Takashi Sensui who was leading the Xbox efforts in Japan has decided to step down and instead return to the Microsoft mother ship in the US. Sensui was not really able to improve the Xbox One fortunes in Japan during his time at the helm.

The new man at the helm of the Xbox ship in Japan will be none other than Takahasi Minami who comes to Microsoft after spending 25 years with Sony. This could be a very interesting move for Microsoft in Japan, but he faces a very difficult task to reverse the Xbox One’s situation in Japan.

Sales of the Xbox One in Japan have been bad. So bad in fact that at launch Microsoft was only able to move 23,562 consoles. Word is that Microsoft has been able to sell about 38,461 consoles so far, but when you only sold 776 during one week, you have a difficult road ahead.

Still Minami’s experience at Sony could be a new factor in the situation that we have not seen before that could improve the situation. Microsoft needs to improve sales on all fronts, not just North America if they want to break the strangle hold that Sony has held on next-generation console sales.