Microsoft continues to sell a ton of Xbox 360 consoles and games in the US and Europe but sales in Japan have been so bad that, as we reported earlier this week, some major retailers in that country are removing the console and PC games from their store shelves.
So far just 1.5 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold in Japan since the console"s launch nearly six years ago. Even the Nintendo 3DS console, which got an early price cut due to lower than expected sales, has now outsold the Xbox 360 in Japan just a few months after its launch. However it looks like Microsoft still plans to stick it out in that unfriendly country, at least as far as the Xbox 360 is concerned.
In a chat at Eurogamer, Microsoft"s Xbox 360 head Chris Lewis admitted, "It"s a challenging market. We are up against very strong competition there. All of our competition is strong. We"re very respectful of what Sony and Nintendo do and where they"ve come from and what they bring.". However, he also insisted that Microsoft will continue to market the Xbox 360 in Japan, saying, "No, of course we"re not pulling out."
The Tokyo Game Show will be a big showcase of what Microsoft has planned for the Japanese game market in the future, with Lewis saying, "Japan remains important to us. We"re very committed to that market. The development community there is very important. Tokyo Game Show will be a notable element in the year as usual."