At E3, Microsoft said it would launch the Xbox One in 21 countries this November. Today, it has altered that forecast a little bit, slashing it down to 13.
Here’s Microsoft’s official Xbox blog with the news:
At E3, we announced that Xbox One would be available in 21 markets around the world at launch. This was an aggressive goal and the team has been working very hard to deliver Xbox One to as many markets as possible.
Our priority is ensuring our customers get the best Xbox One experience the first day it is available. To do that, and in order to meet demand, we have adjusted the number of markets that will receive Xbox One in November to 13 markets, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand, in November.
We remain committed to launching Xbox One in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, as soon as possible in 2014.
While we wish we could launch Xbox One simultaneously in these markets, there are many factors that determine the timing of specific market launches. This includes work to localise the Xbox One dash, incorporate additional voice and languages, and build partnerships to bring apps and meaningful local content to each country.
If you do live in one of the left-out countries, you’ll be able to get a free game with your Xbox One purchase. More details to come in the future, Microsoft says.
Comments
7 responses to “Sorry, Russia! Xbox One Will Launch In Only 13 Countries This Year”
It takes time to remove all the US features for each country that isn’t the US 😉
Nailed it
Hahaha….. Some of those countries must be thinking, “New Zealand??? New Zealand???”
Haha yusssss
The Australian and New Zealand markets, while small compared to the rest of the world, are important, as they are commonly used to test promotions, run pilot programs and launch new products. This is because we are what Microsoft call a ‘mature’ market, (i.e. high tech adoption rates and relatively high tech spend per capita) – if something works well in our markets, it’s often replicated in other larger markets.
Wow looks like they have finally given up on the dream of “conquering” Japan, I mean it would be an uphill battle anyway but it will be totally D.O.A. if it luanches 6-12 months later than PS4.
Apart from being the worlds 3rd biggest game market, Japan has all those developers and the 360 at least had a small pressence in Japan.
I imagine Microsoft were going to release it as normal but then all the backflips were announced, people declared “well that’s gay”, which the Russian government overheard and quickly arrested everybody involved.