Xbox 360 To Stagger Release By Territory

Author: by Nich Maragos, Simon Carless

Executives at Microsoft have now clarified that, although launching in a similar time frame, the American, European, and Japanese debut of the next-gen console may not necessarily be on the same day. Dismissing previous remarks on a "worldwide simultaneous release", Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach indicated that there will be a delay of 7 to 10 days between the U.S. launch and its Japanese counterpart. Commenting at the Reuters Technology and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo, Bach suggested: "We will launch in North America, Europe and Japan in the same holiday season. There will probably be a week or 10 days in between the different territories, just to give us a chance to manage the logistics." The statement echoes earlier remarks regarding software by Microsoft representative Mitch Koch last month, in which he commented: "We really talk about launch window, as opposed to day one games." Since developers continue to finish up potential Xbox 360 launch or 'launch window' games, final confirmation on which Xbox 360 software will launch on day 1 may not be available for some time. Although the Xbox 360 does not yet have an exact launch date, a pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference planned for later today may shed more light on the precise November launch date for all territories. Gamasutra will be covering this Tokyo event, and will have full information from it available later this evening, U.S. time.