The local release date has been confirmed for Microsoft’s Xbox One, with September being pegged as the month in which South African fans will be able to purchase the console.

It was announced today that South Africa, along with 25 other markets globally, including Belgium, Greece, Japan, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland, will receive the Xbox One in six months time, almost a year after its launch in the US, UK and Europe.

Microsoft didn’t elaborate on the exact date though, so this could just as easily be the 30^th September as it could be the 1^st. Nonetheless, we’re glad to see that the Xbox One will be arriving this year at least, even if it is in the latter part.

Get a bandage

However, rubbing salt into the wound is a small notification accompanying the announcement on how well Titanfall has done to date on the Xbox One in other countries; unfortunately though, given the recent shocker that Titanfall would not be made available for South Africa, it does put a bit of a damper on the news.

Hopefully by September, EA and Microsoft would have had a change of heart and made the appropriate plans to at least give South African players the chance to play the multiplayer first person shooter (which incidentally is racking up rave reviews) on the new console.

Even so, Titanfall is not the only game in town; as other heavy hitter exclusives (Halo and Gears of War) should also help boost the Xbox One’s allure to local players by September time.

Catch up!

In spite of this, we cannot help feeling that Microsoft’s next gen console has a lot of catching up to do, at least with local players. While the PS4 quickly sold out shortly after making its debut, it was quickly followed by another shipment in early January, and more recently, yet another shipment arrived, with assurances that moving forward PS4’s would be even more consistently available.

Let’s hope though that when the Xbox One does touchdown in six months time, it will do so with a bang, rather than a whimper.