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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Europe is key battleground, says Microsoft

elnino334 on 19 December 2007

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=31694

Sony's brand strength is biggest challenge

Microsoft expects to sell more Xbox 360 consoles in Japan in 2008 than it did in 2007, but Europe will be the key battleground.

The company told Reuters that recent and upcoming games from popular Japanese designers should help boost sales in Japan where the Xbox 360 lags behind both the PS3 and Wii.

"We will sell more consoles next year than this year," said Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft's games business.

Bell said that the Xbox 360 was strong in Britain and gaining market share in France and Germany, but that sales of the PS3 had been lifted there by recent price cuts.

"Europe for us is still the swing," Bell said in an interview with Reuters. "The biggest challenge is that Sony as a brand has had greater staying power than in other areas. Not just PlayStation 3, but Sony as a brand."

Commenting on the potential benefit to Microsoft of Wii shortages, Bell pointed out that third-party publishers have not enjoyed success on Nintendo's console so far.

"Clearly, we have a competitor where they win and no one else wins. That is not sustainable, it has never been sustainable."

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Nice to see MS take notice of the PS3 doing better in other regions.  Don't think they will be desperate like Japan but I think they may go ahead and do some deals specific to those regions mainly a price drop I would think.   

 



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NJ5 on 19 December 2007

A price cut is urgently needed in Europe. I mean it, they have to cut their price as soon as possible.



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

jhlennon1 on 19 December 2007

Lol Microsoft...

They already have the cheaper console on the market, superior game library, yet they still fall on their face. They are funny.

And their Japan comments are hilarious.



Avinash_Tyagi on 19 December 2007

"Clearly, we have a competitor where they win and no one else wins. That is not sustainable, it has never been sustainable."

I'm afraid he is making a mistake, devs that release decnt games that take advantage of the Wii's strength have done well



 

Predictions:Sales of Wii Fit will surpass the combined sales of the Grand Theft Auto franchiseLifetime sales of Wii will surpass the combined sales of the entire Playstation family of consoles by 12/31/2015 Wii hardware sales will surpass the total hardware sales of the PS2 by 12/31/2010 Wii will have 50% marketshare or more by the end of 2008 (I was wrong!!  It was a little over 48% only)Wii will surpass 45 Million in lifetime sales by the end of 2008 (I was wrong!!  Nintendo Financials showed it fell slightly short of 45 million shipped by end of 2008)Wii will surpass 80 Million in lifetime sales by the end of 2009 (I was wrong!! Wii didn't even get to 70 Million)

sinha on 19 December 2007
NJ5 said:
A price cut is urgently needed in Europe. I mean it, they have to cut their price as soon as possible.

Will they do a price cut in Europe at the start of the new year or wait until GTA IV?  I think they should do it right away but I expect the latter.



We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that they [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine and half years? It's a learning process. - SCEI president Kaz Hirai

It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, "Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it." So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. - Epic Games president Mike Capps

We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games. - Activision CEO Bobby Kotick

 

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leo-j on 19 December 2007

@avanish

Well he is basicly saying that the wii(or ps3) sales will drop melow xbox 360 whcih I doubt.



 

mM
Parokki on 19 December 2007

They'll probably wait and see how 360 and PS3 sales develop. Both had sales boosted by big games, price cuts etc for the last few months, and nobody really knows how big the difference will be and in what direction after January.

Microsoft is in a strong position to cut prices, while Sony can't really do anything except wait and hope people want their third party games really bad, so the 360 winning 08 in Europe isn't entirely out of the question.



super_etecoon on 19 December 2007

This is interesting...considering that with the 360's abysmal sales in Japan this week (9,000) they still beat the PS3 worldwide.



ilovetogame on 19 December 2007

haha. i like all the pretending that 3rd party games don't do well on the wii



end of '08 predictions: wii - 43 million,  360 - 25 million, ps3 - 20 million

 

Games I've beat recently: Super Mario Galaxy, Knights of the Old Republic, Shadow of the Collossus

 

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URNotE on 19 December 2007

wow by what ten thousand when its that close does it really matter



URNOTE Proud Owner of a 60GB PS3 Console (Purchased 12/22/06)

 #1 reason MGS4 is PS3 exclusive  xbox is too loud for snake to sneak around
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