Skip to main content

Xbox One set for September 4 release in Japan

xbox one receive september 4 release japan oen
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Xbox One will be released on Thursday, September 4 in Japan, Microsoft announced today. The company also revealed a list of games that will be coming to Japan, including already-released titles like Dead Rising 3 and Titanfall and upcoming games like Watch DogsSunset Overdrive, and Final Fantasy XV

The Xbox One was first released on November 13, 2013 in 13 regions across North and South America, Europe, and Australia, eight years after the Xbox 360 launched. Microsoft previously released a list of 26 countries set to receive the new console in September, but the announcement today only pertains to Japan. News of the other regions is presumably forthcoming.

Despite generally strong sales, particularly of its flagship title, Titanfall, the Xbox One still lags behind Sony’s PlayStation 4 in overall sales worldwide. The impending launch in Japan in particular is doubly foreboding because of the Xbox 360’s tortured history of struggling sales in the country. Lifetime sales for the Xbox One’s predecessor have been reported at around 1.65 million in Japan, versus the commanding lead of 9.8 million held by the PlayStation 3.

Nevertheless, 48 game developers have pledged their support for the Xbox One in Japan, including Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom, so Microsoft executives are no doubt hopeful that their new console will pull out an underdog victory and revitalize the company’s foothold in the land of the rising sun.

Editors' Recommendations

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
Xbox Game Pass gets one of 2021’s best games today
Iron Mask and Shionne attack in Tales of Arise.

The next batch of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass this month was just revealed. Leading the pack of games being added to the subscription service today is Tales of Arise, a critically acclaimed RPG from Bandai Namco Entertainment that Xbox previously leaked was coming to the service.

Tales of Arise was released in 2021. The latest entry in a long-running RPG series, it follows a slave and girl inflicted with a curse as they rise up against the kingdom of Rena. It sports real-time RPG combat, and is one of few games to score a five-star rating from Digital Trends.

Read more
Xbox and Embracer’s mass layoff explanations aren’t good enough
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer during Updates on the Xbox Business | Official Xbox Podcast.

The wave of layoffs that has happened over the past year in the video game industry is well-documented. Some of the biggest culprits are Embracer Group, which has laid off nearly 1,400 workers across several of its studios since the start of a restructuring program last July, and Microsoft, which laid off 1,900 developers across Xbox, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard in January. After relative silence around these layoffs, leadership at both companies finally tried to offer more transparently into what happened.

Neither of their statements are good enough.

Read more
Starfield isn’t going multiplatform, but 4 Xbox games are
Key art for Starfield

 

Microsoft finally gave its fans an update on the future of its gaming business during the Official Xbox Podcast today. It clarified some of the speculation around its first-party games going multiplatform, explaining that this move only applies to four titles.

Read more