Xbox 360 release date for Asia confirmed: March 2006

The Xbox 360 is due to be released into the Asian market outside of Japan by March 2006. Microsoft has revealed plans to launch the new console into Korea on February 24 and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore on March 2.

The announcement will do little to ease the pressure on Microsoft as criticism continues to grow following supply shortages in the US and Europe.

With the Japanese and Australian Xbox 360 launches - set for December 10 and March 2 respectively - still to come, there are fears that not enough machines will be available.

Alan Bowman, general manager of Xbox Business in Asia, told Reuters he was hopeful they could produce enough consoles.

“We wanted to make sure within the first six months that we could get the 360 into all existing Xbox 1 markets.

I’m very optimistic that demand is going to be significant. We’re working very hard to keep supply up with demand.”

he said.

Microsoft are putting considerable effort into the Sony-dominated Asian market this time around after their failure to make a significant impact with the original Xbox.

“We’ve really got a strong pipeline of material appropriate for Asia. I think we’ve really made a lot of progress there,”

Bowman said.

The early release of the Xbox 360 is an attempt to get a foothold in the market before the release of Sony’s next-generation console, the Playstation 3, and Nintendo’s Revolution console, both expected for sometime next year.

Asian prices for the Xbox 360 are expected to be in line with the US and Europe.

Source: Reuters

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