GI: As far as your launch in Japan you sold less than half of the 360 consoles that you did the original Xbox at launch. Are you guys satisfied with that?
Moore: The numbers that anybody has given so far are speculation because we haven’t given any numbers, and I think Famitsu has maybe gone around and counted and then extrapolated. Because it’s a pretty unsophisticated market over there for recording. Yeah, I’m satisfied. It’s a solid if not spectacular start. But the way we’ve looked at Japan this time around is over a three-to-five year period developing deep role playing games. Clearly Sakaguchi with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon being very important. Miziguchi with Ninety-Nine Nights coming up in the spring.
And as I’m fond of saying, it’s a marathon, not a sprint over there. While you would like to just walk it out of the gates, realistically, for an American company going in taking on Sony and Nintendo in their backyard coming off a disappointing first generation, and going in there and having to prove ourselves all over again. And the one thing, historically, you can bet on is you produce particularly a role playing game that is fresh, innovative, and from somebody the quality of Sakaguchi - that moves hardware. We’re still a ways away from delivering the first one, which will be Blue Dragon. Then it’s going to be great because probably less than six months later…
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200601/N06.0106.1235.53927.htm
Moore: The numbers that anybody has given so far are speculation because we haven’t given any numbers, and I think Famitsu has maybe gone around and counted and then extrapolated. Because it’s a pretty unsophisticated market over there for recording. Yeah, I’m satisfied. It’s a solid if not spectacular start. But the way we’ve looked at Japan this time around is over a three-to-five year period developing deep role playing games. Clearly Sakaguchi with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon being very important. Miziguchi with Ninety-Nine Nights coming up in the spring.
And as I’m fond of saying, it’s a marathon, not a sprint over there. While you would like to just walk it out of the gates, realistically, for an American company going in taking on Sony and Nintendo in their backyard coming off a disappointing first generation, and going in there and having to prove ourselves all over again. And the one thing, historically, you can bet on is you produce particularly a role playing game that is fresh, innovative, and from somebody the quality of Sakaguchi - that moves hardware. We’re still a ways away from delivering the first one, which will be Blue Dragon. Then it’s going to be great because probably less than six months later…
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200601/N06.0106.1235.53927.htm