Xbox’s EMEA marketing director says PlayStation is “blessed with marketing funds” that team green doesn’t have: “Regrettably they outspend us”

But that’s “totally fine,” he adds

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Xbox’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa marketing director says the company needs to work “really hard” against its competition - namely, PlayStation - which he claims is “blessed with marketing funds” that his team doesn’t get.

In a newinterview with Marketing Weekly, EMEA marketing director Michael Flatt says that the company has to be “quite scrappy” to secure marketing investment, which is very surprising when you consider it’s owned byMicrosoft, which just last yearspent $68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. However, perhaps it’s expenses like these that Microsoft chooses to prioritize, as Flatt hints that the team has to be “quite tenacious to fight for funds that would probably go somewhere else.”

Referring to PlayStation specifically, Flatt admits that “regrettably they outspend us” when it comes to marketing, noting that Xbox is “just not able to enjoy” the marketing funds thatSony’s brand gets access to. “But that’s totally fine,” he continues. “We adopt what I would call a more fiscally responsible approach to media investments.”

While it wasn’t specifically an EMEA-region concern, it was noted by Hellblade fans earlier this year thatSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2’s marketing prior to launch was surprisingly quiet to say that the action-adventure is one of the main exclusiveXbox Game Studiostitles dropping this year. A storyrecap of the first game was dropped six days before the sequel’s launch, for example – which wasn’t exactly the meaty bit of advertisement fans were expecting afterdays of developer Ninja Theory drip-feeding tiny teasers for the game. It still received generally positive critic reviews, but it’s fair to say it didn’t seem to launch with the bang fans might have hoped for.

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I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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