What do you need to know
- Rumors have recently suggested that Microsoft is effectively abandoning Xbox marketing in Europe and other regions.
- A recent interview with Xbox’s head of marketing for Europe suggests that the rumors could also be true, noting that Sony has been spending dramatically on PlayStation.
- Xbox sales in Europe in particular have been declining for several years, with PlayStation being by far the dominant console gaming platform in the region.
Recently, Tom Warren’s reporter on The Verge suggested that Microsoft is looking to move away from 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 these rumors may be true as well.
In a new (paid) interview with Marketing Week, Xbox EMEA head of marketing Michael Flatt had some surprisingly candid comments about the state of Microsoft’s investment in Xbox in Europe, describing his team as having to be “down to scratch” to compete.
“In terms of funding, we have to work really hard against our competition,” he said pointing to the PlayStation. PlayStation is by far the most dominant console platform in Europe, thanks to decades of underinvestment and lack of interest from Microsoft focused on the US. Microsoft’s global operations have long been criticized (and by us) for treating non-US customers like second-class citizens.
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Flatt lamented that PlayStation was “unfortunately” outspending Xbox in terms of marketing in Europe. “They’re blessed with marketing funds that we’re just not able to enjoy, but that’s perfectly fine.” Flatt continues, “We take what I would call a more fiscally responsible approach to media investment. We’re not blessed with huge media budgets, so we have to be really down-and-dirty and pretty tough to fight for funds that would probably go elsewhere.”
Flatt described his team’s efforts as “futile,” which isn’t exactly what I personally want to hear from one of the world’s three most valuable companies, but Microsoft is indeed at a difficult macroeconomic confluence.
Would more marketing really help the Xbox?
Xbox fans have long criticized Microsoft’s careless approach to marketing. I recently wrote about how maybe great games aren’t enough for Microsoft to expand the Xbox, sharing anecdotes about how many times I ask gamers every day if they even know what the flagship game subscription Xbox Game Pass is—a simply disturbing amount. No.
Microsoft has always had bad marketing compared to Apple, Samsung and even Google probably. Consistency is key when it comes to this sort of thing, and Microsoft is anything but consistent when it comes to things like mindshare. For a long time my perception was that Microsoft had a general “if we build it, they will come” attitude, but that’s simply not the case. If you have two products that are identical, and one is marketed in such a way that it gets a potential customer actually feel well on the one that actually sells? Microsoft’s lack of visible urgency when it comes to the Surface, Xbox, and even Windows itself could be blamed for the problems of a whole range of products in recent years, before we even discuss things like software quality and customer service.
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However, marketing has no guarantees. I felt that Hellblade 2’s marketing was quite visible when I visited London recently, as well as on social media, but sales of the game were reportedly quite weak. As Michael Flatt says, they have to fight for a budget that could be spent elsewhere – a budget that could be better spent elsewhere. It would be nice if we could split into multiple timelines and examine the results of binary decisions, but it’s true that the overall global console user base hasn’t really grown over the years, despite marketing from everyone involved. Maybe it’s better to actually spend that money on maintaining what already exists and hope the marketing makes the game or product go viral for you. Still, Microsoft is such a tremendously huge company, I can’t help but wonder why they can’t afford to do both. But that seems to be the world we live in right now. Every company seems to be cutting costs and downsizing, and Xbox EMEA marketing seems to be the next casualty.
Despite all this, Microsoft is promoting its biggest Xbox presence yet at Europe’s big Gamescom conference later this summer in Cologne, Germany. In recent years, Microsoft has invested more specifically in Gamescom, which is definitely a “marketing” event. I would argue that Gamescom is hardly aimed at a mass casual audience though. Either way, it sounds like Michael Flatt and his team made the best of a difficult situation.