Appendix B. Interview Questions and Answers with Mr. Nathan Brown
Could you give a temperature check on Xbox's performance in Japan (past and present)?
The only Microsoft console to make anything you could reasonably call headway in Japan was
Xbox 360, with sales of 1.6 million, which can largely be attributed to the extra focus Microsoft
put on Japanese studios during that generation — four of the top five selling Xbox games in
Japan were Xbox 360 exclusives (see above link). But across Xbox’s 20 years of existence less
than one third of one percent of console sales have been in Japan. Phil Spencer has promised to
do better in the Xbox Series era, and there’s already progress of sorts: Series S and X have
already outsold Xbox One. But that’s a low bar to clear indeed. I think Game Pass alone should
see Xbox enjoy a certain level of success this generation, but only in the context of itself. I
highly doubt Nintendo or Sony are losing much sleep about being overtaken in their home
market.
What are the key differences between the U.S. and Japanese gaming industries?
Speaking in extremely broad terms, as a rule the Western game industry dreams a little bigger,
and thinks more globally. Western companies spend more on development on the assumption
that their games will find a big global audience and make a lot of money. Japan, by and large,
tends to have fewer resources to play with, and tends to think of its native audience before a
global one. (Japan’s industry tried to reverse this in the 360 era, but it didn’t really work: there’s
some good stuff on this here). Western developers tend towards realism, and Japanese to fantasy.
And while western gamers prioritise PC and console, in Japan mobile is equally, if not more,
precious. This isn’t just about phones: PSP was huge in Japan, largely thanks to Monster Hunter,
and I’d venture that Japan’s love of portable play isn’t only key to Switch’s success in Japan, but
was a driving factor in its original design.
Do you think Microsoft competing against Nintendo and Sony as the only non-Japanese
company plays a role in their weaker performance?
Honestly, I don’t know for sure. It’s a popular theory but I don’t think Xbox’s hitherto struggles
can be blamed on patriotism, or nativism, or whatever you want to call it. Instead, I think it’s
simply a reflection of Microsoft’s failure to offer a value proposition that appeals enough to
Japanese players to enable it to break through. Sure, it signed up a few exclusives in the Xbox
360 era, and that worked reasonably well. But let me put it this way: would you choose an Xbox
console to play four Japan-made exclusives, if doing so meant losing access to the dozens of
Japan-made exclusives on PlayStation? It’s only ever going to be additive, I think, the thing the
committed, and monied, core gamer buys when they’ve bought everything else.
Microsoft’s Xbox strategy centers around acquisitions (Bethesda, Activision). There’s a lot of
speculation about them trying to bring a Japanese gaming company under their roof. Is this a
real possibility given Japan's corporate governance, and is it a necessity?
I think the article I wrote about this speaks for itself, though one thing I’d add that I perhaps
didn’t focus on enough in the piece was that if Microsoft really, really wants something to