We all know that the Xbox line of consoles never had a strong presence in Japan. However, Microsoft has been looking for this to change in recent years, especially with the introduction of Xbox Game Pass, the subscription service that gives you access to numerous quality titles on your console. And it looks like Xbox’s reputation in Japan is about to change, thanks to interesting propositions like this one.
Microsoft’s presence in Japan grows thanks to Xbox Game Pass
@cc2_kazu is a Japanese game developer who has been involved in well-known studios, such as CyberConnect2 or Tokyo Studio. A few days ago, he wandered into a Yodobashi Camera store (A popular electronics store in Japan) and found a surprise: A large part of the video game area was painted in a bright green color. When he approached these Xbox games, he could immediately notice that most of the boxes had text that read Xbox Game Pass. That explains it all: Microsoft decided to launch special packaging to promote all the video games that are compatible with its successful subscription service, but in a physical way that also catches the attention of buyers.
Of course, this has its upside and its downside. On the one hand, it is helping Microsoft to be able to have a greater presence in physical stores in the country. It is known that the Xbox line was never very popular in Japan, so slowly Microsoft was making fewer physical copies of its games in that country. This caused the presence of this brand, with its classic green color, to be seen less and less in physical video game stores, where it was more common to see Nintendo’s red or Sony’s blue.
But in recent years, the accessibility of Xbox Game Pass led to the brand’s reputation improving worldwide, including in Japan. So they’re taking the opportunity to remind buyers that they can try out a host of solid experiences on the Xbox X Series X/S subscription service.
But of course, this interesting idea from Microsoft presents a problem: These are empty boxes. That’s right, as several commenters on Twitter have suggested, this is pure advertising and nothing more. The way the Xbox Game Pass service works, someone in the store who sees these special packages and decides to try one of those games would have to log in to their console and subscribe, without even buying the physical package. Currently, the entire video game industry is concerned about the state of physical entertainment media, and the fact that Microsoft is using them to advertise its service does not give much hope to its community.
But of course, this generated a huge debate among the brand’s fans in Japan. Some believe it is an ingenious idea that takes advantage of the space allocated to Xbox in stores to promote the Xbox Game Pass service in an efficient way. While others believe it is a waste of plastic and space that would be better used for real physical video games, with real discs inside. What do you think? Would you like Microsoft to start using this model in your country?
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