Xbox One: "Europe is critical" says Microsoft's Spencer

Xbox One is not a US-centric console, Microsoft Games Studio's vice-president Phil Spencer has stressed, and has called Europe 'critical' to the company's success moving forward.

Speaking with OXM, Spencer said, "We've got our partnership with Crytek, which is going well, which is good to see. Our investment in first-party in Europe is critical. Europe is a critical market for us next generation.

"I don't have to give you the map - you can just go back and look at the map of Xbox 360 and how well we've done - we've been very strong in North America and we've been strong in Canada, we've been strong in the UK.

"There are markets in Europe where we need to do better, and our lead there in bringing on Phil Harrison is how do we bring on a senior executive who can look across all parts of our business with a background of creating success in Europe and give him that charter."

Spencer stressed that things won't get too US-centric and that if they do lean too heavily towards America, Harrison will give him a kicking, "[We'll] give him the studio resources, give him the contacts with the field sales team, the marketing team and the connections here in Redmond to kick us upside the head when we get too North American-centric. He would actually kick over my head, I think, he's very tall."

Yikes.

He added, "It's great to see that leadership in Europe for us, and [European Xbox boss] Chris Lewis has done a great job for us as more sales and marking, but now we're working with Phil, it's creating a real tight partnership where we can look at all aspects of our business.

"And specifically, in some of the southern European markets, its very important that we up our game there relative to the competition, because it's an area where there's opportunity for us.

"Knock on wood, our strength in the US is something that we'll continue to focus on, but now having Phil on that team in Europe is really going to be a catalyst, hopefully for us achieving more in Europe."

So there you have it folks, Europe is very much a part of Microsoft's strategy for Xbox One going on. What do you make of the above?