Midway: 360 "lagging behind" in Europe

Sarge

Midway veep Martin Spiess has said the Xbox 360's performance in some European countries is a concern, and that it's "lagging behind" its competitors.

"I don't know what it's like for other companies, but the market is not as big as the US market, so naturally we have lower attachment rates," Spiess told GamesIndustry.biz.

"But it could be growing to the same size as the US - the only problem we have right now is that we see in certain territories Microsoft is lagging behind. Sony has become very strong, Nintendo has become very strong, but the Microsoft market in certain territories is concerning."

Microsoft is well aware of its weakness in certain markets, of course, and recently installed Chris Lewis as head of its Interactive Entertainment Business for Europe, among other measures, to try and address the problem.

Speaking to Eurogamer at GDC earlier this year, Xbox Live boss John Schappert - number two to Don Mattrick, head of the Xbox business - said Southern Europe was a particular concern.

"We look, and we are hitting the ball out of the park in North America, and I think that there's regions of Europe where we're not doing as well as we'd like to do, and we have room for improvement," he said. "Those are renewed areas and key areas of focus for us."

clicky

Something Fishy

Wel it's true, they are. Can't argue with that.

As me an Chris discussed earlier.. perhaps they could, gulp.. try some marketing?

Perhaps Midway should release there turgid attempts at games this gen on the other platforms and give the 360 more of a chance then.

CrystalGipsy wrote:Perhaps Midway should release there turgid attempts at games this gen on the other platforms and give the 360 more of a chance then.

Nicely put.

Midway is correct, but maybe it should do something about its own games lineup, which is absolutely strawberry floating awful, rather than talk about Microsoft. PRIORITIES.

What games are Midway bringing out for the rest of the year anyway? I know they have TNA and the new Mortal Kombat game which both look pretty decent but what else have they?

They are right about Microsofts performance in Europe being poor though, the video marketplace is a joke compared to the US equivalent and the lack of any sort of marketing for Viva Pinata is pretty odd considering they want to expand their market beyond hardcore gamers.

Very true but at least Microsoft publish games worth buying.

Microsoft will lag behind until they start an aggressive advertising push. And not just Gears Of War 2, but VP2, Fable 2, Lips, the new Scene It!. Shout about GTA IV and it's DLC, tell people about XBLA( my friends had no idea that PS3/Wii/360 had these download services). They need to get the message out about playing online with games like COD4, Halo 3 and COD: World At War.

Nintendo have the new market sewn up with an amazing lifestyle campaign and Sony can always push the fact they have Blu Ray. Microsoft need to step up and say "We have the best games and best online/community features and we are the cheapest machine on the market".

Stranglehold will sell 20 million!

I loved it how optimistic they were for that game, so began their spiralling downfall.

PostRe: Midway: 360 "lagging behind" in Europe by KK » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:23 pm

Midway have always reminded me of Acclaim for some reason. Dunno why, really.

This isn't actually news, is it!

This will upset Rik. :fp:

KKLEIN wrote:Midway have always reminded me of Acclaim for some reason. Dunno why, really.

Both make (or made) gooseberry fool games.

Midway: 360 "lagging behind" in Europe

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