What a turnaround of fortunes this has turn out to be.

A survey of over 2,000 Australian retailers has discovered that the country's game-sellers are less than stellar about the Xbox 360. According to a recent GameRush report, PS3 and Wii are being viewed as the main contenders in the Australian console market right now, thanks to recent surge of interest in the Blu-ray format and Nintendo's constant drive for family appeal, respectively.

"The Xbox 360 is dead. We are stocking it because of our relationship with Microsoft however all our energy and marketing is going into the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii unless Microsoft come up with something new or additional marketing dollars," stated a Melbourne-based retailer. "Halo 3 was big on the Xbox but that was about it."

"They have tried discounting and value add offers and even that is not working. We are even thinking of dumping the console all together."

Gears of War 2, Too Human, and Fable 2 can't come soon enough.

Tags : australia : Blu-ray : Console Market : halo 3 : microsoft : Nintendo : PlayStation 3 : Sony : Wii : Xbox 360

Comments

By: Kelz

On: 01:32 Apr 7th, 2008
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xD

Come to think of it, I haven't seen much 360 stuff around here either.
Besides your usual 'OMG SALE lets get everything out on the tables' down at EB.

By: EvilxBunny

On: 01:49 Apr 7th, 2008
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my friend says most of her friends have one, and a couple even have 2... so i sorta have trouble believing this

By: Dragonfly

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On: 02:05 Apr 7th, 2008
Online

EvilxBunny;46201

my friend says most of her friends have one, and a couple even have 2... so i sorta have trouble believing this

I think the logic is that "Everyone who wants one has one."

And now that the stellar lineup of games last year has died down... consumers don't have much incentive to get one now.

Things should hopefully pick up when other high hitting titles get released.

Remember though, this is Australia specifically.

By: EvilxBunny

On: 02:10 Apr 7th, 2008
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I know that.. just sayin from my couple aussie friends.. one of them cant even find one, cuz all the stores are sold out ;(

By: deanogee

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On: 03:28 Apr 7th, 2008
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the downfall of xbox 360

They need some new titles and quick.

Forget the halos, gears of war, ect ...

I get the feeling they are depending quite alot on some old titles...

By: ApplesauceNinja

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On: 05:21 Apr 7th, 2008
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And yet, in the U.S., the 360 is still king. Still, if you want to be a successful
hardware manufacturer, you do have to sell well worldwide. I hope things
improve for the big M.

By: Evren

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On: 05:34 Apr 7th, 2008
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I do actually think, that everyone who wants one, now has one, and anyone who wants one, and doesnt have one, is probably waiting for a certain game to come out.

By: boa

On: 06:21 Apr 7th, 2008
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They blew there load early. They've got a few eagerly anticipated titles yet to come but most of the big stuff is gone.

And most the stuff still to come are sequels.

By: Black Convoy

On: 07:32 Apr 7th, 2008
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Since when did anything videogame related happen in Australia have a big impact on the global videogame market?

By: Evren

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On: 07:35 Apr 7th, 2008
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Black Convoy;46239

Since when did anything videogame related happen in Australia have a big impact on the global videogame market?

Right now.
*nods*
And it may be a show of things to come.

By: boa

On: 07:48 Apr 7th, 2008
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Never really. At least not to us consumers that don't live there. The sales however do affect the manufacturers and of course those who live there. Of which we do have a few members from there.

By: ManicGamer

On: 09:34 Apr 7th, 2008
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There have also been some concerns with the release of GTA 4 as it is having the BEJEEEEZUS censored out of it by in the Austrailian version... Ironic when you consider that the country was started by criminals (just a joke! I love the Aussies!). My point is that the Aussie version of GTA 4 fo the PS3 and 360 will be very censored and the fact that the PS3 is region free may give that title some "ebay push" and subsequently some console sales due to BS censorship.

When I look at my consoles side by side, I think of all the good times I had with my 360 (when it wasn't being repaired) and I look at the PS3 with anticipation of things to come along with how much I am starting to really use it for unique third-party titles and a very funtional media center as I am a HUGE movie buff. It scares me that the development for PS3 titles is picking up every day with the second layer of Blu-ray discs virtually untouched yet (exept MGS4).. and at the same time developers are running out of space and compression schemes to make games for my 360. My last 3 cross-platform titles (Orange Box, Assasin's Creed, and COD4) were purchased for my PS3... I'm hoping that MS does something to combat this issue so I don't feel like my 360 was a freaking "fad" or something. Short of a massive hardware overhaul on all systems.... I'm not sure what can be done.

Here's hoping.

By: Shad

On: 06:05 Apr 9th, 2008
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I think everyone here who wants one already has one, with the exception of people who are going to buy one for GTAIV. Which I am probably going to import from the kiwis now anyway since it passed their censor board easily enough.

Don't forget we only have 20 million people here and the Xbox has been out for 2 years or so now. It doesnt take that long to penetrate the market.

Had they interviewed gamers they would have found a vast majority of them have an Xbox 360. Retailers would be stupid to discontinue 360 software sales, but hey, retailers have a track record of being stupid anyway.