Xbox One restricts access to just 21 Countries

Microsoft have announced that the Xbox One will be region locked, and will only allow access in 21 countries.

The countries given access are :

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

The eagle-eyed among will notice some big nations missing out on the Xbox One: Japan, Singapore, Poland, Romania and Portugal - oh, and just about half of the EU along with them. Japan and Poland are the home of some big games developers, which means that people may not be allowed to play a game that they themselves made. Some of these countries (like Singapore, Poland and Romania) are big gaming cultures and will therefore be forced to choose one of Microsoft’s competitors - a major flaw on their part.

The Xbox One are simply locking users out due to the idea that these countries won’t be able to handle the console’s requirements, yet countries like Singapore are some of the most online countries in the world. The region lock (which Sony claims will not be used with the PS4) will stop people even getting the chance to have the console, even if they choose to pay large amounts of money to import it. Not only are Microsoft handing Sony an advantage for attracting core gamers, they’re handing a large amount of their fan-base to their competitors (which include the Playstation, the Nintendo Wii, possibly the Ouya and Steam Box and of course the PC) .