Microsoft: Were happy with 360 in Japan

Xbox 360 may have fallen back to the bottom of the Japanese weekly hardware charts after spells of superiority throughout 2008, but Microsoft has stated that it is pleased with the progress enjoyed by the homeland in the traditionally hostile Japanese market.

I really feel like we’re expanding now,” Microsoft Japan’s general manager Takashi Sensui told Famitsu, as reported by 1UP. It’s selling in a way that consoles never sold before.

Back in the day, hardware would sell a huge inventory at launch and then quickly settle down, but seeing how the 360 has expanded its sales every year makes me very happy. I truly appreciate the support of the users and the perseverance of all the game developers that made it possible.

The original Xbox came out 2002 in Japan, but we had already started moving on the 360 by the following year. We talked with developers and spent a great deal of time discussing how we could make the 360 something that could satisfy gamers.

The 360 has a wide range of large-scale RPGs in its library now, something that started with Blue Dragon, but I don’t think that would have been possible without those discussions. Releasing all those huge projects took more time than we planned, but I definitely believe we did the right thing with them.”