MS Says 'We Understand European Loyalty To Sony' >

	2008/10/03 15:13:47: Posted by DM
	Head of MS Game Studios Phil Spencer said that he understands the loyalty that Euro customers have for Sony products. He does not go into too much detail, but he does promise that MS will continue to try to win over Euro gamers with more region-specific content. Then again, Sony has also traditionally screwed Europeans in the past because PAL was traditionally the last region to get game releases, and if a certain game did not sell well in NTSC, it got canned before it was even released in Europe. It happened more often than you might think. "We look at our success to date, and we understand... that having content creators and content that is very tailored towards the European market is incredibly important, especially in the console space in the competitive environment that we're in," added Spencer. >Link
	Labeled With  microsoft xbox360 Comments [25]  | Rate this article: -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  | Be the first to rate this article

oh you understand but your a day late and a dollar short.

to star caring about European Loyalty, start putting money in the bank to fix RROD !

money in the bank? U know what i mean...

what he really means is that they are not doing well in Europe and they will "try" to do better

Yet another MS related topic that has become a sony fantard paradise.

Keep up the good work guys, soon enough you'll lower yourselves to the point of drooling retardation.

Overall Microsoft is winning this generation against Sony, also Xbox 360 just beat PS3 in monthly sales in Japan for the first time, keep at it Microsoft!

Kr0niXz You should check the NPD numbers... again!

PS3 is leading world wide, and the only thing MS is leading is North America and now Japan, but for how long is the question... and then UK after the price drop, even though it was cheaper than the PS3 in first place. Let;s see for how long...

By the way , i ive already created a tread about this.

Dm , Wake up!

Let me post in first page , please.

Can anyone speculate about this European loyalty to Sony that Phil is talking about? I honestly hadn't heard anything about Europe being particularly loyal to Sony, so I'm wondering what he's referring to. Is it just because the PS2 was particularly successful there or something?

As for the delayed/cancelled PAL releases, I'd speculate that the time/cost involved in regionalizing the game for all the different languages/regulations that exist in Europe would be the reason. From a business perspective it's got to add time and expense, especially if a lot of voice work has to be done. Not to mention packaging differences for what amount to smaller individual markets.

blacktiger, PS3 is leading world wide? Ummm no....

Look back at the estimated instal bases for the ps1 and ps2 madgunde, Europe = Sony land.........................at least it used to be before the Wii.

Both are getting spanked by the Wii and are pretty close in install base actually

@Xenos

But Didn't Sony have a similar domination in North America with the PS1 and PS2? But NA presumably doesn't have the same loyalty to Sony as Europe, so surely he couldn't just be referring to the install base of PS1 and PS2 consoles there. Anyway, the way it was quoted, it sounded like he knew something else that I was missing because if he just meant that there were a lot of PS2s sold in Europe, that doesn't quite seem quote-worthy (kind of a no-brainer). I was kind of hoping for some insight into why Sony is having an easier time in Europe than in NA, that's all. I just figured it was because Europe is not a huge fan of U.S. companies, but then that's not loyalty towards Sony, that's bias against MS.

I'm not sure if he was reffering to any one specific thing honestly.

All I know is that Sony has dominated against just about every system in PAL region. Not just any system from MS, but Ninty and Sega as well. My favorite system to this day, the dreamcast, sold pretty poor over in Europe. So no, it's not a bias against MS, it's a huge number of factors.

MS' marketing in Europe was piss poor until now. For example, Sony markets pretty well per country in Europe, MS' however mostly did the same type of marketing for all of Europe instead of speficying the market per country. They are changing that now with country specific market, like sony, but like I said, so far it's been pretty bad. MS took long enough to learn that they can't market across Europe like they do all over America.

Another reason, as everyone should know, is the RRoD fiasco. MS did a poor job with the quality build and now they are paying the price, no way to spin that.

So yeah, there are many ways to look at this. Sony didn't have the same stranglehold on America like they did in Europe and Japan and MS just knows how to cater more to their homeland than they do with Japan and Europe.

The big story this gen is how much inroad in all territories. They have overcome MS and Sony's hold in every region.

But Europe has been sony land. Hell there are countries out there where the ps3 sells better than the Wii even though it's probably 3x more in price.

edit

oops big story was Ninty with the Wii

gamers are fickle, and there is nothing such as loyalty, ninty came down, and Sony is coming down

arthur56k: I agree and disagree. The casual gamer is fickle. For sure. But the hardcore gamer can be loyal to a fault.

Case in point being all the Sony fanboys that troll videogame websites. Spreading FUD. Defending Sony's every move while blasting those of it's competitors.

I also happen to agree with MadGunde. Europe happens to be more anti Microsoft, than pro Sony. Look at all of Microsoft's antitrust issues in Europe. The only exception is the UK, where the 360 is alot more popular than the PS3.

Pimp let's not be one sided about fanboys. There are PLENTY of 360 fanboys that troll videogame websites that think MS can do no wrong as well.

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. There are fanboys for all sides.

MS fanboys think MS can do no wrong, Sony fanboys automatically think everything Sony related is better and Ninty fanboys will ignore the fact that they have played the same 12 Marios and Zeldas while claiming the lastest is the GoTY!

I disagree arthur, I think people are loyal. I was a loyal Sega guy for quite a while. I became a loyal Sony guy, though it doesn't keep me from buying and enjoying other consoles. It's an odd balance, but I guess I expect to get the same continued quality of gaming from the newer versions of consoles that I got from older ones. No one expects companies to make bad decisions after successful runs with current or older business models. Both Sega and Sony (have) made mistakes that cost them marketshare (or in Sega's case, their hardware business).

In Sony's case, I fully expect them to learn from this generation and I see them making a strong leap forward for the next generation of consoles. Whether or not that puts them back in 1st place will have to be seen. I'm think that from this point forward, we'll see more of a 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 with the leader only have a slight advantage in terms of totals. I feel that this will force Nintendo, MS and Sony to focus on 1st party development and fresh ideas on their consoles as multiplats will soon be impossible to distinguish.

And what I mean by strong leap forward is that they'll learn from their mistakes and come out swinging. Of course, MS will do the same, and I don't see Nintendo changing their business model as of now.

nope, loyalty belongs to the minority, thats why ninty and sega dropped from their perch, so too has Sony.

loyalty is a fud, no one can explain you selling almost 100 mil, and probably ending to get less than half of that when the market is growing.

some may be loyal, the bigger part of the populace isnt

Coming out swinging may not change anything in terms of marketshare, but it's still good for us as gamers.

You said it didn't exist. It certainly does. Don't think that Sony wasn't depending on a portion of their 100 million + PS2 people were going to hop aboard the PS3 train.

Some people are loyal to an extent. Sony priced themselves out of a major portion of those they assumed would buy a PS3.

Throw in MS being very aggressive and Nintendo packaging crack cocaine with the Wii (they certainly don't have software for sh*t), it is easy to see how the PS3 is in 3rd place.

That said, there are still a lot of PS2 owners who haven't gone to the 'next gen' yet, and I think it's safe to say that a number of those are just waiting for the price of the PS3 to fall.

Of course, all of that is my opinion and no factual evidence is presented to support my opinion, so fanbots need not take anything I said as fact.

There is no question that there is loyalty in the market, regardless of region.

How deep that loyalty runs is another question and can only be judged on a gamer by gamer basis.

Mr. hardcore sony fanboy will surely wait around for the ps3 to come down to a price that fits for them, but then you could also argue that all of the super hardcore sony fans would have picked up a ps3 by now. So loyalty can be seen in many ways.

I think for the majority of mainstream gamers in the market, that just want to pick up a system to play madden, GTA, and whatever "awesome" games at the time won't give a crap to what system they are gaming on, as long as it's at a price that they can afford.

You guys are talking more of a person level with loyalty where this is something that is more region specific.

Japan is loyal to japanese systems, Europe has been loyal to sony in the past and some coutries are still showing that loyalty to this day.

America is just a whore and they will switch sides to whoever caters to them most. =p

All I'm saying is when there are a few contries where the ps3 sells better than the Wii and 360, that's loyalty. If you have other, cheaper, options that offer the same entertainment/games, that's loyalty no matter which way it's spun.

poprocker: I dont see the fanboys as being equal. Sony fanboys live and breathe everything Sony.

There is no sucj thing as a Microsoft fanboy. Maybe 360 fanboys. Or Xbox fanboys. But not Microsoft fanboys.

Even when I preferred the 360 to the PS3 it wasn't because of Microsoft. It was because Sony had pissed me off.

There is such a thing as a Sony fanboy however. They will buy all Sony prodcuts. Whether it's consoles, handhelds, games, movies, TV's. and other electronics.

I happen to think most xbox/360 owners were originally PS1/PS2 owners who became disgruntled with Sony. I know all of my friends who has a 360 now, used to own a PS1 or PS2. They switched because of issues with Sony.

You're crazy PimpDaddy if you think there are not fanboys who are as fanatic over the 360 as the PS3.

Ok. I'm crazy then. In fact call me "El Tony Loco" from now on :p

I'm sorry but PS3 fantards are the worst. I have joined multiple websites and the SDF just take over. Heaven forbid you say anything positive about the 360 or negative about the PS3.

In fact GamersReports is one of the few if any websites that allow you to actually speak well of the 360 or ill of the PS3 without getting gang raped by rabid PS3 fanboys...