Microsoft announced yesterday that the Xbox One would be launching in November in 13 markets rather than the earlier stated 21, with most countries in Europe such as Sweden, Belgium and Denmark among others and Russia receiving it in early 2014.
Consumers of the respective countries aren’t the only ones annoyed about it. Battlefield 4 developer DICE is based in Sweden, for instance, and lead core gameplay design director Alan Kertz took to Twitter to voice his disapproval.
He wasn’t alone, as lead gameplay designer Gustav Halling stated that Sweden always bought what was hot and now, that will be the PlayStation 4.
One has to pity Microsoft at this point: After announcing the Xbox One, the company was skewered for what were viewed as draconian DRM policies and lack of enthusiasm in indie developers. Microsoft has been back-tracking on every single one of its policies since then, including Kinect no longer being mandatory for playing on the console. How badly will this affect the console’s standing in Europe and Russia? We’ll find out in the coming months.