In a recent interview with Edge-Online, Chris Lewis, Microsoft’s Vice President of Interactive Entertainment EMEA, talks about Microsoft’s recent focus on Europe and the impact that some games may have. Specifically, when asked what game could be a success in a challenging region, Lewis mentions the extremely violent Gears of War 2. His fear is that even though the upcoming Gears title is going to be good, Microsoft still needs to be wary of how they target the title.
… I’m going to be pretty excited about things like Gears Of War 2. And what you’ll see us do is continue to dial up emotional connection with the broader community, but we want to do it such a way that we don’t alienate the core. And similarly, when we’re talking about Gears Of War, that we don’t alienate the masses. That’s not the easiest challenge.
Lewis proceeds to answer the challenge by alluding to on the shelf game diversity, as opposed to price points. How does one attain diversity? Lewis’ answer is tossing out family titles to broaden the senses because “[y]ou’ve got to have games that are not intimidating and dark, that mums and dads can get involved in without the incumbent humiliation.” He also went on to add that Europeans are pansies, and can only handle chainsaws for so long before they start crying for party games. Unfortunately, after the statement, Lewis became visibly frightened through his telepathic link with the people of EMEA, and physically curled up in a ball because of the lack of cartoon teddy bears and Avatars.
