Here's Why Japan Likes The Wii (And Why The PS3 Ain't Dead)

January 9th, 2007, 17:36 Posted By: wraggster

via kotaku

In short: Smart, slick, cheap(ish) and fun. GameSetWatch points to Western-Game-Developer-In-Japan-blog Japanmanship, which was a good rundown of how the Wii is fairing in the Japanese market. Insights include:

The Japanese like their slick designs and that may explain why the Gamecube wasn't quite the success Nintendo was hoping for. But the Wii is small, compact, slick and clean. Exactly the kind of thing the Japanese go ape-shit over. Compare that to the curved, bulky designs of both the Xbox and PS3 and it may give a little clue as to the apparent early success of the Wii.
...Price is probably the clincher. If you're earning little money, as a lot of Japanese are, and you have a family to support, 60,000 Yen (US$ 500, EUR 380) for a toy is simply too much of an expense. 25,000 (US$ 210, EUR 160) though reaching the upper limits of impulse-purchase bracket is a much fairer price to ask for a console and will probably push those people on the fence towards the Wii...

Good points, all of them. The post comes with a fitting nod at the competition.

In the long run only a fool would predict the PS3 will fail; Sony has an incredibly strong brand in the Playstation and even their recent hubris and bad decision making can't kill a whole console line outright. No, the PS3 will do admirable sales eventually, I am sure of it. The Wii though has a head-start and has already won the battle for the hearts and minds of the Japanese public..

Agreed. For all the baiting and name-calling, Sony is far from out, but just started out on the wrong foot. Several times.

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