Crazy Countdown to Xbox One and PS4: The Controversies, Excitement and Drama

65. Three days after the November 22nd rumor was brought to light, Microsoft reveals release date as November 22nd. Also reveals that countries facing delays will receive launch bonuses.

Microsoft got its ass kicked throughout the majority of the year. Its reveal event, E3 2013…the Xbox One could seemingly do no right. Regardless, people were still excited about the release date of the console and when Gamescom 2013 came and went without an announcement, the anticipation grew even more. Remember, this was at a time when Microsoft had back-tracked on just about every single unlikable policy that the Xbox One had advocated. It was finally announced that the Xbox One would go on sale on November 22nd. The bad news is, it would be releasing in 13 territories, down from the 21 initially announced at E3 2013. The company promised that countries facing the delay – due to language problems with Kinect – would receive bonuses at launch time, which would be early 2014 but didn’t necessarily advocate against importing the console from a neighbouring territory.