Xbox Faces Marketing Budget Hurdles in Competition with PlayStation, Says EMEA Marketing Director

Xbox's Europe, Middle East, and Africa marketing director has opened up about the challenges the company faces in competing with PlayStation, particularly in terms of marketing budgets. Speaking to Marketing Weekly, Michael Flatt pointed out that PlayStation has access to more substantial marketing funds compared to Xbox, which leads his team to work "really hard" to stay competitive.

Flatt explained that despite being backed by the wealthy Microsoft, Xbox has to be "quite scrappy" to secure marketing investment. He suggested that Microsoft's hefty expenditures, such as last year's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, might explain why marketing funds are limited. As a result, his team often battles for funds that could easily be allocated elsewhere.

When discussing PlayStation, Flatt acknowledged that "regrettably they outspend us" on marketing efforts, which leaves Xbox unable to match Sony's expenditure in that area. Nevertheless, he maintained that Xbox adopts what he termed a "more fiscally responsible approach to media investments."

This financial restraint became evident earlier this year with the marketing of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. Despite being a major exclusive title for Xbox Game Studios, its pre-launch promotional efforts were notably subdued. Only a brief story recap of the first game was released just six days before the sequel's launch, falling short of the robust advertisement fans had anticipated after minor teasers from developer Ninja Theory. Although the game received positive reviews, the launch lacked the impact fans had hoped for.

In another development, Microsoft has countered the FTC's "misleading" letter, which described Xbox Game Pass Standard as a "degraded" service following the Activision Blizzard acquisition.