Microsoft makes a move for Japanese gamers

A week after it cut the price for the Xbox 360 in North America and Europe, Microsoft followed up with a price cut in the Japanese market where it has a small but growing toehold.

The move is by and large a reaction to Sony’s introduction of the PlayStation 3 Slim console, which comes with a 120 gigabyte hard drive and, at $299, is $100 cheaper than its previous model. Sony introduced the PS 3 Slim worldwide on Sept. 1. Microsoft responded with a $100 price cut on its high-end Xbox 360 Elite console, bringing the price in North America to $299 and 249 euros ($357) in Europe.

Now Microsoft is cutting the price of the Xbox 360 Elite from 39,800 yen ($431) to 29,800 yen ($323). As in other regions, Microsoft plans to phase out the Xbox 360 Pro model with a 60-gigabyte hard drive once current supplies run out. The low-end Xbox 360 Arcade model, which has only 512 megabytes of flash drive memory, will remain unchanged in price at 19,800 yen ($215). In the U.S., that model is $199.

In April of this year, Microsoft’s console passed 1 million units sold in Japan since 2005. Worldwide, Microsoft has sold 31.4 million Xbox 360s. But Nintendo’s Wii has sold more than 8 million units, even though it was released later in 2006.

Microsoft has sold more than 27 million Halo games worldwide, but shooter games like Halo have never been popular in Japan, where the Japanese consoles and handheld models rule. Microsoft has released Japan-focused role-playing games such as Blue Dragon in Japan, but with very limited success.

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