Europe eclipses US as Ubisofts biggest market

[Vsions]

http://www.qj.net/Europe-eclipses-US.../49/aid/123447

This is pretty interesting, I wonder if it is the same at other studios and would be pretty telling as to which system actually sells the most software world wide.

[Dennis M.]

I guess I should be happy we pay so much more for everything then. One day we 'll have so much influence we 'll get things with a mere three month delay instead of six /facepalm

[james]

With the advantage the Euro has over the dollar and the much larger population Europe has over the United States, this isn't surprising. Per capita, though, I think the American gamer still spends more then any other area of the world. I don't see that changing in the near future.

[Vsions]

Originally Posted by james

With the advantage the Euro has over the dollar and the much larger population Europe has over the United States, this isn't surprising. Per capita, though, I think the American gamer still spends more then any other area of the world. I don't see that changing in the near future.

That could be true, but in the end its about profit, and Im assuming this means gaming is more profitable in europe for them at this point.

[james]

Originally Posted by Vsions

That could be true, but in the end its about profit, and Im assuming this means gaming is more profitable in europe for them at this point.

No arguments there.

[Sulaco]

It was bound to happen sooner or later with the explosion of gaming across the pond. I for one welcome our new European overlords, death to America!

In all honesty I love playing CoD4 (PC) and company of heroes with the euros. Most of them are great sports. That goes for my aussie friends too.

[Arthur Hucksake]

Shame they won't lower the fucking prices for us then.

£40 a game. $80.... piss take. Some shops sell them for £50.

Not only that the cost of living is higher here than most other parts of the world.

[Badger3920]

Originally Posted by james

With the advantage the Euro has over the dollar and the much larger population Europe has over the United States, this isn't surprising. Per capita, though, I think the American gamer still spends more then any other area of the world. I don't see that changing in the near future.

This was exactly my reaction

Originally Posted by Vsions

That could be true, but in the end its about profit, and Im assuming this means gaming is more profitable in europe for them at this point.

Sure it is about profits. But again, you're comparing one country to an entire continent and union of many countries. The population of all the countries in Europe combined is about 725 million iirc. With the US being around 300 million, per capita (if the markets are tied), we're spending over twice as much on gaming.

If you want to develop, publish, and market a game - and you can choose to do it in one area, you still want to do it in the US over the EU. In the EU, you're going to need to do everything in several different langauges, according to the laws and regulations of many countries, and marketing (with one commercial even) is going to be a nightmare because there are so many different countries, and many of them have their own languages.

Originally Posted by james

No arguments there.

The only issue I take is that people try to compare entire continents to the US, and seem to be so comfortable in doing it, that they skim over the fact that it's entirely unfair.

I can't wait for the thread about all of Asia surpassing the States. Only about 2-3 billion people to choose from there eh?

[Vsions]

Originally Posted by Badger3920

This was exactly my reaction



Sure it is about profits. But again, you're comparing one country to an entire continent and union of many countries. The population of all the countries in Europe combined is about 725 million iirc. With the US being around 300 million, per capita (if the markets are tied), we're spending over twice as much on gaming.

If you want to develop, publish, and market a game - and you can choose to do it in one area, you still want to do it in the US over the EU. In the EU, you're going to need to do everything in several different langauges, according to the laws and regulations of many countries, and marketing (with one commercial even) is going to be a nightmare because there are so many different countries, and many of them have their own languages.



The only issue I take is that people try to compare entire continents to the US, and seem to be so comfortable in doing it, that they skim over the fact that it's entirely unfair.

I can't wait for the thread about all of Asia surpassing the States. Only about 2-3 billion people to choose from there eh?

Very true, I didnt think about that. It is true that europe tends to get treated as one single country when in fact it is many. Thanks for bringing that up as I also didnt really think about that.

[Marvin the Martian]

(reposted due to edit)

Originally Posted by Badger3920

This was exactly my reaction

Sure it is about profits. But again, you're comparing one country to an entire continent and union of many countries.

Minor nitpicks:

1. Whether it's a continent is irrelevant. Australia is also a continent. "Continent" is just a geographic label.

2. Don't the United States, as the name implies, also comprise such a union?

Fact is, US and EU make good comparisons because in terms of overall size of the respective markets, they're about the same right now. There are more people in the EU (490m) but there's less purchasing power per capita, and there's also a bigger issue with localization (not all games get ported to Italian, Dutch, Serbo-Croat, Polish, Greek, ...), so it about evens out. It's also not clear whether they're referring to the EU or the continent of Europe (a somewhat ill-defined expression in terms of the countries it includes anyway).

[Gbeav]

Originally Posted by Dennis M.

I guess I should be happy we pay so much more for everything then. One day we 'll have so much influence we 'll get things with a mere three month delay instead of six /facepalm

Pick one language and that might happen.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Gbeav

Pick one language and that might happen.

The French will never let that happen.

[Gbeav]

Originally Posted by Arthur Hucksake

Shame they won't lower the fucking prices for us then.

£40 a game. $80.... piss take. Some shops sell them for £50.

Not only that the cost of living is higher here than most other parts of the world.

All depends where you live, Europe isn't London and the US isn't New York and Canada isn't Calgary.

But shithole everywhere is still cheap.

[miDnIghtEr]

no.. the US is California.... to be more specific.... Southern California.

[Gbeav]

Originally Posted by miDnIghtEr

no.. the US is California.... to be more specific.... Southern California.

Northern California is better!

But I did see a nice clip on CNN saying California uses more gas than any other country (of course not including the whole US) including China, India, etc etc. You guys should be proud.

But I would believe it all the hours I spent on the roads living in the bay area.