Europe shouldn’t hold out for Xbox 360 Netflix

Microsoft is keeping mum on when, if ever, a Netflix-style streaming movie service will come to Xbox 360 owners in Europe.

Speaking to Eurogamer, U.K. Xbox head Neil Thompson stressed that Microsoft wants to focus on its existing library of pay-per-download offerings. This comment is no surprise, given that the interview followed an announcement of 30 new films from Universal for the Xbox 360’s European download library. But with roughly 12,000 streaming movies instantly available to U.S. Netflix subscribers, the bigger question is whether anyone outside of America can expect a similar service.

Thompson was non-committal, dodging a question on whether Europe can expect Netflix — or something like it — by the end of the year. "I don’t know yet where we’re going to take the services we’ve got," Thompson said. "We’re concentrating on delivering the services we’ve got and bolstering the content we’ve got."

It’d be wonderful to know what’s going on behind the scenes with this story. With over a million sign-ups for Netflix streaming over Xbox Live, opening the program up to more potential customers seems like a no brainer. And if Netflix indeed rolls out a streaming-only plan this year or next, it shouldn’t be that hard to implement pricing in other regions outside the U.S. Perhaps that’s what Microsoft is waiting for.

Then again, maybe there are licensing issues to deal with in other countries. After all, the regions do seem to operate independently in securing movies for the console.

Suggestions that this is another example of Europe getting left behind is "reasonably unfair," Thompson said.

""When it comes to the Live service, yes, there is a difference with Netflix," he added. "But with much of the content and services we provide, Europe’s been pretty much at the forefront of what we’ve been trying to do."