E3 2013: Japanese games players left in the dark over next-gen dates and pricing

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http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/06/XboxOneJapan2.jpg (http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/06/XboxOneJapan2.jpg)As the dust settles on Monday’s Microsoft (http://www.edge-online.com/features/e3-2013-microsoft-press-conference-review/) and Sony (http://www.edge-online.com/features/e3-2013-sony-press-conference-review/) E3 conferences, question marks remain over the price and release schedule for Xbox One and PS4 in Japan.Microsoft has confirmed that it will release Xbox One in Japan, according to Famitsu (http://www.famitsu.com/news/201306/11034700.html), despite consumer apathy towards previous Xbox generations here, and the Japanese Xbox site has been belatedly updated with a One section (http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/xboxone/meet-xbox-one?xr=shellnav). However, Microsoft’s E3 conference made no reference to a Japan release.The same goes for Sony with PS4. Before the console’s original unveiling in February, rumours suggested that Japan might get PS4 well after the US and Europe, although traditionally PlayStation hardware has always launched in Sony’s homeland first; the same happened with Wii U, which came to Japan in December 2012, three weeks after the US release.However, February’s PlayStation Meeting unveiling implied a worldwide release late in 2013. But at E3 Sony mentioned only a US and Europe release in time for ‘holiday 2013′. A PS4 press release (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/130611b.pdf) issued by SCEI in Japanese gave the price only in dollars and euros, and made no mention of a Japanese release date, leading many to fear a 2014 release after all. And yet pages on the Japanese PS4 website for launch games such as DriveClub (http://www.jp.playstation.com/ps4/games/driveclub/) and Killzone: Shadow Fall (http://www.jp.playstation.com/ps4/games/killzone/) listed their local release dates as ‘ 2013′.Although retailers in the UK and US are already accepting preorders for both consoles, Amazon.co.jp currently merely allows customers to sign up for email updates on their eventual availability. Game store chain Sofmap (http://www.sofmap.com/) doesn’t list the consoles at all – since PS4 is confirmed as multiregion (http://www.edge-online.com/news/e3-2013-ps4-is-region-free-confirms-yoshida/), some hardcore gamers here are simply preordering theirs from the US, just in case.The PS4′s US and UK price tag of $399 and £349 convert to 38,000 and 52,000 yen respectively; the Xbox One’s $499 and £429 prices equal 47,500 and 64,000 yen. The PS3 and 360 each launched in Japan with a yen price tag that converted to slightly more than in the US, so past form and friendly current exchange rates suggest PS4 could release at around 45,000 yen and One at about 55,000 yen.Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced a new Xbox 360, redesigned to look similar to Xbox One, but it is not mentioned on the Japanese Xbox site (http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/xbox360/consolelineup?xr=shellnav), nor listed by online retailers. Perhaps Microsoft is cutting its losses with that one.

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