From the official website:

November 2013

• Australia
• Austria
• Brazil
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Mexico
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States
• New Zealand

As soon as possible 2014

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• Switzerland

Reasoning:

While we wish we could launch Xbox One simultaneously in these markets, there are many factors that determine the timing of specific market launches. This includes work to localize the Xbox One dash, incorporate additional voice and languages, and build partnerships to bring apps and meaningful local content to each country.

We understand this will be disappointing news for our fans in the impacted countries, and we are doing everything we can to bring Xbox One to you as soon as possible next year.

If you are in these markets and have questions about your pre-order, please contact the local retailer where you placed your pre-order. To show our appreciation for your patience, if you have already preordered an Xbox One Day One system before today in those countries, you will also receive a pack-in game with your console when it launches.*

Kinda weird how a bunch of Asian countries, including Japan, aren't even mentioned.

It's not too weird that they don't mention Japan and such. Their strategy since they announced has been 'Not Giving a Shit'.

Hah! God they will have a small worldwide install base.

Smart they did not go into Japan. CAUSE NO FUCK GIVEN there not even Wii U.

Oh, Microsoft.

Xbox never had a chance in Japan so that's not surprising. I think Netherlands is a pretty large market so that seems insane. And the Scandinavian market is not that big but it have always been a pretty even split between Sony and Microsoft (at least from my experience I could be totally wrong) so that's a market you could easily lose, not to mention that there are tons of game developers in Sweden.

I call bull on the translation issues, seeing as the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are ranked highest in the English Participation Index, but...

All listed "delayed" countries, except for Russia, have the most agressive stance considering privacy laws. In Sweden for instance, you can get fined for taking a picture in public.

Alright, but the Kinect is no longer required to be connected to the Xbox One in order to function anymore.

@gike987: You are right that the Netherlands has a big market but it primarily consists out of Playstation's so it was always gonna be a tough sell here but by doing this it seems like they are not even putting up a fight.

Oh, horseapples! That sucks...

Well that sucks monkey balls. I wonder if an Xbox One bought from let's say the UK would still work here in Finland. Well anyways it seems like I'll be buying a PS4 this year after all.

@fluxwavez: What was only announced this weekend. Could be Xbone has not yet passed certifications in those countries.

Of course it's because it's difficult to translate to other languages Microsoft, yes yes.

@newdust said:

I think you've misunderstood the photography law. It's meant to protect people from having pictures of them taken in humiliating circumstances or in their private areas (bathrooms, homes, locker rooms, etc.). It's not at all saying public photography can get you fined. That's complete nonsense.

You usually plan ahead for translations when releasing a product. If this is for translation reasons, I have to wonder if they've had to make a lot of changes to either the UI or documentation with some of their recent changes, such as not requiring the Kinect to be connected, that they couldn't fit in those translations with the amount of time left for launch.

Wonder if "translation issues" is just another term for "yield issues", which has been the ongoing rumor for months from people inside of MS' dealings with the XBO's production.

As someone said on another forum, the story isn't that MS decided they are going to launch in 13 markets. The story is that they went from 21 to 13 in 2 months.

CBOAT on Gaf much confirming that today's announcement is related to the yield issue he leaked a few months ago.

Microsoft, pleeeeeeease.

You will hear about Asia and Japan plans at TGS before they will not even mention it.

A lot of people in the Netherlands I've spoken too are pretty pissed, MediaMarkt had already been advertising the PS4 way more and I can only imagine that push rising. Wonder what the reason is.

@cutyoface: You'd be surprised at the amount of Dutch people that wanted an Xbox One solely for COD. I find playstation users to be more sports fan (FIFA FIFA FIFA FIFA)

I just received confirmation via Twitter from the local Finnish Xbox representative that an Xbox One bought from let's say the UK or Germany for example will work in Finland, Sweden etc. as long as you buy a compatible power converter.

The tweet in Finnish

YEah that was one of their changes after the huge backlash.

Sucks for those guys.

I'm not too surprised about Russia since that's kind of a new territory to focus on. I was actually really surprised to see Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Russia all supported at launch and it looks like those other 2 markets are still a go.

And yeah when it comes to Europe...those who really want one from those markets can still get one. Been this way for Eastern Europe forever. Though I wonder if Microsoft would allow you to update your Xbox One to your country's language if you bought it in another region. That's going to be a key difference this time around with Kinect.

What do you mean? As I recall, Microsoft has done pretty good on launching in more places than just the US. Sony is the company with the history of just launching in Japan, then NA and then everywhere else much later. The PS3 rules Japan but the 360 got a better start because of this kind of world wide launch in Europe and the US.

Doesn't surprise me to see my country on the list. This is exactly why I decided I won't be supporting Microsoft anymore.

My "condolences" to people who have to wait, I can't imagine the amount of disappointment among fans who won't be getting X1 this year. But on the bright side, you'll have more time to play GTAV and other awesome upcoming current gen games.

@thehbk:

I had heard that outside the US PS3 has a much bigger install base. It's just that the US audience is huge. I had also heard that the PS4 was launching everywhere this year.

So with an established fan base everywhere else and with Sony winning people over, at least the enthusiasts, in the US I have to imagine at year's end the PS4 install base will he plenty healthy. Whereas the Xbox will only have 13 markets and are losing momentum in their biggest market (the US).

I think both will sell out. It's just that Sony will have the opportunity for a bigger initial install base.

Pretty smart on Microsoft's part waiting as long as they did to announce this. PS4 pre-orders have run out in most of those countries, so they held off long enough so that people who would have switched their launch pre-order probably can't now, and who knows what Sony's allocation numbers are going to be for the rest of the year beyond their initial pre-order allotments.

@krakn3dfx: That may still give the perception that PS4 should be the one to get, since they're sold out, while Xbox One isn't even available.

Well I´ll be damned .. I thought Mexico wouldnt be there but to be honest they could release it just like the versions of US and Canada (ie not translated to spanish) and it would sell. Well at least some company no longer thinks of Mexico as a backwater country (well not that it isnt in many places , but gosh darn it it has the most populated city in the world ... at least aroun 10 million possible customers there alone , if we add Guadalajara and Monterey add around 4 million more. (numbers are people that could buy the damn thing). Still not getting one tho M$ >:3

If it's sold out it can'be bought though...The PS4 already has that perception in those countries anyway.

PS4 sells 200k more units in that region than X1 in that time span because because of this. ;) (I think I'm being generous.)

I really don't believe Microsoft cares as much as fanboys if they outsell Sony to start off this generation. People keep forgetting they were willing to limit their user base to broadband-only customers. Microsoft's plans aren't the same. That much has been obvious to me since the Xbox One and always-connected unveiling. Despite their DRM reversal, I still think they have more of a long-term vision to this console generation and what they're trying to do with the Xbox One.

I don't believe they are as hell bent on selling hardware in non-connected areas, where there is heavy piracy. Sony's a hardware company. They are used to making money from hardware and they have always tried selling Playstations anywhere form the Middle East to Kazakhstan even though those places are of very little interest to developers due to such high piracy. Every little bit helps them.

I'm not saying MS doesn't like making money off hardware, but I think their approach and goals have always been different. They clearly had no issue creating a separation between people and initially willing to keep the Xbox One out of a lot of people's hands in exchange for a smaller, but connected, user base that fits their target demographic. I really don't think that plan has changed. Slowed down maybe, but it didn't change.

For the record, the 360's worst year was its first year on the market, when it had it all to itself.

@alexglass: The reversal wasn't simply about DRM. They could have required an always-online system without the DRM checks in order to offer the other things they envisioned. The feedback on that made it evident that they weren't willing to lose customers who didn't want an always-online system.

Your statement that the Xbox 360's first year is slightly inaccurate. The PS2, which was more popular than the Xbox, was still being supported well. They didn't have that year to themselves. There was no incentive to get an Xbox 360 for some. What might affect the PS4 (and Xbox One) sales this time could be that the PS3 still has great games coming out during their launch periods.

Not sure what the point of an always-on system is without DRM. Or how you would even do that.

That wasn't my point though. The point is they had to have set a lower threshold to begin with. I have no doubt companies like Microsoft would have researched very well the penetration of broadband internet worldwide. And they had to have known that wherever that came out, backlash or no backlash, it would still have been at a disadvantage in terms of potential customer base as a non-connected system. And it's a fair assumption that the reversal was from the backlash, but it's also an assumption to think its necessarily from pre-orders. Whether or not it reached a lower threshold, then they had originally anticipated, sure it's possible. But either way my point is if you think about this rationally, they weren't competing for the entire world wide user base with the original plan. But those with broadband connections.

They were still willing to put themselves at a sale disadvantage to Sony by doing that. That tells me they have different plans or at least see things differently than most gamers on forum do.

As to the chart, yes, but people are wanting to know the effects of a delay in certain countries in Europe for a few months compared to the PS4. The chart shows, and it goes back to my other point, that the biggest sales for the 360 didn't actually happen until the later years of the generation, coincidentally year 6 or 7, when Kinect launched. They're not looking at this as we have to get ahead first. Which is silly anyway. But I think a lot of forumers are seeing it that way.

In short, this will amount to pebbles in a pond, in the long run.

Man I just learned this. I live in Switzerland. This is a very small country, but per capita one of the richest in the world. MS is effing up so hard ....