Microsoft has never had a great deal of success overseas when it comes to home consoles. Every generation, as compared to its competitors’ sale prices, the Xbox has always struggled to gain a foot hold. The Japanese market has never really been receptive to the Xbox brand.
Because of that, it isn’t terribly surprising that Japan’s sales numbers for the Xbox One were low in Japan. It was however surprising to see just how low they were, with only just over 38,000 units being moved since launch. For comparison, the 360 sold a little under twice that, around 62,000 units, on its opening weekend. This is further aggravated by the slow weekly sales, with mere hundreds of units being moved, as compared to the tens of thousands that both the WiiU and PS4 have been seeing.
In response to the poor sales, Takashi Sensui, the head of Xbox Japan, has resigned from his post, and is moving to work in the US headquarters. Taking his place is going to be Yoshinami Takahasi, formerly an Executive Vice President at Sony, to pick up the reigns for the Japanese division of Xbox.
Hopefully the Xbox can find its place in the Japanese market, and with new leadership, hopefully it will see a surge in popularity in the coming months.
