Microsoft's Xbox 360 console may be a huge seller in the US and Europe, but in Japan, Microsoft has yet to make any significant inroads. Now there are reports that Japanese retailers are cutting back on the supplies of the consoles they are selling in stores. Edge reports that Geo, a large game retailer in that country, has already announced it it cutting its Xbox 360 shipments. Another retailer, Yamada Denki, has announced it will remove the Xbox 360 console and games in a majority of its stores while discounting a lot of its remaining stock.
Since launching in 2005, Microsoft has only managed to sell about 1.5 million units of the Xbox 360 hardware. In July, Microsoft announced yet another attempt to boost sales of the console in Japan. That included forming a new Interactive Entertainment Business division in that country and also announcing plans to better promote its Kinect motion controller camera. However those efforts may be too little, too late as more Xbox 360 consoles and games are showing up in bargain bins in Japan.
Neither the original Xbox nor the Xbox 360 have been able to sell well in Japan. The Edge article points out that if and when Microsoft wants to launch a successor to the Xbox 360, it may have to deal with Japanese retailers who may not want to put their money behind a new console.
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