The Xbox One release date is official: Nov. 22 in 13 markets. Microsoft issued the official Xbox One release date news came today, ending months of speculation about whether the Xbox One would release before, after or at the same time as Sony’s PlayStation 4. Sony announced at Gamescom that the PS4 release date is Nov. 15.
Sony’s one-week retail lead time is more likely to provide more fodder for PS4 fanboys than it is to provide any major advantage in sales. Although seven days is notable, the majority of holiday shopping will come on the Black Friday 2013 shopping weekend that happens after Thanksgiving.
The Xbox One release date of Nov. 22 will apply to 13 launch markets: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK and the United States. According to Microsoft, “many more markets will follow in 2014.”
In announcing the Xbox One release date, Microsoft noted some additional progress on the production front. “We hit an important milestone as we began full production of the Xbox One console recently. The culmination of many years of listening to you, our fans, developing innovative technology, and partnering with the best game and entertainment partners in the industry has brought us to this point. There is still a lot more work to do, but the teams are making excellent progress and are focused on launch.”
Microsoft also said that Xbox One pre-orders have performed well, which is notable because the system stumbled out of the gates at E3. Obviously, it’s recovered. “We have sold out of our pre-order supply in the U.S. faster than at any other time in our history and we are on path to have the biggest launch of an Xbox ever,” Microsoft said in a statement. However, a few Xbox One Day One Edition consoles are still available for pre-order from Microsoft’s own site.
The Xbox One release date of Nov. 22 holds some symbolic importance to long-time Xbox owners. November 22 also marked the launch of the Xbox 360 in 2005.
