Europe: can it be cracked?

T

TheChefO

Banned
EU guys,
If you were in Nintendo and Microsofts shoes, how would you bring your console to domination in the EU market?

Another thread brought up this idea but unfortunately I myself can contribute little to the topic.
*Note: This is not a versus thread, marketing position only. Please keep the thread civil. :)

*observations, please correct me if I'm wrong:
xb360:
I've heard of places where xb360 is available at significantly reduced rates. This suggests to me price is not the main concern. Games selection and advertising perhaps? How could these aspects be improved specifically for your region?

Wii:
Price seems to be accepted, from what I've heard systems are moving. Question is, at it's current projection, could you see Wii dominating the EU market or will it always be relegated to secondary console in that region? What would it take to shed this image specifically in your region?
 
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Microsoft: Bundle Forza2 with the Xbox 360 Core (or premium) , price drop.

Nintendo : Get atleast one more game thats good, except for zelda.
 
If i was ms i would start off by decideing to stop ripping off british customers
uk price £279
us price $299 (£152)
 
MS: more peripheral stuff, more variety, more originality
Nintendo: bring in more Wiis. They're doing fine, and are still clearly supply limited.
 
I would make the following bundle and sell it at the current EU pricepoint :

Fifa0X
Winning Eleven
Football Manager
Random F1 racing game
 
rounin said:
I would make the following bundle and sell it at the current EU pricepoint :

Fifa0X
Winning Eleven
Football Manager
Random F1 racing game
Click to expand...

We got Pro Evo and Fifa bundles allready.

F1 games in general, arent really big sellers, Car simulation games like GT however, are.
 
Ostepop said:
We got Pro Evo and Fifa bundles allready.

F1 games in general, arent really big sellers, Car simulation games like GT however, are.
Click to expand...

Understood. You mean to tell me EU has a bundle in which both Pro Evo and Fifa are in there? That was what I meant : all FOUR of those (probably replace F1 with Forza2 or Gears of War game) in one bundle.
 
rounin said:
Understood. You mean to tell me EU has a bundle in which both Pro Evo and Fifa are in there? That was what I meant : all FOUR of those (probably replace F1 with Forza2 or Gears of War game) in one bundle.
Click to expand...

No, i meant like X360 bundle with one game, Evo pro, or fifa etc.
 
I think the joint effort by MS and Nintendo to introduce double agents at key positions at Sony headquarters is already starting to pay off with regard to Europe, between the price, the delay, and the recent BC news. :D
 
I agree with the Forza 2 bundling idea. MS should basically give away Forza 2 to new X360 owners and drop the price by 100 euros. They should do this in May/June right after the PS3 craze dies down so that they don't look like they are undervaluing their console because of the PS3 launch.
 
Price can be adjusted easy for any one of these companies are any company in any region. Outside of the price argument (which I think all are offering "fair" pricing), what could they be doing better?

Does their advertising suck or do you think it fits your region? Games selection: is it forced or do you see titles which hit home and appeal to you?

Overall it seemed from discussions with other EU gamers that other consoles seemed to have a stigma attached to them of substandard in that region. Any consideration for a console outside of Sony would be an after-thought or secondary. I thought it might be good to find out why and have this resource to discuss possible improvements in a region which is large in number and wealth, yet seems to be treated questionably from console makers. Much of this perceived disrespect stems from Significantly higher taxes than other regions and having these taxes included in the price of consoles where other regions leave the tax seperate. Others complain of the habitually last status during console launches. Outside of these two issues though I myself know little about the region and what makes the console market in this region tick. Hence this thread. :)

Originally Posted by Titanio
And to backtrack, in this discussion of Europe and 'how poorly' Sony has treated Europe etc., the history that is there seems to be ignored completely. Beyond launch timings etc., in terms of honestly more important and lasting issues such as development, content and marketing, Sony has paid a lot more specific attention to Europe to date than either of the other two, by quite some margin. That stuff matters more in the long run. Europeans aren't stupid because Playstation is popular here - it's because it has served them very well, and also in a more 'localised way' than other systems (if I can put it that way).

Originally Posted by Titanio
Well, it's not just marketing. Content, retail (others are catching up here), and marketing. And I'm not presenting a comprehensive explanation of Sony's success. I'm just pushed to mention the things Sony does RIGHT in Europe relative to the competition when people characterise Europe as some kind of abused spouse that irrationally sticks to their product. Yes, Sony has lagged MS and Nintendo in some respects with the handling of the PS3 launch in terms of equal treatment with the rest of the world, but in perhaps less externally obvious ways they've been a lot more progressive, and in ways that probably matter more over the lifetime of a particular product.
Anyway, this is OT, so I shall say no more.

Originally Posted by Platon
I agree, although many would get the impression that Sony just totaly abuses the european customers they also offer of good things. One good example is singstar, where they would also make local variations for each country, even the small ones, having local hits and stuff like that. Those kind of things take you very far, in making you popular and of course being an FIFA sponsor and son on does not hurt either, so for sure Sony does a lot of good moves as well.
I still think that Europe is Sony land where the xbox brand has a chance in UK and scandinavia I think, but the further south you go the more prevalent becomes the Sony stronghold in Europe. We will have to wait and see how it goes with the PS3 and its price though, but I don't think they will suffer too much but for now wait and see...
Click to expand...
I hope you guys (Platon, Titanio) don't mind me pulling your posts in this thread for insight.

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39000&page=8
 
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Of course, lowering the price could help... but also accept more European developers.

There is a huge market in Europe for strategy games - millions of copies of games that hardly even get noticed in the US. The Anno and Settlers series in Germany, the Imperivm series in Spain/Italy... the European armchair generals and mayors should be pulled out of their cramped chair at the home office desk and plopped in the living room couch, controller in hand.
 
TheChefO said:
EU guys,
If you were in Nintendo and Microsofts shoes, how would you bring your console to domination in the EU market?
Click to expand...

MS: Stop making copies of other games and rely so much on First Person shooters, i guess you could sum it up in less American more European:

Nintendo: They are doing fine, if they want to do better, less kiddie stuff less Japanese culture stuff and more European developers.
 
And MS needs to shift their focus in Europe. Where I live the main occupation of the MS office is, how to put it, "convincing" government officials into buying tens of thousands of copies of Windows and Office for the bloated public administration. The Sony representatives have the lifesyle magazines eating out of their hand, oooing and aaahing every time they release another underfeatured phone or digital camera with a slighthly different shade of metallic gray on the outside. Who is in a better position to sell a luxury lifestyle good to the masses?
 
Ostepop said:
You do know that PS3 has more FPS games than the X360? Percentage wise?
Click to expand...

Yes, but it's the PS2 that's dominating in Europe and thus a reason for this thread, not the PS3 which has yet to show up. And the PS2 definitely doesn't have more shooters percentage-wise than either one of the Xboxes.
 
assen said:
Yes, but it's the PS2 that's dominating in Europe and thus a reason for this thread, not the PS3 which has yet to show up. And the PS2 definitely doesn't have more shooters percentage-wise than either one of the Xboxes.
Click to expand...

"Definately" is a strong word.

PS2 has 384 shooters in gamespots database, out of a total of 2622 titles. Meaning 14,64%.
The X360 has 18%.

The X360 only having shooters is more of an illusion, or a stereotype, than it is a fact.
 
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