Talking to Edge magazine, Vice President of Xbox Europe Chris Lewis discussed European Xbox Live memberships admitting that Europe accounts for "less than a quarter" of all Xbox Live subscribers worldwide. "We don't normally break out the European element of our Live membership," Lewis continued, "I will say to you as a percentage of that overall total, it's just less than a quarter. And I'll tell you also that a large part of that is in the UK."So, where are all the Xbox Live Europeans at and why aren't they gaming on Live? The answer: stupid language barriers. The French, Spanish, German and other non-English speaking gamers of the world for the most part don't feel Xbox Live is a rich enough service to warrant a subscription. And it's sad too. Knowing that, one could also guesstimate that non-English speaking Europeans don't read X3F either. How sad and lonely their Xbox 360 gaming existence must be ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-31-2008 @ 9:56AM
Neuromancer said...
We should all learn Esperanto.. That way when someone on Live calls you a fag or says the N-word, everyone in the world will know what he's saying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:58AM
kierepka said...
This is not only problem with XBox Live gamming. This problem is also for all XNA programmers! I'm using account from USA instead my Polish for XNA development!
I wrote about this problems to all in Microsoft including Chris Lewis _without_ any response ;(
7-31-2008 @ 9:57AM
arrogowski said...
If Microsoft offered built in wifi and FREE online gaming service for 360, making it less expensive than a PS3 for me I'd be 10,000% more enticed to buy one : /
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:04AM
SadisticHam said...
If Sony sold their games at the same price as Xbox360 games here I'd be more enticed..oh no i wouldn't, they have no games.
///fanboy.
-----
Not being a dick here but I'm sure that the fact that around 70-80% of the time a European even tries to talk they get some American go SHUT DA FUCK UP MAN comes into play as well, I mean It's to be expected as they have the biggest amount of users on Live but bleh.
I'd be put off by it, in fact being British i am put off with it, apparently me talking normally is more annoying than shouting his mouth off the entire game. Just stick to private chat for the most part these days.
Course you get British people and Europeans acting dicks as well, I'm not blaming America but as they have the largest user base, it's..yeah, a real turn off as it where.
7-31-2008 @ 10:16AM
AFAI said...
I don't mind the lack of Europeans on XBL. Nothing frustrates me more than being the only English speaker in a loud Spanish or French game with guys that suck at COD.
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:35AM
root said...
im reading x3f.
and i'm from austria, suckers.
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:43AM
nils said...
reader in germany ;)
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 4:19PM
slimshady said...
me too
7-31-2008 @ 10:50AM
BFBeast666 said...
I'm from Germany as well.
One of the reasons that make Live not so appealing is the immaturity of mostly the younger Live users. Especially in games that openly show your nationality (e.g. Lost Planet) I had it often enough that I got kicked as soon as my flag appeared - or after I had to endure some VERY unfriendly slur along the lines of "fuck off, Nazi".
I very well know that for every scumbag there is at least ten decent people, but at least for me the scumbag ratio has been pretty high lately, so I play mostly with people from my friends list.
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:52AM
Pojii said...
Iam from sweden and are a 360/wow fan:D:D play both as much as i can
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 10:56AM
Michael Paul said...
Voice is overrated. I played GOW the other day as part of the Play&Win, and noticed that the headset was useless during the first couple of matches when nobody said anything or it was mostly garbled. Not ALL garbled, since the swearing was rampant.
So I went without bothering to plug it in after that, and didn't miss much. It's not like there's a real camaraderie about the public matches you just drop into: mostly it's kill the other team and hope for a win...
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:00AM
zorniki said...
...another austrian x3f reader and live subscriber.
I don´t really play that much online. But that´s not because of language barriers or anything. I enjoy a good SP story for the most part of my scarce gaming time.
@ SarcasticHam:
Yeah, I made these encounters of the "stfu!" kind as well. I mean wtf??? :-O
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:05AM
Sent In To Die said...
I hear you guys about immature kids and idiotic slurs. I'm an American, and 97% of the people on live piss me off. I use friends only setting. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on "teamwork", but if I turn it back to everyone...I quickly realize why I keep it on friends only. Unfortunately, this will never change. It's impossible for everyone to be a little more mature, especially when gaming and adrenaline is involved!
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:06AM
Wilson said...
Whenever I play over Live, I'd rather not use the mic, since I've come across some rather stupid people online. If they hear the slightest accent, they start with the racial slur and other stupid comments.
I'd rather have the choice to be able to connect with only people from my same country.
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:09AM
Grum Laban said...
Language barrier? No. Price is to blame. 100%. I live in Denmark (download google earth americans and you might learn something) and everything i more than double the price compared to the USA. A year of XBL is 499,- DKR (Danish Kroner) which is about 110$. Now that is a barrier!
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 12:08PM
spamsphen said...
Sucks.
7-31-2008 @ 1:23PM
B said...
Being a bigot wasn't needed but that price is outrageous.
7-31-2008 @ 11:19AM
raph87 said...
Polish cool guy here, reading x3f and doesn't afraid of anything. ;)
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:28AM
FluXs said...
oh god,
I'm from the UK and most of the time I don't use voice chat. I usually find myself in games full of 6 year olds asking retarded questions over and over and over or whining about some random thing... However the best one was in R6V2 where some kid was having a full blown argument with his mother screaming at her with his mic on... Oh happy days :)
Reply
7-31-2008 @ 11:30AM
Turchinsky said...
Language barriers, huh? I think, they're just blaming them for their marketing failures. Everyone knows English these days. And those who don't can just, I don't know, play games.
As for my country, Live doesn't even work in Russia. I had to register US account. It needs american credit card, so I have to buy Xbox Live prepaid cards over ebay. And I can't download most of the content (arcades, demoes, DLC) because my non-US IP is blocked.
Reply