Shane Kim: Japan is a "longer-term effort"

Microsoft's Shane Kim, hot on the heels of the announcement of his promotion to corporate VP for the firm's Interactive Entertainment business, reckons there's still hope for Xbox 360 in Japan.

"We've been very realistic about our near-to-mid term opportunities in Japan, specifically with respect to the current console generation," he told GI. "Obviously it's a challenging market with well entrenched competitors.

"I'm excited to see developments such as the new RPGs from Japanese developers - I think that's a recognition in the developer-publisher community that the Xbox 360 is a great platform, and we've got a great installed base in the rest of the world.

"From a business perspective I think they all know that they need to take the platform seriously, and my hope is that through that process we'll start to see more Japanese content that will stimulate greater demand in Japan and start to turn our fortunes around.

"I think that's a longer-term effort, to be frank."

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