Tag Archives: David Gosen

Microsoft’s VP of strategic marketing, David Gosen, has resigned from the company.

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European 360 marketing boss David Gosen has told MCV that games releases need to be spread out of the Christmas season. In case you didn’t know, obviously.

“Of course Christmas is still the key selling period, but we need to look at de-seasonalising,” said the exec.

“We launched GTA IV at this time last year, and Capcom’s Resident Evil has shown that you can be successful. As more publishers do this, we’ll create a second or third release window, and that will be great news for the industry.”

Gosen added: “We still have a very seasonally-focused business. You only need look at last Christmas, when nearly 200 titles were released in the space of three or four weeks. There was that crazy week, third week of November.

“The big brands reached the top and everything else was left by the wayside. It’s becoming harder and harder to establish new IP in that environment. You have to ask if that’s sustainable.”

More through there.

Microsoft said this morning that Halo 3, Mass Effect and Project Gotham Racing 4 will all be £20 in Europe’s Classics range as of this Friday.

Cheap.

The company also reiterated that Xbox 360 has now sold more than 8 million consoles in Europe.

Marketing head David Gosen said the machine had “sailed past” the milestone in the region.

“As we see more and more families looking to save money by staying in, Xbox 360 continues to offer high-quality home entertainment at fantastic value and consumers,” he said.

According to this MCV piece, Xbox 360 has passed the 7 million sales mark in Europe.

The machine has sold 2 million European units since June, thanks, said Microsoft, to the price cut and blanket marketing.

“We’re in a position now where we’ve sold over seven million consoles in EMEA, which puts us in a fantastic place versus PlayStation 3,” said Xbox Europe marketing boss David Gosen.

“It’s the combination of elements that put us ain a fantastically strong position. We have 360 degrees of entertainment. At the moment, momentum is fantastic, we’ve got real traction in all European markets.

“When you look at what we’ve got coming, just in the next three or four weeks, that gives us the confidence that this will be the best ever Christmas in the history of Xbox.”

Speaking to Develop in London yesterday, Xbox Europe marketing boss David Gosen said that Microsoft research shows that the majority of those who took the plunge with Wii Fit only played it once.

“What Nintendo have done with the Wii is truly fantastic – there is no question about it. But I think sometimes there is a thin line between gimmick and great gameplay,” he said.

“We’ve seen some research that says 60 percent of people who bought a Wii Fit play it once and don’t play it again. So we have to get the balance right, because what we are doing is bringing new consumers into the market for the first time in their lives sometimes – and we have to treat them with respect.

“And at the end of the day that comes back down to creativity. We have to ensure that the peripheral strategy that anyone employs makes sense and delivers a truly game changing experience.”

More through the link.

European Xbox marketing boss David Gosen, in a presentation at Chelsea football club today reaffirmed the company’s intention to beat PS3 this generation in terms of sales.

The last slide in his talk said: “We WILL outsell the PlayStation 3″.

“We’re going to invest in this region to ensure we win,” he told attendees.

There’s loads more on Develop.

Speaking to Eurogamer at E3 last week, SCEE head David Reeves said that his announcement at London’s PlayStation Day in May that PS3 had overtaken 360 in Europe was correct.

Microsoft’s David Gosen rubbished the figures after the event: the company was wrong, said the Sony exec.

“I think we’ve only made one – I would say – controversial announcement and that was to say that we have a higher installed base than Xbox 360 [in Europe] and we stand by that. We know what the figures are,” he said.

“But I think – and I keep repeating this – that the more important thing is the growth in the marketplace is just absolutely phenomenal.”

It’s David versus David. Who will win? More through the link. The full Reeves interview’s here.

Speaking to GI after the Microsoft E3 press conference last night, exec David Gosen has fobbed off PS3′s Home by saying its impact may have been overstated.

“I think what Sony does with Home is up to them, and my advice is that we shouldn’t hold our breath, because that could be quite a dangerous thing to do,” he said.

Gosen added, talking of Microsoft’s newly-announced Xbox Live Avatars: “Avatars go back to this concept of a social experience on a social network – [we have] 12 million members [on Xbox Live] globally, and we have a very actively engaged member-base.

“So we’ve got a really active community already, and what we need to do is create an identity for those people. Personalisation isn’t really new – we know people want to personalise their experience. Now, the avatars we’ve got are Xbox avatars, and they have arms, necks and legs, which other people’s avatars maybe don’t.

“But that’s just the start point. They’re appearing in the game, and what you’ll see us do more and more is make sure that avatars are truly integral to everything we do. It just goes back to true personalisation and creating a social network that really works and is really relevant to all people.”

There’s a full interview here.

Over on MCV, Microsoft marketing chap David Gosen has said aggressive investment in the European market will ensure 360 comes out on top this generation.

“We have some very aggressive plans in terms of investing in this market to be successful,” he said. “We are in Europe to win. We’re not here to come second or third.”

“We are going to invest to win in Europe. There is no question about that. We understand the challenge in the region. We understand what we need to do to continue to drive the growth of the business. What we need to do is not just pay lip service to this but really invest.”

We’re saying nothing.

By Michael O’Connor

David Gosen, formally MD of Nintendo UK and now marketing boss at Xbox Europe, reckons Xbox 360′s E3′s going to change the rules. Level the playing field. Break the mould.

“We’re always working on new things, and you’ll continue to hear lots from us that we believe will be game-changing,” he told MCV, also saying that the show would yield some “fantastic surprises”.

Sure, David?

Former Nintendo Europe MD David Gosen has joined Microsoft as “VP, Strategic Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA”. Most recently, Gosen headed up mobile firm I-Play.

“I’m very excited to be part of Microsoft IEB at this key stage in the gaming industry,” he said. “Xbox 360 is now a mass-market gaming console, and with the recent ERP reduction we’re poised to open the market for Xbox 360 even wider.”

Press release after the link.

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