VF5 may not hit (or kick) Japanese 360s

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VF5 may not hit (or kick) Japanese 360s

Posted Aug 29th 2007 10:30AM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at Leipzig last week, Tohru Murayama, lead designer for Virtua Fighter 5, intimated that the game may not see the light of day on Japanese 360s. According to Murayama (and everybody else for that matter), the Xbox 360 has not done well in Japan. As a result, the install base of just under 400,000 units may not justify the release of Virtua Fighter 5 in Japan. It's a shame really, considering the features of Virtua Fighter 5 360 that aren't offered on the PS3, chiefly online play. Our condolences to Japanese gamers, the prognosis isn't looking good.

The rest of us can look forward to fighting bliss come October 30th.

Tags: am2, sega, vf5, virtuafighter, virtuafighter5

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Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. I beleive SOMEONE got paid by Sony to ensure total product dominance in Japan.

(douchebags)

Posted at 10:48AM on Aug 29th 2007 by renaud

2. I would say this has less to do with the 360 install base in Japan and more to do with massive amount of money Sega makes on Virtua Fighter in the arcades there. The last thing they want is for people to no longer need to go to the arcade to play each other.

Posted at 10:58AM on Aug 29th 2007 by Sathan

3. Yes, add to this the Japanese's economic patriotism (strictly applied but not official) and the 360 is totally screwed in Japan...

Posted at 11:04AM on Aug 29th 2007 by eddyk

4. I live in Japan, we never get good titles over here. Do you know Bioshock still hasn't been announced in Japan yet! This news doesn't surprise me.

Posted at 11:17AM on Aug 29th 2007 by crazyfruitbat

5. Not my problem, tell your Japanese friends to quit being pricks and get a 360. Patriotism is so 50 years ago. I was a sony fan last generation but there's nothing worse than a company that preys off people's fandom and stupidity. You won't rape my wallet or fill my head with lies this generation Sony just so you can get your failing company to be profitable again.

Posted at 11:24AM on Aug 29th 2007 by Anticrawl

6. Suits them right, M$ tried to market themselves in Japan, but they are nieve to Xbox360's power, xbox live, xbla, superb game titles, marketplace, etc.

Crazyfruitbat, maybe you can get free shipping?

http://www.games-asia.com/bioshock-p-2079.html?cPath=36_57

Posted at 11:34AM on Aug 29th 2007 by TORO

7. I really don't believe it comes down to some sort of electronic xenophobia. It makes very little sense when you consider how many portions of their modern popular culture are inspired by or adapted from outside sources.

I think it really comes down to 1.) poor marketing and 2.) taking forever to release anything in the local language. There's no reason why something like Oblivion be released in English only with the official Japanese translation coming, literally, a year later. A handful of decent JRPGs isn't all that is needed to fix things.

I mean, keep in mind this is one of the countries that just ate up the MSX... which was a Microsoft product (even if it was Microsoft of Japan).

Posted at 8:48PM on Aug 29th 2007 by Tony

8. Seems to me that would be a reason to push for a 360 japanese release ON the 360 - VF is an institution in the east.

Posted at 9:02AM on Aug 30th 2007 by sumguy

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