“We’ve hardly ever sold consoles in markets like that before,” Spencer said in an interview.
Xbox Series X carries a price tag of Rs. 49,990
Xbox Series S/X pre-orders in India sold out instantly, Microsoft Executive Vice President of Gaming Phil Spencer said in a weekly talk show. The Redmond company started taking pre-orders for Xbox Series S/X in the country starting September 22. The pre-orders went live through channels including Amazon, Flipkart, and Reliance Digital. Microsoft also announced that the next-generation Xbox family will reach India as early as November 10. In contrast, Sony has not yet provided any details about the launch of its newly announced PlayStation 5 that comes in digital and disc versions.
“We had our pre-order in India and it sold out instantly,” Spencer said in the interview for talk show Dropped Frames. “We've hardly ever sold consoles in markets like that before.”
India is not a high-volume market for gaming consoles. However, Spencer's comments suggest that Microsoft considers the country amongst the potential markets for its Xbox Series S/X.
Spencer also noted that Microsoft was able to take pre-orders of more new Xbox Series models in Japan than those it sold in the whole year.
Although Spencer didn't provide any specific numbers, he mentioned that “more and more” orders are coming in since pre-orders began for Xbox Series S/X globally last month.
Microsoft isn't the only company facing difficulties in pre-orders of its next-generation consoles. In fact, rival Sony is facing quite a hard time in making the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition available in markets including India. The Japanese company initially planned to bring the new PlayStation models to the Indian market on November 19, though it later redacted that date from its website.
Xbox Series X is available at Rs. 49,990 and comes with a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc drive, whereas the Xbox Series S ships as a disc-less, all-digital console with a price tag of Rs. 34,990.
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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