Midway, being the first to offer constructive criticism (or just plain old criticism), expressed some concerns regarding Microsoft's Xbox 360 performance in Europe, saying that the feel the console is "lagging behind" its competitors.
In an interview during the Leipzig Games Convention, Midway Vice President Martin Spiess talked with GamesIndustry.biz about Midway's performance in Europe and attributes some of their slow growth due to Microsoft's sluggish performance. "Sony has become very strong, Nintendo has become very strong, but the Microsoft market in certain territories is concerning" Spiess admitted, saying that "Microsoft is lagging behind." Ouch! Someone better revoke Spiess' Xbox 360 Cool Kids Club membership ASAP. The first rule of Xbox 360 Cool Kids Club is that we don't blame our company's problems on the 360. Shame!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-09-2008 @ 11:29AM
Que said...
What, Europeans are choosing Sony cuz its a shinier console?
I don't think so, its the fault of the games.
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9-09-2008 @ 11:32AM
Tony said...
Midway isn't really doing super well on anything at this point. I'm not going to argue that the 360 isn't sluggish there, but it doesn't seem like a major symptom of Midway's problems lately.
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9-09-2008 @ 11:47AM
ccc said...
First and formost, these days Midway is a pile of shit company that has absolutly nothing going for it.
Lets see, MK VS DC....LMAO!
Area 51....whatever.
How about you (Midway) focus more on making some shit people would want to play like a new 2d mk game.
Or how about putting some effort into the Xbox Live Arcade like MK2 or other MK games or Total Carnage? Midway has many resources but uses none of them they have no buisness making comments about anything.
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9-09-2008 @ 11:52AM
Dirty said...
It is an american console for americans. Im fine with that.
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9-09-2008 @ 4:47PM
Epyon83 said...
ehm lol? selfish ass, ever thought about other ppl? well i love in europe and midway is absolutly right. we dont get content the US does, free games and stuff.. thats not fair at all!
9-09-2008 @ 8:04PM
AoE said...
@Epyon83,
Wait... hold the phone. What are these free games you speak of?
9-11-2008 @ 9:07PM
Epyon83 said...
Yeah OK maybe not thaaat much but there were alot different gamerpics, themes and an arcade game i dont know the game anymor (it wasnt underow or carcassonne) But we really got less content than you, and thats just sad :(
9-09-2008 @ 11:53AM
emirabal said...
Whatever, for some odd reason, i have feeling it has to do with pricing differences.
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9-09-2008 @ 12:04PM
Doll said...
UT3 ring a bell?
I'm not sure where Spiess gets off thinking that we need to cater to the EU (excluding UK) separately.
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9-09-2008 @ 12:22PM
Mazrael said...
What have Midway actually made? top of my head is Mortal Kombat, and they published Unreal Tournament..
I've had a lot of games for my 360.. around 60 retail & arcade.. after checking, I have one game with Midway on the box. Stranglehold. the only one.. 360 gamers obviously have better things to play, than whatever Midway is offering.
So far, nothing (on PS3) has grabbed my attention apart from Heavy Rain..
The Wii is next to my 360.. 8 games at most since launch.
Do Midway know the attach rate for 360 is much higher than either PS3 or Wii? A lot of PS3's are probably being used as cheap Blu-ray players.. where the Wii gets short lived use, maybe used for an hour on Wii-Fit, or being given as a gift..
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9-09-2008 @ 12:29PM
JJ said...
Granted midway hasnt made too much of a ruckus these last few years....I still they're probably in a better position to gauge territory information better than any of us here.
and from what i have seen the 360 indeed has been sluggish in the european countries overall, PS3 has gained considerable ground on them in terms of sales both hardware and software wise.
Its not ALWAYS about attach ratio (which wasnt even a factor until this gen oddly..) I guess its the same with that first to 10 million issue brought up a while ago. Its just a baseless number that means nothing to publishers.
As long as they sell games, i doubt attach ratio means much, if its not they're games that are part of it.
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9-09-2008 @ 12:29PM
mattclarkie said...
Pricing definately makes the Wii seem a good choice.
But personally I think it is because Europe is full of Morons. I live in Europe and get tired of everyone drooling over the Wii this and Apple that. Stop buying crap Europe.
Also Europe is a bit fussy about things breaking, in countries such as France and Germany they are put off by the American Console that breaks. They would put up with a decently priced American console, but when you say to a German that it has a 50%+ chance of breaking they shy away especially when they see that it is cheaper in America. We do have a hatred of America over here in Europe.
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9-09-2008 @ 2:42PM
Sinister Rouge said...
I rather enjoy drooling over my Macbook Pro when I turn it on every morning, thanks.
9-09-2008 @ 1:23PM
Pulp said...
Microsoft will make concessions to the European market by selling Xbox360's with cigarette burns on the casing and hair under the triggers.
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9-09-2008 @ 1:57PM
Aero said...
Erm, last time I checked Microsoft WAS lagging behind in Europe. It's Playstation and Nintendo land here.
I mean, look at the UK charts, most of the time it's just full of casual Wii games.
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9-09-2008 @ 2:49PM
Ad-Man said...
I'm not sure about mainland Europe but in the UK the 360 and related software is still going better than the ps3 by a decent enough margin, it's catching up I'll give you that and it wont take long for it to break through if devlopers don't get their act together, but its still repping the big x... But as you said the wii is killing both of them so going on charts it's difficult to tell...
9-09-2008 @ 2:52PM
Olav said...
"Nintendo has become very strong," -quote
are we talking about performance here? the nintendo Wii has low performance it cant play games with high quality.
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9-10-2008 @ 9:36AM
Sinister Rouge said...
It's been eating its vegetables.
9-09-2008 @ 4:14PM
Metal_Gear said...
This webpage is full of win!
One guy from Midway gives his opinion on the 360 and Midway are all of a sudden a pile of shit company and Europe is full of morons.
Few things I want to point out:
1. This was this guys opnion
2. Apple has fudge all to do with anything
3. The Wii sells well because people are friendlier in Europe and we have real life friends to play with rather than getting erections over online play.
*awaits downvote*
Dont worry, I understant that the truth pill is a bitter one to swallow.
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9-09-2008 @ 8:10PM
AoE said...
A few points about your points:
1 - Yes, but he's the VP of Midway, so his opinion, at the very least when it comes to Midway, does in fact count quite a bit more than yours or mine.
2 - Huh? Oh I see, really you should have just responded to mattclarkie since he seems to be the only one bringing up apple and calling Europeans morons.
3 - Um... actually the Wii sells pretty goddamn well all over the world... I can understand why you'd want to be making backhanded comments like this, but keep in mind mattclarkie is your target, not all Americans are jackasses, and frankly with comments like these you paint yourself to be the European version of mattclarkie... I can't say I'd want to know either one of you in real life.