Microsoft has revealed which 21 countries are going to be supported by the Xbox One at launch and, perhaps unsurprisingly, South Africa – along with the rest of the African continent – hasn’t made the cut.
Though this makes it appear that the likes of Africa won’t be getting the console, that isn’t necessarily the case. The major requirements to run the console, according to Microsoft, are broadband internet access, a Microsoft account and an Xbox Live account in a supported region. It’s just possible that having an Xbox Live account for the UK, something which many South African gamers have, will be enough to run the console locally at launch though this may require importing both the console and games initially. If this is the case, the Xbox One’s local presence will be drastically limited, at least for a time.
There are further requirements for the console that have been detailed by Microsoft, such as the lack of backwards compatibility and that “[s]ome games not transferable and have no resale value; restrictions on games usage apply.” The company has also said that “additional restrictions will apply”, but these have not been explained.
The list of countries that will support the Xbox One at launch is below. There is no word on when other territories will be getting support for Microsoft’s new hardware.
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Russia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
Source: Microsoft