PlayStation 5 was originally scheduled to release in India on November 19, 2020 but the launch date was removed from the website.
Sony is expected to bring more PS5 units to the Asian markets after January 2021
PlayStation 5 will be launched in India on February 2 with pre-orders for the PS5 starting from January 12 at 12pm IST. Sony shared the development on Twitter through its PlayStation India account and said that pre-orders will be open till stocks last. The console originally launched in select regions on November 12 and rest of the world (excluding India) on November 19, 2020. It was supposed to have a "late 2020" launch in India but this clearly didn't happen, with stock shortages, BIS certification, and a copyright issue being some of the explanations that were rumoured. Now, finally, the console will be making its way to the Indian market. Further, according to a new report, 3.4 million units of the PS5 were sold in its first month, making it the highest ever for any PlayStation console.
Sony has announced on Twitter that the PS5 will be launched in India on February 2. Pre-orders will start from January 12 at 12pm and will go live on Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Reliance Digital, Games The Shop, Shop at Sony Center, Vijay Sales, and select authorised retail partners.
The company announced Indian pricing prior to launch. The Digital Edition of the PS5 will cost Rs. 39,990 and the standard edition with a disk drive will cost Rs. 49,990.
Sony launched the PS5 in US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and other regions on November 12 and on November 19 for the rest of the world. Though India was part of the original list of countries for the November 19 launch, the date was then redacted from the official website and the console did not see the light of day in the country.
According to a report by Gematsu, 3.4 million units of the PlayStation 5 were shipped in the first four weeks making it the highest selling PlayStation console ever. The console launched in several regions on November 12 including US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and more, and the demand has been high ever since Sony opened pre-orders. For regions where it went on sale like North America and Europe, it was quite hard for people to place an order for the console as Sony wasn't able to restock the shelves (both virtual and physical) to meet the demand and the console was out of stock more often than not.
The report added that Sony is expected to allocate more PlayStation 5 units for the Asian markets after January 2021. Hopefully, the situation will be better in terms of pre-orders and availability in India, and not as messy as other regions. Sony had also apologised for the state of pre-orders in countries where the console originally had a launch date and had promised to provide more units to meet the demand.
Despite this short supply, the company was able to set a new sales record for its PlayStation console. The report also states that Sony is expected to ship 16.8 million to 18 million units of the PS5 in 2021 if Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and backend service firms can provide additional capacity support. The PS5's 7nm CPU is produced by AMD and the company has reportedly secured the necessary components from TSMC to allow production partners to ramp up console output.
Will Xbox Series S, PS5 Digital Edition fail in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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