Spencer admits it "didn’t feel good" to delay Xbox One in Euro markets

Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer has spoken about his disappointment at his company’s decision to postpone the launch of Xbox One in some territories.

"I wish we had the global coverage that we originally announced when we stood on stage at E3," he said told OXM. "I stood on stage and talked about 21 markets.

"It never feels good to stand on stage and talk about 21 markets and ship in 13, but it’s a journey, and it’s not won or lost the day after launch. It will be something that plays out, so making sure the quality of each market when we ship is the important part.

There were things around the voice models and other things we needed to make sure were right in order to really build a box that felt native to the markets we were shipping in.”

Xbox One was delayed in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland in August and is still without a launch date in those territories. Nor has it been dated for Japan.

The company subsequently blamed Kinect localisation issues and not inventory concerns for the decision.