Halo 3 is not selling well in Japan. 60K doesn't even cover the huge advertising blitz over there. The sold 5000 Xbox 360s on their Halo launch week. You can't spin that into a success story.
Microsoft would be better just packing up over there, use all the money they are wasting on Japanese ports and games specifically to get Japan on their side and focus it all on the European market where it could make a difference one way or another.
They don't have to win Japan to get the Japanese devs. They have to achieve as much userbase as possible OUTSIDE of Japan so Japanese devs will find it more profitable to develop for other markets. Microsoft is doing everything it can in the US already, but they're never going to dominate so much that it will make up for Japan.(Long term here, consider the year head start and look at the numbers on both markets.) If the 360 totally dominates Europe then it gets all the dev support it wants without Japan. At the moment they're completely wasting their time there.
Microsoft would be better just packing up over there, use all the money they are wasting on Japanese ports and games specifically to get Japan on their side and focus it all on the European market where it could make a difference one way or another.
They don't have to win Japan to get the Japanese devs. They have to achieve as much userbase as possible OUTSIDE of Japan so Japanese devs will find it more profitable to develop for other markets. Microsoft is doing everything it can in the US already, but they're never going to dominate so much that it will make up for Japan.(Long term here, consider the year head start and look at the numbers on both markets.) If the 360 totally dominates Europe then it gets all the dev support it wants without Japan. At the moment they're completely wasting their time there.