| Arkaign said: You have to wonder if some regions cost more in infrastructure, support, and advertising than they can cover in the slim margins that consoles bring in. Then you have higher EU taxation and higher employment costs for the EU workforce thanks to better benefits and salaries on average. They may well be losing $ in Germany at the moment, and if the numbers actually decline (likely when looking at LTD 2014), that will go from hypothetical to irrefutable. So do they double down on the failure, or just start slowly dialing back EU workforce, marketing, support, and distribution. With poor sales, it will be tougher and tougher to convince retailers to allot shelf space, and distributors to allot transport and warehouse space. |
It could already be happening; they DID recently announce they were cutting three quarters of the Xbox EMEA (Europe Middle East Asia) division, as part of the round of post-Nokia-acquisition cuts. (Here is an article to a job listing for the department, as even the remaining positions need to be reapplied to by all former employees; http://ca.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/12628798?trk=jobs_search_public_seo_page To give an idea as to what they do.)
Granted, I read someone suggesting this was simply because it was getting close to the larger-market release, and Microsoft didn't NEED to keep all those people when the console released, but... well, it just strikes me as odd that, in markets where you are the underdog in almost every region, you'll hamstring the department that's supposed to moderate and develop FOR those regions, especially by seventy-five percent. The fact that it's happening suggests Microsoft might see the proverbial writing on the wall, and is looking to cut their losses in those areas, and focus on their (currently former) strongholds instead.
To be fair, can't really blame em at this point. o.O The Xbox360 was their best shot at Europe, and it still couldn't catch up to the PS3; this generation, Europe is likely to be a biiit of a slaughter.
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