I think MS need to focus more of their attention in the whole of Europe, rather than indulging in their continued success in the US ONLY. I don't think it's UK that is their main issue, I feel that it is most likely the rest of Europe as a whole that they need to work on. I guarantee that there is a whole lot of untapped people in Europe, which can fairly easily be won over if the right marketing campaign is executed.

I bet there are many people in Europe that barely know anything about the Xbox 360 and what it offers. In addition, I have this strange feeling that Europe is general may have more PC gamers than console gamers? Maybe? I am merely speculating when I say that?

But what do you think?

PLEASE NO BASHING/TROLLING, ETC.

I MERELY WISH TO KNOW PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS ON THE MS'S SALES PERFORMANCE IN EUROPE, WHAT THEY MUST DO TO CHANGE THAT, AND WHAT FACTORS ARE AFFECTING THEIR DOMINATION THERE? DO YOU THINK NATAL CAN CHANGE ALL THAT SINCE WII HAS DOMINATED EUROPE FOR A LONG LONG TIME, AND IN TERMS OF THE HD SIDE, HAS PS3 HAVE THE UPPER HAND DUE TO THEIR VALUE BLU-RAY PLAER? CAN PUSHING MORE AAA EXCLUSIVES SWAY EUROPE IN GENERAL TOWARDS MS MORE?

You can't see Europe as one market. They will beat Sony in UK, the by far biggest market here. They will probably beat them in Scandinavia as well. Continental Europe is a tough one. Sony will win here.

Sony spends 45 million Euro per year to be a partner of the UEFA Champions League, the biggest club football (you know, the real football. The one you actually play with your feet ) tournament in the world. And they are promoting Playstation since 1997. The brand recognition is huge. One game is broadcastet live in more than 90 countries. This is a huge deal and being the main-sponsor for 13 years is something. The Champions League Final has almost as much viewers as the Super Bowl.

So I think MS did a great job to be as close as they are. Winning UK, a football-loving area, is awesome.

A big part of the problem is the fact that many of the biggest 360 console exclusives are also on PC making the console a tough sell in the parts of Europe that are heavily into PC gaming. This is starting to change a little with Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Alan Wake, and some other games not appearing on PC but it's still a drop in the bucket when compared to the 360's competitors.

One way they could make the Xbox brand appeal more is to put more deals into place with existing and up and coming PC developers to make exclusive 360 games. Such games should be started from the ground up for the console only so that there's no backlash. They should also make sure there's a steady stream of such games so that people know their purchase will continue to have value to them in the future.

*tag

Is that that much to share? You have US, let us have Europe :0

Europe may have different perceptions for gaming, not everyone I know play games, they even hate it.
For Americas, its a huge market.
For Japan, its where nintendo is.
Basically, these three countries are the major consumer markets that every developer are concerned about.

@ kowenicki: I'm going to assume he meant UK, Japan and USA.

Xbox 360 has made huge strides in countries like Italy and France the past few years as well however.

The final in 2009 had more viewers than the Superbowl.

You can tell Sony has a better hold on Europe due to game like FIFA and PES, which sell most of their copies in Europe. Both games sell better on the PS3 which refelcts the market share

The reality is that the relative value of the markets is more or less as follows.

US - 10
UK, Canada, and AUS combined - 6ish
Continental Europe - 3ish
Japan - 3ish and declining

Put it this way.

Microsoft took away America from Sony when the Xbox 1 sold 15 million to 40 Million PS2's

So Xbox 360 gonna be the same or better in Europe than the PS3 bodes well for the long term.