Xbox One a tough sell in Japan, says exec

Microsoft Japan CEO Yasuyuki Higuchi says he isn’t thrilled about the Xbox One’s prospects in the country.

The company has been billing the console as king of the living room, but some worry that Microsoft’s ideal use case is a concept alien to Japanese consumers.

“(Xbox One) is geared towards a Western lifestyle, and we’re looking at whether or not to launch it ‘as is’ in Japan,” Higuchi told 4gamer.net. [translation from Edge]

“We’re still figuring out how to deal with things like music and video services in each country. To be honest, (releasing it in Japan) as is would be difficult.”

Japanese audiences aren’t strangers to American sport or TV, but the living room simply means something different in Tokyo than it does in San Francisco.

Most Japanese consumers live at home until they’re married, so gaming is more private, more hard-core, and entertainment options could be seen as superfluous.

“More than that, in Japan it is the case that gamers are stepping away from their consoles and using tablets and smartphones to play games instead,” continued Higuchi.

“It will be difficult to expand the volume of consoles in the living room. I’m also looking at Sony’s movements, but Nintendo and so on must be finding things rather difficult.”