XBOX DELAYED IN JAPAN
August 27, 2001

Today in Japan, Microsoft announced not unexpected plans to delay the Japanese Xbox launch until February 22, or about two months later than previously announced. The company says that, while there will be short-term consequences, they do not expect the late launch to ultimately impact the system in Japan. No price has yet been announced.

Obviously, the delay is mostly about making sure the company has enough units available for its North American launch (and beyond), which Microsoft, yet again, stated will be on November 8 with 600,000-800,000 units available. With this move, Microsoft follows suit of Nintendo and Sony, who are both expected to divert units from Japan to North America later this year.

The good news for North America is that this means there will be less shortages for a lesser period of time. For Japan, it means there will be more launch titles available, so the company won't be stuck launching with just a couple games. This also gives Microsoft the opportunity to build up its American userbase faster, which should in theory put them ahead of Nintendo.

The bad news is obviously that the Japanese need to wait a couple more months and Microsoft misses out on the year-end shopping season in Japan, which leads to the company being further behind in the east. As of the Xbox launch, Nintendo will have just over 1 million Japanese Gamecubes and Sony will have several million Japanese PS2s.