The Xbox One (finally) launches in Japan later this year, meaning all three major consoles of this generation will finally be available in the country then. Microsoft knows it’s playing catch up with the other two consoles in the region, so they have prepared what might be the most extensive launch plans for Japan in the history of the Xbox brand.
For starters, the Xbox One will be sold in Japan in three flavors- the full bundle includes the console, the Kinect sensor, and Kinect Sports Rivals and Titanfall included, and it retails for 50,000 Yen. Cheaper variants include one that comes with the console and the Kinect, but no games, and one that comes with just the console, with the latter retailing for 40,000 Yen, making it competitive there with the PS4, that also goes for the same price.
In addition, Microsoft revealed the full launch lineup for Japan- because they have the benefit of launching a year later there after launching everywhere else, they’ve been able t0 prepare an impressive list of games:
- Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
- Titanfall
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Battlefield 4
- FIFA 14
- Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
- Strider
- Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate
- Onigiri
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Thief
- Tomb Raider
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
- Killer Instinct
- Murdered: Soul Suspect
- Zumba Fitness World Party
- Crimson Dragon
- Dead Rising 3
- Kinect Sports Rivals
- Zoo Tycoon
- Powerstar Golf
- Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag
- Child of Light
- Thief
- Halo: Spartan Assault
- Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
- Ryse: Son of Rome
- LocoCycle
- Forza Motorsport 5
The biggest issue there is that very few, if any, of the announced games will actually appeal to Japanese audiences (and those that potentially might have been available on other systems for a fair bit now). Then again, that is also a problem endemic to the PlayStation 4 (leading to the console now being routinely outsold by the Wii U in the weekly sales charts for the region).