Microsoft raises Xbox 360 forecast for Japan

Microsoft says sales of its Xbox 360 game console are beating projections in Japan, prompting the company to raise its shipment forecast for the country, a stronghold for Sony and Nintendo.

Global demand for the Xbox 360 has not been dented by the financial crisis, and the game machine is well positioned to attract holiday shoppers thanks to its recent price cuts, said John Schappert, Microsoft's corporate vice president overseeing its online game services and game software.

Japan, home to two of its biggest rivals, Sony and Nintendo, has traditionally been a tough market to crack for the US software giant's game operations.

But Microsoft in September lowered the price of its Xbox 360 in Japan, helping the game machine outsell Sony's PlayStation 3 in the month. That was the first time the Xbox 360 has beaten the Sony console in monthly sales in Japan.

"We've done better than we forecast. We are finding that we have a shortage of hardware," Schappert said in an interview after his keynote speech to the Tokyo Game Show on Thursday.

"We are raising our forecast" for Xbox 360 hardware shipments to Japan, he said, though he declined to give specific figures.

BIG TITLES

Besides the price reduction, demand for the Xbox 360 got a boost in Japan from the recent launches of popular role-playing games for the Microsoft console, such as Square Enix Holdings' "Infinite Undiscovery" and Namco Bandai Holdings' "Tales of Vesperia."

Action or fighting games tend to sell well in the United States, while in Japan role-playing games often dominate the bestseller lists.

"Relationships we've formed over the eight years of doing business with our Japanese partners really are paying dividends now as we see legendary franchises coming and making their new home on the Xbox 360," Schappert said.

Namco Bandai said on Thursday it would launch the next version of its popular fighting game series "Tekken" for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 next year.

Namco Bandai has launched previous editions of "Tekken" for Sony machines as well as for mobile phones.

In another recent coup, Microsoft said in July Square Enix would launch the "Final Fantasy XIII" for its console, sharing the upcoming version of the blockbuster role-playing game with the PS3.

Prior to the announcement, Square Enix had only said it was developing the next version of its hugely popular "Final Fantasy" series for the Sony console.

Square Enix has sold more than 85 million units of "Final Fantasy" games worldwide, while sales of "Tekken" games have totalled 33 million.

PRICE LEADER

In the run-up to the critical holiday season, Microsoft also cut the US prices of its Xbox 360 in September, lowering the price of its entry-level console to US$50 below Nintendo's top-selling Wii, which had been the lowest-priced console among the three competing machines.

That has made the Xbox 360 attractive at a time when the financial turmoil is making consumers price conscious, Schappert said.

"We have not seen our demand diminished" worldwide, he said.

"We have a mass-market price the world can afford. No better time to have that."

Rival Sony said on Thursday it will launch a PS3 model with an 80 gigabyte hard disk drive in Japan on October 30 for 39,980 yen, beefing up its hardware ahead of the gift-giving period.

Sony currently offers the 40 gigabyte model for the same price in Japan, compared with the 25,000 yen price tag for the Wii, and the Xbox 360's high-end Elite model, which sells for 39,800 yen.