Zeus
08-11-2008, 12:26 PM
Microsoft's Chris Lewis has attempted to explain why the Xbox 360 performs badly in certain European countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Lewis believes that there is a greater casual stance in the respective markets and people just like to dip in and dip out, but the UK market is closely aligned with the tastes of the US.
Why is Xbox is facing such a challenge in certain countries?
I think there’s a mixture of factors. Where we’ve done well traditionally is where we were in with the first Xbox. The UK is an example of that. The gaming tastes in the UK are quite well aligned with the US – there’s a higher disposable income for a start – we very deliberately set out to appeal to the core space in the first instance and we did that very well. I think the challenges are some of the more Mediterranean markets. Let’s pick on France, Italy and Spain, for example. There’s a much more casual gaming orientation there – people like to dip in and out, they’re not perhaps so likely to buy multiple consoles and they are more price-sensitive markets. I would also put our marketing fairly central to it in as much as I’m not sure we work hard enough to develop locally customisable, culturally connected marketing in the way that we needed to. We are addressing all that and I think we’ve got a much deeper insight, much higher levels of empathy with that now than we had in the first few years and phases.
News Source: <A href="http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/chris-lewis-xbox-360%E2%80%99s-european-focus" target="_blank">Edge-Online</a>
Why is Xbox is facing such a challenge in certain countries?
I think there’s a mixture of factors. Where we’ve done well traditionally is where we were in with the first Xbox. The UK is an example of that. The gaming tastes in the UK are quite well aligned with the US – there’s a higher disposable income for a start – we very deliberately set out to appeal to the core space in the first instance and we did that very well. I think the challenges are some of the more Mediterranean markets. Let’s pick on France, Italy and Spain, for example. There’s a much more casual gaming orientation there – people like to dip in and out, they’re not perhaps so likely to buy multiple consoles and they are more price-sensitive markets. I would also put our marketing fairly central to it in as much as I’m not sure we work hard enough to develop locally customisable, culturally connected marketing in the way that we needed to. We are addressing all that and I think we’ve got a much deeper insight, much higher levels of empathy with that now than we had in the first few years and phases.
News Source: <A href="http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/chris-lewis-xbox-360%E2%80%99s-european-focus" target="_blank">Edge-Online</a>