Japanese game shops, lately burdened by a huge surplus of unwanted Xbox 360s they cannot sell, are now offering to buy used Xboxes for a paltry ¥500.
One shop explains their decision:
“We’re buying Core 360s for ¥500… A lot of places won’t buy them at all, you see.”
“We’ll buy Arcades for ¥3000… Elites sell for more.”
Most shops will also have nothing to do with older models.
Reportedly there are Xbox 360 owners actually willing to sell their units at this price.
It would appear Microsoft’s withdrawal from the Japanese market is not far off.
epic fail computer gaming beats all
Most 360-owning Japanese would only sell the system off to trade up to a newer and more reliable model. Japanese don’t buy a system like the 360 on a whim. They buy a 360 because they know they want one. And since no one wants to buy a used 360 (for obvious reasons), these game shops end up with a surplus of old, unreliable systems they can’t sell. Since their storage space is limited, they have no choice but to discourage any more trade-ins by offering so little for them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the 360 hate posted on 2ch and the like originates from the workers and owners of these shops. It wouldn’t make much sense otherwise since there’s no such thing as an Xbox fanboy in Japan, so why else would they waste their time in attacking a group that doesn’t exist and a console with such tiny marketshare unless it was somehow personal? Something like 99% of 360 owners in Japan also own a PS3, so there’s only Nintendo fanboys, Sony fanboys, and multiconsole owners.
Microsoft isn’t going to ditch Japan. They’ve sold quite a few more 360’s there in 2009 than they did in 2008. The 360 is still selling like 5,000 units a week on average, despite not having any major releases for weeks or months at a time. The average weekly sales have stabilized at that amount ever since the release of ToV. Before ToV, the 360 had been selling at something like 2,500 a week or less on average since it launched there. Demand for the system is still there (for brand new ones), and it’s growing.
And “youge” have little to nothing to do with it. In Japan, 99% of “youge” sell far better on the PS3 than on the 360. The only reasons a Japanese person would want a 360 is for the shoot’em ups, dating sims/visual novels, and other exclusives (and games that multiplat games that just run/look way better on the 360, like Bayonetta). The 360 is the de-facto current-gen console for the former two groups. The cheap price of the console is a factor too.
Strangly $5 turns the Failbox into a sort of want from do not want.
this article reeks of bullshit…
So does you and your mom. How the f♥♥k are you still in denial thinking that the xbox 360 would worth anything? Who the hell would buy a used 360? Dumb fucks.
win, and totally agree lol freaking microsoft
Is it surprising? I think not. Till the day Xbox will actually be able to match up to the PS.