Microsoft reasserts its commitment to Japan

Despite two generations of failure in the Far East, Xbox One will be launched in Japan.

"We’re committed to Japan," Don Mattrick said in a roundtable attended by OXM. "We continue to build on our partnerships, we continue to build on our offerings for consumers inside of that space.

"We think it’s an important market. And we’ll continue building on the working investment that we’ve done over all these years."

The not always reliable VGChartz pegs lifetime Xbox 360 sales in Japan at just 1.64m units – a definite improvement on the 530k sales of its predecessor in the region.

However, it’s a tiny slice of Xbox 360’s lifetime sales of nearly 80m units. It’s hard to see how Microsoft can make any further significant inroads into the region owing to the buying public’s loyalty to the Nintendo and PlayStation brands.