Microsoft has confidently declared that it is “investing to win” in Europe, sinking money into developer relations and content deals. The ‘Soft’s David Gosen stated his belief that the Xbox 360 would beat the PS3 this generation and it seems that victory in Europe is all part of this fanciful plan.
“We’re investing to win in Europe,” explained Gosen. “We can do better and we’re incredibly well-placed to drive success in the region. We’ve got to make sure we tailor our resource needs to the games we are making.”
The new investments will include Marketplace and XBLA content, as well as support for internal and external studios. MS has also gone as far as to appoint two new accounts managers specifically to deal with European third parties. Before now, a US representative was always used.
Of course, Microsoft has said many, many times that it intends to do more in Europe, but nothing ever comes of it. I still remember them promising a huge event for Europeans last winter, only for it to amount to one wallpaper and some gamerpics. That’s not even mentioning the fact that Microsoft spends most of its resources fighting a losing battle in Japan while European gamers continue to hug their PS3s and balk at ridiculously overpriced MS Points that make no allowance for currency exchange rates. Still … maybe they’re not talking horsesh*t this time … ha.
