More bad news for MS in Europe....

[EliteStance]

I doubt (as a UK resident) that anything to do with MS outside of games will massively impact 360.

The console has made some ground for MS outside US but I would say that overall it hasn't made up as much ground as they would have hoped.

Clearly the Wii caught and passed the console in less than 12 months in 'Others' (I think there's no point in including Japan in the equation as its so drasticly low in 360 sales) and the PS3 is fast catching up too.

This doesn't surprise me as I've posted elsehwhere and is more a reflection of 'Others' market vs 360 offering' than anything specifically wrong about the 360 (with exception of RROD).

This doesn't mean MS is 'in trouble, doomed, etc'. It means that, if trends continue, they will have made overall strong gain in market from Xbox but that their gains are not uniform - i.e. they have made vey good gains in US with only moderate gains (vs competition) outside US.

I supose (for those to whom such things matter) it does raise the prospect that non-US territories success would enable PS3 to outsell 360 globally while remaining behind 360 in US.

Off topic for consoles but on topic for the posted link - this is not a surprise. I think (and I'm not saying Europe is superior, only different) that in Europe the dominance of MS is seen as generally a bad thing and that few European companies are normally allowed to gain such marketshare.

I don't think there is any doubt MS is using its position to its advantage, and many (not all) European countries have restrictions on how far you can take such practices and MS is going to feel their brunt.

As before they'll be fined and they'll pay. It costs them but as they are US company its not like Europe can force (as they could for European company) MS to split up into a number of seperate divisions - although I suppose it could try and force changes to its organization in Europe, although I think that would be unlikely response.