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How Microsoft won Europe.
MakeMyDay
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It had somehow slipped my radar and Microsoft didn't really advertise it. On the exact same day as the PS3 launch , a "limited" number of XBOX360s would cost 299Euros. With 2 games ( Kameo , and PGR 3) 319Euros.
You can easily get the Premium + 2 games for 299Euros from many stored.
Now imagine somebody walking in a Gamestop or similar establishment. They see a big sign : "PLAYSTATION 3 just in! 599EUROS!" . They are intrigued. But then , from the corner of their eye they see a much smaller sign. "XBOX 360 + Kameo + PGR3 299Euros" . I think we all know what happens then.
For me? I bought the XBOX ( 299 Euros) and a new LCD Samsung 26" TV for 500 Euros. That makes 800 Euros. 200Euros more then the PS3 but a FUCKING LCD TV more + 2 ok games.
I am a happy camper!
You can easily get the Premium + 2 games for 299Euros from many stored.
Now imagine somebody walking in a Gamestop or similar establishment. They see a big sign : "PLAYSTATION 3 just in! 599EUROS!" . They are intrigued. But then , from the corner of their eye they see a much smaller sign. "XBOX 360 + Kameo + PGR3 299Euros" . I think we all know what happens then.
For me? I bought the XBOX ( 299 Euros) and a new LCD Samsung 26" TV for 500 Euros. That makes 800 Euros. 200Euros more then the PS3 but a FUCKING LCD TV more + 2 ok games.
I am a happy camper!
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They launched an insane bundle with 3 free games (and two free XBLA downloads) on the same day that the PS3 launched. I finally caved in and got a 360.
I hope your topic title has a flame retardant coating.
Very very sneaky.
Quite easy to do when you actually supply enough stock to meet the demand. PS3 is the first and only next-gen console in Europe to not sell out instantly. We have no idea what it would've been like if MS and Nintendo had the luxury of waiting like Sony did, or if Sony had gone worldwide with miniscule stock like Nintendo and MS did.
It's also only a 60% sell-through or something. 40% of stock unpurchased as of right now.
Okay, seeing as how Microsoft won Europe we could have Sony win America and Nintendo win Japan. After gathering their winnings they could all trade countries or do war with each other.
Exactly.
The news wasn't really about there being unprecedented demand, it was that Sony actually managed to supply enough consoles. Sony should be commended for doing so, but we really won't know how the launch went for a few more months. Maybe it will keep selling well, or maybe all the early adopters bought theirs on launch day.
I'll trade you my Uganda for your Belgium. I likes me some chocolate.
And yes, that 360 pack is god damn tempting. I'm not going to get a 360 or PS3 till I actually own a HDTV. And they're still too expensive for a decent one.
A quick google says 250 Euros, which works out to around $330 US. But hey, gaming companies have been screwing over Europe for years, it something of a industrial past time at this point.
Yeah, Europe usually does get the shit end of the stick. I always thought this to be really strange too considering how big of a market it is.
Europe is not a country.
Yeah, but I think we got the point anyway.
Country or collections of countries then.
Edit: Also I found the Everybody Votes channel to be interesting with the worldwide polls. There are a ton of places involved.
Here in Sweden businesses love to use "1 USD = 10 SEK" conversions, while it's actually 1 USD =~ 7,50 SEK.
*checks* Wooh, dollar below 7 SEK again! Yay for shitty US economy!
edit: though honestly, a part of that is accounted for by taxes.
You didn't know? The 360 won Japan, man. It's the cheapest place to find it on the planet, so it must've won there, right?
Seriously though, you're completely right. Out of all the European countries, the only one that the 360 has sold well in is the UK. It hasn't even come close to 'winning' Europe.
Exchange rates can't be blamed, since they could just do a direct conversion (like Sony does in Canada with the PS3).
Part of it is taxes, but most of it is just markup. In the previous generations, the price increase was semi-justified, since they had to recoup the price of converting the hardware and software to PAL. But these days, the games and hardware are essentially identical, so there's no reason for there to be a price difference.
it's almost like you were personally attacked by this
so i bought a ps2 and five games instead for 1/3 the price
i'm finally becoming a crafty consumer!
He has a bit of a complex when it comes to these sort of things. I understand that we're not going to get products at an actual exchange rate value, since transporting the stock here has to be taken into account, but expecting people to pay $120 a game is outrageous. A lot of the Microsoft titles seem to have dropped down a bit of late, which is a step in the right direction.
$80 is the sweet spot really, its far enough away from $100 that it seems reasonable to people. $100+ is an absurdity.
It's actually really cheap to transport goods from East Asia (where most of them are manufactured) to Australia. After all, northern Australia is pretty much part of South-East Asia.
So, transport costs can't really be blamed for the price difference, since it's cheaper to transport the stock to Australia than it is to the US. It probably wouldn't be much more expensive to ship to Europe either.
We find it's a much more fun proposition than being won by a company. Furthermore, we've been won by games on all platforms! Hurrah! Sir Wilfred Laurier would be proud.
I do hope one of your downloaded games was jetpac. Awesome little game that one.
Not really, it's just a stupid thread title considering the subject matter and it sounds even more stupid when you find out that the 360 isn't even close to 'winning' Europe.
Got any current numbers to back that up, along with a comparable ratio to other hardware sales patterns in Europe?
Or are you just repeating what Reggie said?
Because you know, you called out the title bollocks with more bollocks.
You're asking for the ridiculous and you probably know that. Of the European countries that track hardware and software sales, most don't even give specific numbers (eg, for the UK, Chart Track only give numbers for hardware but not software).
The best indication of how well the 360 is doing in Europe (outside of the UK) is the software charts that come out either weekly or monthly. So far they've been dominated completely by PS2 and DS (and on a lesser note, Wii), with the odd 360 and PSP cameo.
Edit: But hey, if you've got some figures (sold, not shipped remember) that prove me wrong, go ahead. I'll admit when I'm wrong but on this instance, I'm agreeing with Reggie.
Actually, how about this: since the original topic is how Microsoft won Europe, perhaps those asserting this could provide evidence proving it's trending towards the 360, because current signs point towards the PS3 and Wii.
To paraphrase Reggie: That's Nintendo's and MS' issue, not Sony's problem. The bottom line is that they didn't, so they had a better launch. We'll never know how it would've turned out, so that line of thought is somewhat pointless.
Currently playing: Infamous, Resident Evil 5
Need to play: Shadow Complex, Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank: ACIT, MW2, Alpha Protocol
They can say that all they want, but unless that number is backed up by an independent source, I don't believe it for a second. UKResistance has all sorts of photos from launch day, with stores having upwards of 70+ units in stock well into the evening. (Hell, they're still updating with pictures of digital stock reports that some stores have that are showing 60+ units in stock.)
You're missing vital pieces of the puzzle.
1) International freight is done by container ships. Big metal boxes. You pay for the box, and the space on the ship, and loading/unloading/whatever else. Now you can reliably fill a container bound for NA because it's a huge market. Australia? Not at all. And no one gives a damn if you can't fill your container, and if you can't swing shipping a few things at once, your per item shipping costs become very, very high, and you're not going to eat that, the consumer will.
2) Australia is too small to justify the industry required to produce games locally. NA is not. Games, movies, CDs, software, etc., can all be pressed and packaged in North America. No international freight costs on them. Huge per item savings.
3) Marketing costs. Companies have to localize, or do different marketing altogether. On top of that, you have a much smaller market to buy the product, so your per item marketing costs are higher, too. Again, the consumer pays for this.
So it's not 100% mark-up. You might not agree with the justification for the mark-ups, and you might not accept the degree to which mark-up is tied to those factors, but there are very real reasons why Australia pays more that go beyond greed.
Europe gets boned for mostly the same reasons.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Thats pretty rational, however, I do think there is more to it than that.
The UK speaks only English, and a significant proportion of pal releases don't have corrected American (color for example) and certainly arent re-scripted to fit british culture. There is zero reason to charge british consumers for localization of games to the rest of europe. Alot of marketing, in terms of TV/magazine ads are exactly the same in USA and the UK, although it could be argueed that additional costs are encurred by researching whether or not the allready produced american marketing is 'compatible' with UK markets, and if producing new localised marketing campaigns would be cost effective.
Basically, there is some legitimatw reason for games/hardware to cost more in the UK, but I personally beleive 'greed' is a large factor.
yes but all of that would take a lot of effort, and it's just easiest to charge more because I mean really what are you going to do, move?
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
there are a few options...
Uh, UK Resistance is a joke site.
And those reports are from Chart-Track for the most part. The only Sony-related release I saw was them moving 100k from launch to now in Spain (week-ish).
Currently playing: Infamous, Resident Evil 5
Need to play: Shadow Complex, Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank: ACIT, MW2, Alpha Protocol