Microsoft is expanding its market for the Xbox One this year, hoping to catch up with the PS4 in terms of sales. So far, the PS4 is available in far more countries than the Xbox One, which would explain (at least partially) the difference in units sold. While Microsoft is planning to make the Xbox One available in more countries this year, no official date has been so far revealed. In case you were wondering, here is the list of countries that should see the launch of the Xbox One this year:
- Argentina
- Belgium
- Chile
- Colombia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Israel
- Japan
- Korea
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- South Africa
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- UAE
That being said, Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One will be launched in Japan on the 4th of September this year. This means that Microsoft’s flagship console will come almost half a year later than the PS4, which was launched in Japan in February. There’s little doubt that Japan is a market dominated by Sony. However, the Xbox One has the potential to sell units there too, especially given the fact that Microsoft plans to include a wide variety of games too. Among these are Thief, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Halo 5, Forza 5, Kinect Sports Rivals, Ryse and Murdered: Soul Suspect. A total of 48 publishers have announced that they would be launching games for the Xbox One Japanese market this fall.
In regards to Japan, gaming and the Xbox One, the head of the department, Phil Spencer, had this to say: “It’s critical for us in the industry that we continue to invest there and see great games come out”. Whether or not the Xbox One will make a successful launch in Japan remains to be seen. It’s definitely going to have an easier time in European markets, but more on that when the official launch dates are revealed.