14 DAY TRIAL // Everybody knows that the Xbox 360 consoles are not too popular in Asia, but I doubt there are many people who have ever questioned the success of Microsoft's gaming device in Europe. Apparently, things don't look really great there either, since less than a quarter of Xbox Live's total members are Europeans, the majority of them being based in the UK. The main reason is the language barrier: when kids do not speak any foreign language, big companies get less money.
According to Euro Xbox VP Chris Lewis, who was interviewed by Edge magazine, "the lion's share" of Xbox Live users is in the US. "We don't normally break out the European element of our Live membership," he said. "I mean, I know what it is, but I don't want to get rapped on the knuckles by being too explicit with you. 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," he added.
According to Lewis, in order to get a community, you need a lot of people who speak similar languages, and it seems that Xbox 360 consoles don't have the numbers. However, he admitted that until now the company hadn't analyzed data too much - they have only started to do so in France and they will probably do the same in Spain and Germany, since their national languages could attract most of the European Xbox 360 users.
However, Lewis is confident: "The whole industry is getting really close to the inflection point where that's what people just crave and I just know that we will offer the best experience," he revealed. "I just know we are so well placed to continue and invest and develop the service like nobody else can."
Well, they should better be doing that or they'll probably miss the start and lose the race. The Xbox 360 is already defeated on the gaming device market in Japan and Europe would be a huge loss for Microsoft.