There is a constant battle between the major console manufacturers for every penny spent on the games market.
But this battle is not fought equally in all corners of the market, and many places do not have the same choices – for one simple reason.
Microsoft’s Xbox Support lacks support for most of Europe.
At least if you base it on nation states. The number of countries in Europe can be somewhat debated, but even the more conservative estimates put the number closer to 50.
In total, there are only 22 countries in Europe that hair Xbox support.
Countries where Xbox Support is available (2013)
Illustration: Creative Commons (via Wikimedia Commons)
Even within the EU’s borders, Microsoft has barely addressed two-thirds of the member states. Only 17 of the EU’s 27 members are listed in Xbox Support.
If this only meant that things lack translation into local languages and dialects, then many people could probably say they are satisfied with this, but the problem is more fundamental.
Not only are the rest of these outside of marketing for Xbox consoles, but the Xbox digital store won’t work for users in those countries, and digital copies of games you’d get your hands on will face other issues.
Games and subscriptions you have paid for are therefore not guaranteed to work.
Limits set by the market economy
There are only five European countries outside the EU that are included in the Xbox market.
These are EEA countries (Norway and Switzerland), former EU countries (Great Britain), and the otherwise largest market blocs on the edge of continental Europe (Turkey and Russia).
Several of the countries outside the Xbox market are relatively small states, which are also outside the EU/EEA zone, such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova and Serbia. Vatican City can be understood.
Norway is not least in the population of those who hair support, but we are not far away. Ireland and Slovakia have a population of just over 5 million, just like us.
Ukraine’s population, on the other hand, is of a more significant size (over 37 million inhabitants), but it has not been enough to attract Xbox.
The same applies to the EU countries Romania (19 million people) and Bulgaria (6.4 million people), and there are also several other EU member states that are not included in the Xbox market.
Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia are all out of good company.
That Luxembourg is on this list is almost surprising, as a founding EU country, and a primarily French- and German-speaking market.
But with a population of only six hundred thousand, they are perhaps too small.
Map of Europe by nominal GDP (2022)
Illustration: Creative Commons (via Wikimedia Commons)
This can be linked to both the countries’ population and the size of their economy (gross national product – GDP).
Ukraine’s GDP is slightly below Hungary’s – at around NOK 2,500 billion – but distributed among a population four times larger. Luxembourg is at the opposite end of the scale – with half Ukraine’s GDP, but spread over a tiny population.
The result may be that the market is considered not to be large enough to cover the price of the investment.
The countries not included in Xbox Support represent less than 15 percent of Europe’s population, and only 6 percent of Europe’s combined gross domestic product.
Sony’s PlayStation Network does not cover all of these either, but for those living in Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovenia, Iceland, Cyprus and Malta it is “only” PlayStation.
… And Nintendo, which is sold globally.
