With FIFA 18 finally releasing the world over on September 29, it seems that EA’s exclusive retail partner Amazon India has delayed orders of the game. The standard edition of FIFA 18 for PS4 and Xbox One will be available from October 3 according to Amazon’s listing page for the game as well as its customer support who have confirmed the same.
Those who pre-ordered the FIFA 18 Ronaldo Edition, which consists of the base game plus downloadable content (and costs Rs. 6,000), received their copies on the day it was intended - September 26.
Much like FIFA 16 and FIFA 17 it seems that Amazon India has not brought FIFA 18 in on time. Meanwhile smaller independent retailers have been selling standard and Ronaldo Editions of FIFA 18 at a higher price.
The reason why certain stores have had FIFA 18 early is due to a street date break in the UAE which occurred last week. This resulted in a flood of copies parallely imported or smuggled in. The price to consumers is between Rs. 3,800 to Rs. 4,300 depending on the store it’s bought from.
"More than 90 percent of the customers who pre-ordered will get it on or before the India release date in 2017 setting a new record for deliveries on release date for video games in India. The number of customers who will be delivered on release date in 2017 will be 10X higher than 2016. Amazon has already started dispatches much ahead of the planned schedule," a spokesperson for Amazon India told Gadgets 360 over email. Though this seems to be far from the case for FIFA 18 in particular.
For what it’s worth FIFA 18 is surprisingly good. With an improved story mode, polished visuals, and fluid gameplay, FIFA 18 is a solid upgrade over FIFA 17 and even its rival. Long-time fans may have trouble distinguishing these differences over past entries immediately, but the myriad of refinements results in what is possibly the most polished FIFA in recent memory.
Update, September 29, 2017: story updated to include Amazon India's reply to our request for comment.
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