In the US we have been enjoying downloading videos over Xbox Live for about two years now. Parts of Europe and Canada got access to it last year, but not Japan. Considering the size of the user base it’s easy to understand why Microsoft hasn’t released the Video Marketplace over there either.
This year games like Tales of Vesperia made the Xbox 360 explode in Japan and Microsoft is having a change of heart. Sometime in 2009 the Xbox Live Video Marketplace will launch in Japan with movies and anime. No specific titles have been announced and even if Microsoft made a killer partnership with Aniplex it would mostly be meaningless since video content is region locked. Such a shame too since it would be fantastic to use Microsoft’s digital video rental service to watch films that aren’t coming out in the US.
Images courtesy of Microsoft / Dentsu.
