The good news train for Microsoft continues to roll on this E3 with the details of their limited launch popping up today. Now, to be fair, most systems launch in a staggered fashion across different regions. This is natural because of the logistical differences between the North American, European and Asian region infrastructures. So it wasn't really that much of a shock to see that day one the system would only have limited availability and only launch in the following markets:
The real kick in the pants for Xbox fans comes via the fact that you can't import from a country where the Xbone is available and activate the console and games from an IP in a country not on the list. Now there are probably workarounds for this due to VPN services and Tor networks, but what a colossal pain in the ass to make someone jump through after they've shown they are eager to be a paying customer! Ironically, the Xbone won't be launching in Poland despite the fact that Poland's premiere games development studio is responsible for The Witcher 3, one of the highlighted games at the Microsoft press conference.
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
The worst news though was that it may take upwards of a year to get the Xbone into unsupported markets, and the Asian market, the third largest in the world, won't see the console arrive until late 2014. Even more shockingly, on the list of countries which Microsoft is planning 2014 launches in, Japan is nowhere to be found! Yes, you read that right; the same country which Microsoft spent so much effort on during the 360's early days to secure exclusive games and try and buy support away from Sony, is now appearing to have all but abandoned Japan altogether.
You'd almost think I was making this shit up.
At least this guy won't have to stock anymore Xbox devices.
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