Xbox Struggles With Lackluster Sales In Korea

Thanks to the Korea Herald for its article outlining the disappointing performance of Microsoft's Xbox compared to the PlayStation 2 in South Korea. The article notes: "Just a year ago, Microsoft Korea, a unit of U.S.-based software giant Microsoft Corp., envisioned a bright future for its spiffy Xbox video game console... [they] initially aimed to sell 150,000 units during the first year. However, sales have fallen far short of this target at just 60,000 units." In comparison, "The Korean market has so far snapped up 600,000 PlayStation 2 game consoles since its debut 22 months ago." The piece attributes Microsoft's problems to the Xbox lacking "killer titles that instantly grab the attention - and the pockets - of game lovers", but also notes that "some critics attribute the glaring failure of Xbox on the Korean market to Microsoft Korea's poorly managed marketing."

Bad Timing

[superpulpsicle]

Back in 1990s Microsoft have numerous opportunities to jump deep into the gaming market. Specifically during the transition from 16bit (genesis/SNES) to 32 (PS1). I still have an issue somewhere of game informer with Gates on the cover. There was so much talk about M$ diving into gaming, but no consoles ever panned out accept an occasional release of age of empires.

They should have gone into the market and dominated then. Not now... with a scene packed with competitors especially sony the 8000 ton godzilla.... who was really just an 800 pound gorilla at one time.

Re:Bad Timing

[August_zero]

He was on the cover of "next Generation" back in 96(90% sure it was summer of 96)). I found the issue when I visited my parents a few months back, and read some of the old articles.

MS's stance on the gaming market at the time was that PCs would eventually take it over, or at least grab a very large portion of the pie. Gates felt that the mature, adult gamer would be more interested in the performance that a high end PC that could be upgraded et cetera would give them as opposed to a console that was thrown out every 5 years or so.

But this is all off topic really

Interstingly enough, one of the biggest motivators of Sony jumping into the market in the first place was the brief partnership they had with Nintendo to produce the SNES cd-rom drive that never happened. The Phillips CD-I had a similar origin though we all know how the story turned out.

Why is MS "failing" in Korea? The same reasons they are "failing" in Japan.

Re:The State of Xbox in Korea

[bugbread]

"The best deal is in Japan, though, where it's doing just as poorly"

Pricewise, true, but the amazing dearth of games released for the Japanese system mean that you're essentially buying an expensive paperweight. Sure, there are a few of the top games available here in Japan, but 70% or so of the highly reviewed XBox titles have not been released in Japan. That's why I have an American XBox instead.

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[account_deleted]

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Unlikely to be that simple...

[freeBill]

...since many Koreans *really* do hate the Japanese. This has long resulted in a strong preference (in Korea) for American products over Japanese products.

The amazing thing is that PS2 is outselling Xbox in Korea by such a wide margin when Koreans have long been some of the biggest customers in the Far East for Microsoft products. The fact that Koreans like on-line games (where Xbox has a very strong reputation compared to PS2) makes it even more mysterious.

if they thought it was going to be easy....

[tabby]

http://www.gamespy.com/gdc2003/korean/

[quote]After the ugliness of World War II, Korea banned many Japanese imports. The result? No Nintendos. No Segas. No PlayStation or PlayStation 2. In this unique space, the PC was it. It became the de-facto, be-all and end-all of serious gaming platforms. [/quote]

Koreans don't take consoles seriously.