Microsoft's Xbox One might not have a solid release date just yet but the company has said it plans to launch the console in time for the holiday season. Unfortunately, if you're living in Japan, the Xbox One actually won't be available before the end of the year. In fact, Microsoft has confirmed that Japanese gamers will be waiting until early 2014 before the Xbox arrives in their country. And they're not alone.
According to Games Industry, Microsoft Japan President Yasuyuki Higuchi has said Japan is "tier 2 country," which means it won't be getting the Xbox when it initially launches. Higuchi confirmed the news when speaking in an 4 Gamer, but Japan-based Xbox fans would already have known something was up when their country didn't appear on the list of launch countries Microsoft had at E3.
The very presence of a 'tier 2' (along with the fact that there are only 21 countries on the launch list) suggests that Japan isn't alone . So who else will be tier two? It's anyone's guess. GI says other countries in Asia will see the console in late 2014, so that leads us to believe there's actually a third tier. Only Microsoft knows the finer details, so we'll have to wait to find out the specifics. For now, we know that Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are on the launch lsit. Everything else is kind of up in the air.
