If you buy an Xbox One in Europe on or before the recently announced November 22 launch, you will receive a copy of FIFA 14 at no additional cost while supplies last. That’s great news for fans in Europe who will get a bit of added value with their purchase, but so far Microsoft could show the NSA a thing or two about security as an equivalent North American hasn’t been announced, or even hinted at. At least not officially.
We’ve received what appears to be a chat transcript between a Microsoft Store representative and a customer, our tipster. In it, the rep categorically states that American bundles of the Xbox One will also contain a game, but that game’s identity has yet to be confirmed.
“About the U.S. Xbox One, as of the moment, the Game which will be free is still yet to be announced however, there will be a free game for the pre-ordered Xbox One,” the rep said (emphasis added). “You can check the information once we have it updated on our news.xbox.com website or you will be updated on your email address which you have the Xbox account linked to.”
We contacted Microsoft for confirmation of this and were told, “Regarding a bundle for North America, as with many products, bundle offers differ from country to country. We’re committed to offering fantastic value to all our customers and have nothing further to announce at this time.”
Microsoft’s response is no surprise – it was word for word the same reply we received when we asked about a U.S. bundle following Gamescom. The alleged Microsoft Store employee on the other hand, was a bit more open. “We are very excited about the Xbox One and we are also waiting for the announcement of the free game we will be receiving,” the rep wrote.
It should be noted that on our fact check with Microsoft Store chat, a customer service representative referred a similar question to the Xbox product phone support line.
Assuming this information is accurate, the question becomes: which game will be included? The obvious guess is Madden 25, since, like FIFA 14, it is an EA Sports game. Globally, FIFA 13 sold more than twice as many copies as Madden 13 in 2012. If EA is willing to box FIFA 14 for Europe, there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t also be willing to offer up Madden 25 to U.S. audiences. For now though, we’ll have to wait and see.
