So wait what's he worried about? The 360? It's doing well in Europe anyway. In fact the only place it isn't is Asia right?

Oh well Bush is out of office soon.

I don't think you can actually blame Bush as to why Madden doesn't sell well in Europe.

With Pro-Evo on the Wii, I will never buy FIFA '09 from EA, unless they implement a similar control system.

He's right.

But not because of the war, administration or bush. It's all about the Attitude...

We're anti-american power, not american. Moron.

I think it's unfair to blame Bush as to why Madden is unpopular in Europe...

With Pro-Evo for the Wii, I won't probably won't buy FIFA '09... unless they implement an even better control system.

People don't hate EA because it's an American company. People hate EA because they buy out smaller game developers and ruin their IPs.

Valve are american, but that didn't seem to affect the sale of the orange box...

As long as they release games people are interested in, they will sell well. I don't think I 've heard anyone ditching FIFA for Pro Evo because EA is too American unless citing gameplay superiority is masked anti-Americanism...
I must say that EA have made some effort in NBA Live 08 including some European national teams but they still have some way to go.
And well, Madden & NHL will never sell well outside America, that's quite obvious really.

Oh, this is going to be a fantastic thread, I can tell.

Anti-Americanism is nowhere near the levels of 2003, when I remember spending hours trying to convince fellow Europeans that no, the USA doesn't just come down to the Bush administration.

Dumb kids may rag about Bad American EA and Bad American Microsoft on internet forums, they'll still buy the games and systems when they see something they like. American movies are largely #1 in most European country, same thing for music and, generally, popular culture.

IMO, Moore is largely overestimating the power of politics compared to that of good ole consumer lust...
Make a reliable console instead of covering your ass a posteriori with hundreds of millions of dollars, and you might get a better reactions from those crazy Europeans: if there's one thing Europeans are allergic to, maybe excessively, it's the idea of a huge corporation trying to fool its customers and buying its way out of everything - that's the perception anyway (no matter what your view of the subject may be), and it also explains why, despite what you heard about the Europeans' sweet spot for Sony, the PlayStation image also took a fierce blow.

As for EA, make games that aren't yearly iterations of the same tired formula, and we'll buy them. That, and we couldn't care less about Madden. ;)

@KafkaTamura:
word...

@SkutSkut: The 360 is last place in every region apart from America...

@Vistrix: There are more 360 owners here in the UK than PS3 owners. It's like that in many European countries. PS3-dominated countries like Spain (and I know it's not European, but Australia) are still the exception over here. Unless, that is, GTA4 has drastically changed the situation from two weeks ago - in which case, may I have a link to the new figures please? :)

@Antiterra: "covering your ass a posteriori "

Pun of the day.

@Chadders: Oh, I'm so glad someone noticed, ha-ha!

I just hate ea cause they take whatever good company they can buy and take a massive shit over it,then lock them in cages and make em churn out a game a year until everyone realizes the games have become complete shit.thats when they fire everyone in the company and buy a new up and coming franchise.I hate EA so badly for the hostile takeover of T2 right now that it actually disgusts me.

Nah, Peter must be moore out of touch than we first realised. Nobody hates on EA 'cos they're from the USA- there are much better reasons than that!

@Bashcraft: "Moore is aware he was shilling the Xbox 360? Right?"

The Xbox(360) brand is popular in Europe and doesn't feature any of the "American Criteria" Moore recited in that statement.

It's, colorful, open and inviting without any hint of dominant or exagerated "manliness".

I mean, just consider the slogan: "Jump in." and remember the commercials which were mostly light-hearted and funny.

American product from an American company, but a very global image.

Why do large companies keep hiring this guy?

Yep Peter Moore, I concur with everything stated above in your soundbite but don't fret, mon barbu ami, after November rolls by, Europe (and the rest of the world) will fall in love with America all over again. Promise. ;)

@loempiavreter: Yeah, that too.

Madden doesn't sell well in Europe becuase the general population, including me, have no clue what football is all about.

And that's probably the only reason.

"And yet, in today's world, particularly in Europe, there's an anti-Americanism that sits higher than it's been for a long time, based on the war, the administration, George W. himself, and you worry about that."

Um, maybe it's more relevant that EA mostly makes games based on American sports, and their European sports games (Rugby, Cricket, FIFA) are rubbish.

Yeah because anti-american sentiment is really damaging all the big American corporations like Disney, McDonalds, KFC, Microsoft, Ford and so on...

I mean when was the last time you heard an American band/musician on the radio?

Its almost like American influence upon European culture has disappeared...

in Bizarro World!

It's not just anti-American sentiment though... there's also the fact that the brand is more overtly, wilfully directed at an American audience than most others. There's a sense of "well, that's obviously not aimed at us" for non-American gamers.

The problem runs deeper in the industry though, with pretty much all major game releases these days being tailored to the North American market... so culturally videogames feels more stunted, more homogenous, and more exclusionary than ever before.

As for Madden, it doesn't sell outside the USA because hardly anyone outside of the USA cares about the sport.

Also - all you armchair commentators passing judgement on Moore need to remember that he's a market man. It's his job to grow EA Sports as a brand internationally, and clearly the strongly American identity of the brand is something that makes his job that bit harder. I find it off-putting in the same way I find the horrible US-centric world-view espoused by the Tom Clancy Games or Call of Duty 4 off-putting. It's unavoidable.

A lot of people hate America and it didn't just start during the Bush administration.

He's absolutely right about the anti-Americanism. Can you blame us? I've seen three countries close to mine being bombed for no apparent reason in the past 10 years. That would make anyone anti-American. Although I should say that the 'hatred' is more about the country's government and foreign affairs rather than the people themselves. We still love you guys :)

American isn't maybe summed up by Bush... But he did got elected... TWICE.
And I'm quite sure that if the US constitution would allow it, he would manage to get elected a third time.

After all, only in America!

But as for bad mood, maybe if most American wouldn't feel like if they're owning the whole world it would help.

I guess EA must push really hard to get Madden on the shelves over here, because I have never had any trouble at all finding a Madden game around. They're not as heavily advertised as something like FIFA, but the Madden games still have a very strong store presence.

Anyway, I don't envy Moore. There's not a lot to be done against resentful people who can't handle that they're weaker than someone else. It's all very Nietzcshean slave morality when a hyperpower is around.

@kiigan:

I think you've got a point here. I agree with the anti-american world-view that gets transposed into games. It's no politically based in annoyance but more the social differences between the EU and the US.

While i don't really play sports games (i only own Italia '90 and Fifa '99) but i really hated the change in direction that the Colin McRae series went in with the introduction of Dirt. The attitude really ruined it for me and i despise that kind of 'I rock hard all the time!' mentality that you get in games. I know it doesn't really reflect all american culture but it's an exaggerated aspect of it.

It's like having wrestling being depicted as real life....

My country is run by assholes, and despite it being a democracy, there's not much we can do about it. As long as people worldwide understand that the actions of our government don't reflect the will of the people, that's a good thing.

Next up, Peter Moore explains that the sky is blue - except at night, when it's black! Amazing!

God, i shouldn't try and multi-task while writing a post.

That first paragraph should read something along the lines of 'I agree with the anti-american view affecting sales of game outside of the US but it's not politically motivated and is instead based around the cultural aspects portrayed as American in games.

Anti-Americanism is a crutch for those who are upset that their countries and their empires' best days are long behind them.

Though things are getting better and slowly the Anti-Americanism is fading as they realize we are a lot better than our common enemies. I mean Germany and France have both elected fairly pro-American leaders after their previous leaders' grandstanding against America proved quite ineffective.

I just think people don't buy Madden because the US is practically the only country that plays Football. Americans are fairly anti-soccer so I'm sure the soccer games sell much better over there than here, although playing a soccer game I'm sure is a million times more fun than watching a real game.

I agree with the anti-American sentiment, as an Aussie I can vouch for it. We hated Bush long before it was cool, and kicked out our PM for being friendly with him (among other things) as soon as the opposition got a sane candidate. Well, not as soon as some of us would have liked...

But I wouldn't blame Madden's sales on that, it's probably just the unpopularity of American football in Europe. It's not so bad here in Australia, since we love pretty much all sports and from what I've seen of gridiron (as we call your football down here) it seems to translate quite well to a video game. It's nowhere near our own brand of football of course. (which also isn't played anywhere else in the world)

Here's a hint, vote Obama and we'll love you for it. Seriously. He's the only guy who won't blow up the planet.

He forgets the all annihilating corporate greed.
Granted, that's prevalent all through the world, it's just the two-faced baby-kissing way of some people that gets to me.
EA being huge is NOT good for games and gamers per se, it's primarily good for the pockets of the board of directors at EA.

EA represents the bad side of american culture that most people dislike, their brand is cheesy, cheap, they are the McDonalds of Games companies. The customer isn't always right, the shareholers are.

You look at a company like Apple, and they are innovative, passionate, a good side of American culture, but EA are like a news reader with fake tan, and huge white teeth and a big fake fucking smile that you just want to smash in with your fridge.

@PenguinJim: Didn't Sony recently issue a press release (which, since it wasn't immediately denied by MS, is presumably true) that PS3 had overtaken 360 userbase in Europe-excluding-the-UK? It also said they expect to overtake 360 in Europe as a whole by the end of the year, though obviously you can take that with a pinch of salt if you like. (And it still wouldn't mean their UK userbase would be higher than 360 - just that the difference would be outweighed by everywhere else.)

But yes - 360 sold very well in the UK even when anger over Iraq was a bit fresher. There wasn't any kind of general boycott of American products. I don't really see an issue here.

Sure people think the US administration are clowns (in the sense of 'scary' as well as 'incompetent'), and that some other aspects of US culture are a bit of a joke as well, but um, that wouldn't stop most people buying video games. Unless the video game involved attacking an abortion clinic while wrapped in the US flag and also torturing any passers-by who look a bit Muslim.

Wow, didn't know that we Americans were just loathed that much. If people hate us so much we should just pull all that relief and aid money that we funnel in to every country, every year.

Or quit sending money to the U.N.

Or not show up the next time some crazy dictator decides to attack a neighboring nation.

I mean, since you guys hate us so much.

I've never second guessed my purchase of a video game due to political bullshit, and I'm not starting now, so why does it matter if EA is American? Would it make them a better company if they were located in Europe or Japan? This isn't even worth a spot on Kotaku, this guy is an idiot.

Don't read too much into the second paragraph of what he says. I think the main issue is what he covers in the first. When a company puts more effort into Nascar and NCAA than it does into cricket and rugby (both bigger sports internationally), its not hard to see why the brand doesn't resonate with europeans/australians like it does with Americans.

He is merging two topics into one.

Yes, we hate EA in some cases due to them taking over the great small companies and ruining them. Yet I also love EA for the FIFA series which I personally prefer more than PES.

Hating Americans has nothing to do with it. I obviously hate alot of Americans due to their attitudes towards the British, their love for being immature and their simple ignorance. However this doesn't apply to every American and a lot of Americans I like much better than some fellow Brits.

American Football isn't widely known in Europe so that is obviosuly going to have an affect on the sales of games such as Madden. Europe is big for real Football (Soccer) and other sports like Rugby etc

I don't care where games are from, I just care about it's quality.

Here in Europe there are lots of "self-proclaimed anti-americanists" who don't know (or don't care) where EA is from.
The Antiamericanism could be "higher than it's been in a long time" but that won't hurt the EA sales. That sounds like a lame excuse for something.

I don't understand the guys reason for making it an American vs. the world argument or phrasing it that way. EA is an American company and rightfully they are going to cater to their country of origin the most. You don't see Americans crying about The Witcher because some Polish guys made the game.

Peter Moore is an asshole, I'm guessing he is trying to setup a frame for lower sales expectations, but "anti-Americanism" is a terrible excuse.

@Aurvant: That kind of attitude is one of the reasons some Europeans (read: some) hate Americans

I'm not biting into this debate simply because games are important to me but affect my world view in an insignificant matter. Sure we American's can be arrogant at times but so are other countries. I'm going to stop here because I'll just get hot and I don't need this drama... I'll never come back to this story because I'll surely get banned this day :(