Microsoft is celebrating the one year anniversary of Xbox One in Asian markets this month. To mark the occasion Microsoft have been holding fan festivals in key markets starting with South Korea on September 2nd, Taiwan on September 5th, Hong Kong on September 7th and ending with Singapore on September 9th. In China there will be promotions for the one year anniversary coming soon.
Starting September 2nd the Korean event saw over 100 dedicated fans turn up to try out brand new Xbox games on more than 40 demo consoles.The company showcased new much-hyped video games including exclusive Xbox One titles Halo 5: Guardians and Forza Motorsport 6 which are scheduled to be launched later this year and will be fully localised for the Korean market. There was applause when the full Korean localisations were announced.
Also shown was the Forza and Halo limited edition consoles that will launch later this year in the country, the Xbox One elite controller and Elite 1TB console will also make its way to South Korea later this year.
Please take a look at this video for highlights from the event- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN8JrBU65Sk
The Taiwan event was attended by more than 400 people and all the same announcements as the Korean event. One unique announcement was that Rise of the Tomb Raider would be localised with Chinese voice for fans to enjoy. Something that Chinese gamers do not normally see from foreign owned games. Also backwards compatibility will be coming to Xbox One across Asia in November allowing them to play their current 360 library. EA Access is also coming exclusively to Xbox One in Asia.
In Hong Kong around 100 people attended including Frank O'Conner from 343 Industries, the same announcements as above were made including the confirmation that Halo world championship is launching soon! Also of note was Microsoft's mention that new games were coming to the console in 2016, they specifically mentioned a list of games that would launch before the new year including Dark Souls 3. From this we can ascertain that Dark Souls 3 will launch before February 8th 2016.
One lucky winner from each event was given an Xbox One for free!
The final event will take place in Singapore on the 9th and is expected to be attended by over 100 fans who have already signed up.
Microsoft Asia-Pacific remains dedicated to bringing the Xbox One and related games to Asian markets. The install base of Xbox One is fairly small in Asia but it's good to see Microsoft supporting smaller communities like this.
Bonus video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IApK90xt6pQ
Bonus Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h6joXLQz-s (Tomb Raider off screen)
Best reaction to localisation announcement:
(I made this because Dualshockers coverage of the event has been lazy)
