14 DAY TRIAL // The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has revealed that Microsoft won’t be hosting a press conference at this year’s edition of the Tokyo Game Show.
With Tokyo Game Show just a month away, set to debut on September 18, this comes as a real surprise, since many were expecting the Redmond-based giant to up its game and deliver an impressive presentation, two weeks after the Xbox One’s debut in Japan.
Microsoft is launching its latest computer entertainment system into a number of secondary markets in September, including India, China, Korea and Japan, among others, and the news that the company won’t hold a keynote is a bit puzzling.
That however doesn’t mean that Microsoft has given up, on the contrary, it’s as determined to have a good offering at the show as ever, with Phil Spencer himself mentioning on Twitter that he plans to attend this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
A few days ago, Spencer said that the team was still working on the plans for the show, but wouldn’t disclose any of the surprises that the company advised its fans to look forward to.
In the least, we now know that Microsoft won’t host a keynote, a fact which was also confirmed by the Global Marketing Manager of Microsoft Game Studios, Aaron Greenberg.
In spite of the lack of a proper show this year, Microsoft is still expected to present a strong push for the Xbox One, given its recent struggles and the head start in sales that Sony’s PlayStation 4, the next-gen system’s main competitor, has secured in the nine months since its launch.
Microsoft teased about upcoming surprises, and disclosed the fact that there are a number of unannounced projects coming to the Xbox One from Japanese developers, so we’re likely to see some activity on that front at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show.
The fact that there won’t be a conference at TGS is still somewhat disappointing, especially when taking into account the fact that Sony mentioned that it had simply too many games to announce, and many didn’t make the cut for Gamescom, and got bumped for TGS.
The PlayStation 4 home console, in spite of being the fastest-selling PlayStation yet, with over 10 million units moved since November last year, didn’t do very well in Japan, so a good lineup of games that appeal to local consumers might help it gain some traction in the Land of the Rising Sun.
@PNF4LYFE we are not doing a TGS keynote this year.
— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) August 23, 2014