Xbox One’s Live TV Will Not Be Available In Australia At Launch, Requires A Separate Device

Small print is a terrifying thing when you actually sit down and read it. A global press release sent out heralding the announcement of the Xbox One has a few small details hidden within it. First off: all that TV stuff Microsoft were proud to show off in its conference? You actually need to buy a separate device in order for that to work. Second? Most of it will only be available in the US at launch, and Microsoft currently has no fixed schedule for the global roll out and only commits to “global scale over time”.

Specifically, the press release states, in the small print that…

At launch, Live TV will require a supported receiver device with HDMI output (sold separately).

And, before that:

Live TV with Kinect navigation, Live TV with OneGuide, Trending, and NFL on Xbox available in U.S. at launch; anticipating global scale over time.

I have numerous broad complaints about the conference itself, not enough games being shown is the most obvious, but this news strikes me as slightly dishonest. The press release refers to the Xbox One as “the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system” but not one person on stage mentioned the fact that another device would be required for Live TV.

This dishonesty is compounded by the distasteful US-centric nature of the conference itself. Whilst watching I was very aware this was not only tailored specifically to a western audience, but more specifically to a US audience. The fact that Microsoft spent so much time focusing on functionality that will only be available in the US without making mention of the fact that said functionality won’t be available at launch outside of the US is, again, dishonest.

This was a global announcement.

We’re speaking to a local Australian Microsoft representative this morning. We’ll report back when we hear any further details about the launch of these services in Australia.

UPDATE: We spoke to Microsoft about more local details here.