Microsoft to slash Xbox price in Japan
But is it the right approach?
Microsoft plans to cut the price of Xbox in Japan, product manager David Hufford has revealed in an interview with Xen Gamers. Hufford, who also revealed a number of details relating to the Xbox Live service in a recent interview, says "it's just a matter of when it happens." "We're monitoring the effect of the cuts in Europe and sales in Japan to make a final determination," he added. This seems a bit odd to us. As we often take pride in pointing out, the games make the system, not the other way round. Xbox has fared badly in Japan, despite costing only a few quid more than the market leading PlayStation 2. Many critics felt the software line-up was poorly tailored to the Japanese market, and if Microsoft wants to affect a breakthrough and invigorate sales in the Far East, perhaps it should be pampering developers and not fiddling with the price tag. Then again, scoring a few big-name releases and slicing a chunk off the asking price would be a pretty effective combination. Roll on E3... Related Feature - Xbox is a flop in Japan