Xbox One Release Date Set For 2014 In Japan: Plans Unchanged

Though the country is synonymous with its major influence on the multi-tiered world of gaming and entertainment for a generation, it would seem that Microsoft isn't quite so keen: the Xbox One wont be coming to the big J until 2014. This announcement comes amid further suggestion that Japan is a "tier 2 country" as far as releases go, with Microsoft Japan President Yasuyuki Higuchi making their position clear with several months between releases.

The Xbox One will therefor be released in "early 2014" rather than late 2013 during the holiday season. Microsoft has not commented on supply lines or suggestion that this move has anything to do with any element other than a pre-determined release schedule.

At the moment, the plan is to release the Xbox One in November for North America with greater Europe on tap for November or December, all within 2013. This device will carry with it extremely similar innards dependent on the region it's being delivered to.

Speaking with 4Gamer this week, Yasuyuki Higuchi made clear the idea that the release schedule was not due to services not being ready in time, suggesting instead that Japan use the short time between releases to solidify their readiness for the unique features available in the new machine. The change-over from Xbox 360 will be an exciting one, suffice to say.

Microsoft's current plan was in place well before recent announcements of changes to Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions and sharing rules were inflicted then retracted. The same goes for the recent Microsoft changing of the guard with Don Mattrick changing over from president of Interactive Entertainment Business to a completely different company: Zynga.

Stay tuned as release dates become a bit more solid for each of the regions mentioned above, and let us know if you're all about the system at this point or not!