Xbox: We have a killer game for every region in Europe

Xbox boasts that it has a game to suit every European territory.

EMEA boss Neil Thompson stopped short of saying the company could take the No.1 position from PlayStation, which is currently dominating sales across the territory.

But he did tell MCV @ Gamescom that the line-up for Christmas 2015 will allow Microsoft to at least regain market share, and win over the millions of Xbox 360 owners that have yet to upgrade to theXbox One.

It is textured across Europe,” he said. In some markets we are very happy with how we are trending, but there are some markets where we want to make more ground.

The overarching feeling is that, fundamentally, we have never had more people playing the Xbox platforms as we do today. But what we obviously want to do is get more people playing on Xbox One. And part of that has been all of the content that we unveiled at E3, and what we talked about here today.

We absolutely want to win share in Europe. And we think the games line-up we have got, the backwards compatibility, the DVR elements and so on – all of this will help us build more-and-more momentum and success for Xbox One.

He added: I have a genre triple-A killer title for every market in Europe. Northern Europe tends to be shooter and racing territories, in mid-Europe you tend to have fans of football and strategy games, and if you go to the South it is all about social games and soccer. If you look at what we are offering with FIFA, if you look at our first-party shooters and racing games, plus our strategy titles, we have it covered.”

Xbox ran a major press conference on Tuesday at Gamescom to demonstrate that we are supporting Europe,” said Thompson. The firm showcased a strong line-up of exclusive European-developed software, including Fable Legends, Quantum Break, Halo Wars 2 and Crackdown 3.

The big focus at Gamescom has been on Christmas and the overused marketing slogan of ‘the greatest line-up in Xbox history’ – with titles such as Forza 6, Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider still to arrive before December.

It’s not just about the games, Thompson added, pointing to backwards compatibility, a new controller and a Windows 10 user interface, which will all hit Xbox One this year.

When you add all these elements together it can feel overwhelming, like it is a new console,” he said. When I was interviewed about Xbox 360, I would say the 360 today is different to the one you bought a year ago. It is exactly the same in this generation and, if anything, the pace is accelerating.”