Erik Robertson: Europe must compete with Asian, U.S. market control

Erik Robertson, director of Nordic Game Program coming to Sweden, mentioned in an interview with Games Industry that, compared to the Asian and North American industries, Europe had little control over the market.

Of course, we’re viewing the market as that big one with “worldwide” stamped on it, but according to Robertson, those who actually get frequent access to it are from the East or the West.

“That’s the way the market looks now – it makes sense from a cultural, political and strict business viewpoint to try and change that,” Robertson explained. How to change it all? He suggests that the European industry should try and control distribution.

Aside from online digital distribution (did he just refer to region barring?), he also mentioned that non-proprietary platform distribution (that’s your PC, of course) should be policed. He commented, “The PC is the independent developers’ best tool for market access.”

He mentioned that developing for Xbox Live Arcade is a good suggestion, but the fact that the game approval still gets sorted out in the U.S. proves some problems for the European side. In short, the U.S. still has control. He also mentioned that if the local game industry could produce the games inside the region, it would give the European game developer an opportunity to be granted access to the world market.

“Doing local business is easier. If you’re a developer in Tokyo it’s much easier to talk to your local developers than to some strange cold country that you couldn’t even place on the map,” Robertson concluded.

Erik Robertson, director of Nordic Game Program coming to Sweden, mentioned in an interview with Games Industry that, compared to the Asian and North American industries, Europe had little control over the market.

Of course, we’re viewing the market as that big one with “worldwide” stamped on it, but according to Robertson, those who actually get frequent access to it are from the East or the West.

“That’s the way the market looks now – it makes sense from a cultural, political and strict business viewpoint to try and change that,” Robertson explained. How to change it all? He suggests that the European industry should try and control distribution.

Aside from online digital distribution (did he just refer to region barring?), he also mentioned that non-proprietary platform distribution (that’s your PC, of course) should be policed. He commented, “The PC is the independent developers’ best tool for market access.”

He mentioned that developing for Xbox Live Arcade is a good suggestion, but the fact that the game approval still gets sorted out in the U.S. proves some problems for the European side. In short, the U.S. still has control. He also mentioned that if the local game industry could produce the games inside the region, it would give the European game developer an opportunity to be granted access to the world market.

“Doing local business is easier. If you’re a developer in Tokyo it’s much easier to talk to your local developers than to some strange cold country that you couldn’t even place on the map,” Robertson concluded.