According to a Bloomberg report today, Microsoft is now shifting its priorities to Europe in order to gain a significant foothold in the global video game market.

Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's Group Product Manager for the Xbox game console business, told Bloomberg in an interview: "The No. 1 objective is to win on a global basis and that may mean winning some markets and losing others. Europe is our priority focus right now." This might indicate that Microsoft will substantially reduce its efforts in the Japanese market, after the Xbox 360's continued lacklustre sales, despite an increasing number of software titles targeted at Japanese gamers, such as Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey, both funded by Microsoft. Even various low-priced retail bundles failed to make a major impact on the Japanese market.

Meanwhile Europe could be a more rewarding market for the Xbox brand, as the Xbox 360 enjoys fairly good sales throughout of Europe, with the UK being Microsoft's strongest market within the region. A large base of sold units in Europe could prove to be pivotal not only to establishing a global Xbox 360 market but also to win more publisher support for its console, which, in a positive feedback, loop would further spur sales worldwide.