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MS Black Friday Deals Staying in America

Rob Crossley's picture

By Rob Crossley

November 27, 2008

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Microsoft’s Larry Hryb has confirmed on his semi-official blog (writing under the pseudonym Major Nelson) that the Black Friday Live Arcade price-cuts will not be available outside the US, though the idea was considered.

The director of programming for Xbox Live has posted a list of titles that will be cut in price for US-bound Xbox Live Gold subscribers. From this Friday through to Sunday, subscribers can expect discounts on Live Arcade titles such as Rez HD and package downloads for games like Crackdown and Guitar Hero 3 (full list).

Yet following displeased comments from Canadian and UK 360 users on the deal’s exclusivity in the States, Hryb confirmed that he “gave feedback about having this available for other regions, but due to a lot of issues it was not possible.”

The XBLA deal is part of Black Friday, an unofficial holiday exclusive to the US and one closely tied to Thanksgiving, with the traditions of that day being rooted in shopping and discounted items.

Ben_B's picture
On November 28th Ben_B said:

John_Ryan: Whilst it is true that this is an American holiday, sales can easily be global, especially on online goods. Given other territories, such as Europe, pay over the odds anyway for Xbox Live content it would earn Microsoft some good will if they had made these price cuts across the board. As it stands this is just another in a long line of 'US only' events, features, price cuts and content, which is a large part of why a lot of people seem to be annoyed (and I'd argue rightly so).

Worse is the rather insulting vague response posted by Major Nelson: "due to a lot of issues it was not possible". The lack of any specifics suggests to me it's either not a good reason or there isn't much of one at all. If there is a real reason behind it, tell us, since amazingly many of us have brains with which to process information and understand the world.

AkIRA_22's picture
On November 28th AkIRA_22 said:

Well when a country drives the entire globe into financial melt down it would be all most, I don't know... Fair, to discount things world wide, rather than have Europe and the Asia Pacific tow the line. It's a little thing called perspective.

John_Ryan's picture
On November 27th John_Ryan said:

Thanksgiving is an AMERICAN HOLIDAY! As is black friday. Stop whining.

Ro McG's picture
On November 28th Ro McG said:

I can't wait for the St. Patricks Day Sale, Yay!