Microsoft has officially announced a November 22 release date for Xbox One. The console will debut in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand, before making its way to "many more" markets in 2014.
The November 22 launch date means the system will hit stores exactly eight years after Xbox 360 launched. It will also arrive one week later than PS4’s November 15 release date in the United States, but one week earlier than Sony’s new console hits Europe on November 29. Xbox One will be priced at £430 / $500 / €500 and will have 23 launch games. Every Xbox One Day One Edition console pre-ordered in Europe will come bundled with a free copy of FIFA 14.
Microsoft's vice president of Xbox marketing, strategy and business, Yusuf Mehdi, said today: "November 22 is a special day in Xbox history - on this day, we first launched Xbox 360 in 2005. Our next chapter begins in 79 days, when Xbox One becomes available.
"We are humbled and gratified by the tremendous interest in Xbox One from game fans everywhere. 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. We look forward to celebrating with millions and millions of gamers this holiday.
"As a result of this incredible consumer demand and the development progress on Xbox One, I am thrilled to share that today we are making available a limited number of additional Xbox One Day One consoles for pre-order. We have coordinated with our retail partners to make it easy for you to reserve your Xbox One today.
"I am also pleased to confirm that the development team has increased the CPU from 1.6GHZ to 1.75GHZ, roughly a 10% increase in CPU performance. This is on top of the 6% increase we previously announced for the GPU. What does this mean to you the gamer? It means that the Xbox One will have that much more power for developers to make their games and entertainment really shine."
Microsoft said last month that Xbox One’s launch would be delayed from this November to 2014 in eight markets - Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland.
