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[LakeOf9]

Recently, a newsletter by Tom Warren over at The Verge suggested that Microsoft has been exploring giving up on marketing its Xbox brand in Europe and other regions, in favor of the United States and other territories where it is more entrenched. Now, we have some confirmation that those rumors might as well be true.

During a new (paywalled) interview with Marketing Week, Xbox's EMEA marketing lead Michael Flatt had some surprisingly frank comments about the state of Microsoft's investment in Xbox in Europe, describing his team's need to be "scrappy" in order to compete.

"From a funding point of view, we need to work really hard against our competition," he said, pointing at PlayStation. PlayStation is by far the most dominant console platform in Europe, owing to decades of underinvestment and disinterest from the U.S.-centric Microsoft. Microsoft's global operations have long been criticized (by us too) for treating non-U.S. customers like second-class citizens.

Flatt lamented that PlayStation "regrettably" outspends Xbox in Europe when it comes to marketing. "They're blessed with marketing funds that we're just not able to enjoy, but that's totally fine." Flatt continues, "We adopt what I would call a more fiscally responsible approach to media investments. We're not blessed with huge media budgets, so we have to be quite scrappy really, and quite tenacious to fight for funds that would probably go somewhere else."

Flatt described his team's efforts as "scrappy," which is not exactly what I would personally want to hear from one of the world's top three most valuable companies, but Microsoft does find itself in a difficult macroeconomic confluence.

"We're not blessed with big marketing budgets," Xbox's EMEA marketing lead laments Microsoft's lack of investment

We finally have some real confirmation that Microsoft doesn't really care about marketing Xbox in Europe.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[Kataploom]

They're putting everything into the service it seems, but without advertising they're basically burning money lol. It's clear MS isn't giving a shit about advertising their platform these days, they do the bare minimum, but a service is what actually requires more advertising imo since it relies a lot on growth

 

[Ozriel]

This is absolutely stupid. And of course this is all on Phil.

You can’t be carrying around charts saying you’re struggling in Europe when you won’t budget enough for marketing.

Phil’s job to secure marketing budgets. Failing at that is inexcusable.

 

[Mr Moose]

Greenberg's Tweets are all the marketing they need.

 

[feynoob]

Guessed it right. MS really want to kill Xbox and go with 3rd party route.
They could have made Xbox a big force by investing more in the marketing department. Instead, they let it rot. Killed localization for other countries and effectivelly minimized Xbox growth.

Worst company ever to have a system like this.

 

[feynoob]

They're putting everything into the service it seems, but without advertising they're basically burning money lol. It's clear MS isn't giving a shit about advertising their platform these days, they do the bare minimum, but a service is what actually requires more advertising imo since it relies a lot on growth

They dont want to make the Xbox consoles, due to net loss for the device. Hence why they want cloud and other devices. It transfers device cost to those systems, while providing the service.

 

[Killer8]

The best deal in gaming ought to be able to sell itself!

 

[Topher]

Greenberg's Tweets are all the marketing they need.

 

[CoreyFlawless]

I mean, no point investing much to there when so many buy from there

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[Shin-Ra]

Funny, Nintendo seems to be doing just fine in Europe too.

 

[spons]

Funny, Nintendo seems to be doing just fine in Europe too.

Have you ever turned on TV during children's television? A constant barrage of Switch ads.
And yes, any marketing at all for Xbox would be a step up.

 

[Damigos]

Writing from the comfort of my chair and having absolutely no idea how a 3 trillion company is run, i say that MS should divide its self in completely different divisions. Like Sony does with music, movies, playstation etc. Its feels its become too big and cant focus on the exact product the consumer wants. Windows are meh, windows phones were terrible, xbox is a failure, gamepass is burning money, etc etc.
I am probably completely wrong, i know, but having an opinion is free

 

[LakeOf9]

Funny, Nintendo seems to be doing just fine in Europe too.

Nintendo has an absurd amount of marketing in Europe

 

[Kataploom]

They dont want to make the Xbox consoles, due to net loss for the device. Hence why they want cloud and other devices. It transfers device cost to those systems, while providing the service.

I also meant Game Pass, I think all their ads are for it but still not much compared to PS for example, that you see then everywhere any time

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

STFU

 

[Esppiral]

I am in Europe and I have yet still to see and Xbox add somewhere on the other hand, Nintendo and Sony are everywhere, then they wonder why they don't sell shit in Europe.

 

[SHA]

That reminds me of Tokyo Revengers, the more he turn back to the future the more he realize it's stupid and it's not going to work no matter what, the short answer is this is just stupid.

 

[Shin-Ra]

STFU

 

[BlackTron]

Who needs marketing budget when you have twitter warriors?

Oh wait. They WERE the budget.

 

[MayauMiao]

Xbox is a dying brand so it would make no sense for Microsoft to spend more on marketing in countries where the Xbox brand is seen as third rate.

 

[Shin-Ra]

These cunts though.

 

[Bernardougf]

At least their NeoGaf division seems to be well paid

 

[Moriarty1889]

Pitiful people running Xbox like Phil is all you need to know about this debacle. Just look at the lack of marketing around their recent games. It has been bare minimum to non existent. All that money and they can’t spend enough for proper marketing to make their games and console look viable. Like I said……pitiful.

 

[SHA]

I've just watched a video about how middle aged gamers desperate for immersion, he talked about midlife circumstances and how it affects our view on games.

Judging by the average age of gamers, it's not a surprise to see how careless they are to support contents from their favorite studios, yes, believe it or not, we became that careless to support them.

 

[Astray]

But people told me Tom Warren's report was unconfirmed and is solely based on a "tipster".

Would not be surprised if this guy was Warren's source on that report btw.

Also this is further evidence that Spencer is a useless leader and needs to be fired. How do you concede an entire region of the world like that to Sony? Dude has the gall to do that then complain on interviews about largely meaningless shit to mask his failings.

 

[diffusionx]

Marketing is an expense, it's not free money, and it's not guaranteed ROI. You need to feel like the juice is worth the squeeze. I can see why MS feels it wouldn't be, Yurp has always been PS territory. It would take a lot more than a few commercials to change this, it would be a massive, years long, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment at least, to try to change that perception.

 

[MadchesterManc]

This gotta be Don's fault somehow

 

[StereoVsn]

At least their NeoGaf division seems to be well paid

Nah, we only got 1/10th budget of REEE. Poor adamsapple is carrying the torch for the whole Xbox division!

 

[DenchDeckard]

It's called roi. Securing budgets in these companies is crazy. Especially when your ms and are the biggest company on the planet, pretty much.

Sony selling ten times as much in the region will ultimately secure an unimaginable marketing budget compared to xbox. If only you had done better xbox, pappa Satya might have loosened the purse strings a touch.

 

[Physiognomonics]

It's not about marketing the thing. Its about designing a compelling and desirable thing first.

 

[Gaelyon]

I wonder how much of $69 billions could have been used to have great marketing ? Poor MS

 

[BennyBlanco]

What’s the point? Xbox is completely dead in Europe.

 

[Astray]

What’s the point? Xbox is completely dead in Europe.

The point is that it would not be dead if they spent time and effort promoting it. It's not just advertisement, it's also buying additional retail space to look better to consumers, having more stock at retailers by allocating funds to discounts when needed etc.

Like whether you agree or not with how they got their gaming pipeline, they actually have a gaming pipeline and mostly good hardware to market now.. And they are not doing that for some seriously strange reason. They are incredibly US-centric, and even that market is now collapsing on them.

 

[feynoob]

What’s the point? Xbox is completely dead in Europe.

Xbox is working on handheld device. The people in the marketing department aren't satisfied with this treatment .

 

[BennyBlanco]

The point is that it would not be dead if they spent time and effort promoting it. It's not just advertisement, it's also buying additional retail space to look better to consumers, having more stock at retailers by allocating funds to discounts when needed etc.

Like whether you agree or not with how they got their gaming pipeline, they actually have a gaming pipeline and mostly good hardware to market now.. And they are not doing that for some seriously strange reason. They are incredibly US-centric, and even that market is now collapsing on them.

You can advertise all you want but you can’t force people to give a shit. I would call this a rare W for Microsoft not wasting money.

 

[TGO]

I remember when every game advertised had "Jump In " at the end.
How did that work out for you MS?
And you threw it all away.
Seriously theses companies just expect people to buy their products with no effort on their part.
And it not just MS either, Sony has been the same the last 5 years.
Nintendo is the only one that actually gets it.

 

[Dorfdad]

Why do I have a feeling within 5 years Microsoft is going to be selling off franchises to Sony or others to recoup some of this cash they are burning? Would be crazy if this was all to report a massive loss and tax deductions than sell them off

 

[SlimySnake]

Spends $75 billion on one company.

Doesnt have money left over to market that company.

What a bunch of doofuses.

 

[Rossco EZ]

Greenberg's Tweets are all the marketing they need.

ughhhhh

 

[Kerotan]

This is absolutely stupid. And of course this is all on Phil.

You can’t be carrying around charts saying you’re struggling in Europe when you won’t budget enough for marketing.

Phil’s job to secure marketing budgets. Failing at that is inexcusable.

They don't because advertising isn't free and won't get a return on their investment. Europe is Sonyland.

 

[Bernardougf]

Spends $75 billion on one company.

Doesnt have money left over to market that company.

What a bunch of doofuses.

They have the money.. is calling giving up on market share ... at least for now. Now they just want to increase prices, change tiers, milk the fanbase and prepare for whatever they will do with xbox/gamepass for their nextgen console. I personaly think people expecting gamepass to stay as it is nextgen are going for a rude awakening pretty soon, but who knows.

 

[King Dazzar]

Surely adamsapple could just tour Europe?

 

[RickMasters]

The best deal in gaming ought to be able to sell itself!

I think if their install base was similar to the X360 they would not be having this problem right now.


All their own fault but we have beaten that horse to death at this point

 

[BennyBlanco]

I remember when every game advertised had "Jump In " at the end.
How did that work out for you MS?
And you threw it all away.
Seriously theses companies just expect people to buy their products with no effort on their part.
And it not just MS either, Sony has been the same the last 5 years.
Nintendo is the only one that actually gets it.

Sony is selling a ton of consoles in Europe. What do you mean?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The point is that it would not be dead if they spent time and effort promoting it. It's not just advertisement, it's also buying additional retail space to look better to consumers, having more stock at retailers by allocating funds to discounts when needed etc.

Like whether you agree or not with how they got their gaming pipeline, they actually have a gaming pipeline and mostly good hardware to market now.. And they are not doing that for some seriously strange reason. They are incredibly US-centric, and even that market is now collapsing on them.

They've been confined to US and to a lesser extent UK and Australia since Day 1 of the OG Xbox. They had good hardware in the early days too and regularly spent money on exclusive games. The problem of Xbox not existing outside of English speaking nations is much deeper than just buying a few TV ads

 

[solidus12]

The marketing budget goes to shills and console warriors to hate on the competition

 

[Katatonic]

 

[StereoVsn]

They've been confined to US and to a lesser extent UK and Australia since Day 1 of the OG Xbox. They had good hardware in the early days too and regularly spent money on exclusive games. The problem of Xbox not existing outside of English speaking nations is much deeper than just buying a few TV ads

They haven’t invested in proper localization departments and if anything have been cutting back on them.

And of course NA centric 2013 “TV, TV, TV”, DRM, and Tier 1/2 countries disaster.

 

[bender]

They have the money.. is calling giving up on market share ... at least for now. Now they just want to increase prices, change tiers, milk the fanbase and prepare for whatever they will do with xbox/gamepass for their nextgen console.

Giving up on market share makes doesn't make a whole lot of sense if they do plan on having a next generation device.