M$? The guy at the helm of NoA is currently a Japanese. and so is SCEA's.

    Pero they can easily do teleconferencing though.
    I dunno..

  • Could be business stuff or honor thing, could be both.
    Business stuff: Xbox is bleeding in Japan, they need to earn profit or at the very least minimize it. Maybe Bill lose confidence with the previous guy (not too aggressive, etc). So he selects a better person for the job.
    Honor: Japanese are honorable people, maybe he felt that he didn't meet his personal goals for the Xbox in Japan and decided that the position is much better off to another more qualified guy.
    In the coming months we'll see if the new replacement will perform better.
  • The ironic thing is that M$ as a company is well liked in Japan compared to US (or to the rest of the world for that matter). I think M$ makes more money (thru Windows/Office) in Japan than the rest of Asia. :D

    So it must be the games/hardware at fault.
Sign In or Register to comment.