Xbox One Only Works In A Select Few Countries, Phil Spencer Suggests Phone Tethering

nofi 59 Comments

The seemingly continuous run of negative PR for Microsoft continues this evening as the company reveals the limited number of countries that the Xbox One will launch in later this year.

Although the list – below – covers the major selling areas for Microsoft it’s worth noting that Poland is missing, something Polish developers CD Projekt Red weren’t aware of.

“I was surprised, and I really hope that it isn’t final,” said co-founder Marcin Iwinski. “I think Polish gamers will speak out loud. From my perspective, it’s a sad situation.”

Not only does the list signify the launch countries, it’s worth noting that because the console (and games) require online activation, chances are even if a machine is imported to a non-supported country, it probably won’t work.

Here’s the list:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Russia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

In related news, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has said that the activation process eats just bytes, not megabytes, and thus suggests that tethering your phone to the Xbox One might be a solution for those that don’t have an internet connection.

However, he does state that the console does need that connection. “If you have no ability to connect to the Internet,” he said, “the Xbox One is not the console for you.”

Finally, industry vet Peter Molyneux has weighed in with his opinion. “I just think it was very unprofessionally done,” he said. “There was one message from one Phil and then another message from another Phil, and they seemed to be kind of shooting from the hip.”

“Always online is simple for me. As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I’ll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don’t want that.”

Xbox One launches (in some places) in November.

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Little Kitty, Big City heads out on the town on 9th May

59 Comments

  1. Did they forget to list countries with a P? Portugal and Poland? What about Luxembourg, Ireland, these guys (ms) are crazy!!

  2. Oh dear. Is it normal to not release in some countries? Did the 360/PS3 release simultaneously?

    Should certain countries expect the same from the PS4?

  3. It’s sad, so sad, such a sad sad situation… and it’s getting more and more absurd.

    • Took me a minute but that made me proper lol :)

      • Haha stay strong people of Poland. Greatness awaits.

    • Haha fantastic. Think I’ll go off and listen to his greatest hits now. Music sorted for the morning =P

  4. I see they took to heart how poorly the 360 did in Japan too, as they show no love to the Land of the Rising Sun.

    • No love for any of Asia. Surprised South Korea is missing out too.

  5. Wow Norway, how ’bout that Sony?

    • Or wait, is the PS4 releasing in the rest of Europe at first too or just in UK and US? I’m confused…

      • I don’t think Sony has said where in Europe but if you buy a PS4 it will work anywhere.

      • It’s releasing in the rest of the europe as well, or at least in the Nordic region.
        At least there has been no mentions otherwise.

      • Nearly all of Europe’s PS3s come into the Netherlands and I don’t see that changing for the PS4. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to get them out to mainland Europe whilst they palm off a few hundred thousand for us UK folk.

  6. There doesn’t seem to be a single Asian or South American country on that list. Strange to totally omit basically two Continents

    • Pretty sure Brazil is in South America ;)

      • I’m geographically retarded but that’s what I thought too lol

      • Evidently neither of you are as geographically retarded as I, how embarrassing. Jumping the gun after not reading the list properly, there…

  7. On behalf of the Irish gaming community i would like to propose that we donate our Xbox One launch to Poland instead.

  8. Wow, they’re forgetting the whole of Eastern Europe + Portugal + The Middle East + Africa + Asia + Luxembourg + Lichtenstein + a couple more…
    Unbelievable… I know Sony is also letting Asia wait a bit longer. But this is just weird…

  9. It’s amazing that the games market hasn’t been pushed to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There’s a lot of poverty granted, but more potential sales than the UK simply because of the masses of population. And, having been to India, I can tell you they’re very understanding of the red ring of death.

  10. I don’t understand his suggestion of tethering it to your phone. Wouldn’t that require a data plan? I imagine there is not much cross-over between people with a data plan but not an internet connection.

    And wow, pretty brazen to say “If you have no ability to connect to the Internet the Xbox One is not the console for you.”

    • Not really. If they didn’t say it, they’d have a crisis at launch when all the people without a connection bought one and found it to be useless, at least for playing games.

      I’d expect a lot of those who would buy one without an Internet connection would be students, especially those in halls. I couldn’t connect my ps3 through the uni network. Students tend to have decent phones, so this might be a solution for them.

      • As long as your phone plan allows tethering.

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