justsomeguy
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India gaming news: Xbox One sales below 1500, PS4 to reach 50,000 by year end
- Thread starter ambar_hitman
- Start date
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There's also the problem that the big arguments for consoles over PC are "I can buy games retail locally", "I can share games with friends", and "all my friends are on XBL", and none of these really apply until consoles take off in a region.
Nightengale
Member
Told you all India is an extremely small console market.
In fact, 50k PS4s by financial year's end is blowing my mind. I expected less than 20k.
In fact, 50k PS4s by financial year's end is blowing my mind. I expected less than 20k.
ambar_hitman
Member
What? 360 launch event was huge, they even had one of the most popular Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh as their brand ambassador and had TV ads. PS3 also had TV ads. PS3 games were available on launch day, same as rest of the world. Sony and Ubisoft games had midnight launches. Even GT 5 release date was leaked via Indian distributer to rest of the world. Befor PS360, only PS2 was there, but not so advertised.
Its related to the console titles/games which are extremely expensive when sold in India, compared to the PC regional prices.
Farcry 4 - http://www.gamestheshop.com/Far-Cry-4-for-PC/1166#1166
INR 1799 ($29) - PC
INR 2999 ($48) - PS3
INR 2999 ($48) - Xbox 360
INR 3499 ($56) - PS4
INR 3499 ($56) - Xbox One
Guess which one anyone would purchase?
Edit: Another example, Shadow of Mordor - http://www.gamestheshop.com/search/shadow of mordor. PC version costs INR 999 ($16), which is easily within reach of acceptable luxury (for most) in India while the later is no where in terms of affordability.
Farcry 4 - http://www.gamestheshop.com/Far-Cry-4-for-PC/1166#1166
INR 1799 ($29) - PC
INR 2999 ($48) - PS3
INR 2999 ($48) - Xbox 360
INR 3499 ($56) - PS4
INR 3499 ($56) - Xbox One
Guess which one anyone would purchase?
Edit: Another example, Shadow of Mordor - http://www.gamestheshop.com/search/shadow of mordor. PC version costs INR 999 ($16), which is easily within reach of acceptable luxury (for most) in India while the later is no where in terms of affordability.
ambar_hitman
Member
Yeah that is part of the problem too. Console games are very high priced compared to PC versions. However, cheaper games result in distributors exporting them outside India thus exploiting subsidised pricing. PC games don't have these issues because of region locking.
Cheaper digital games resulted in EA hiking Origin prices and MS banning cross region purchases because people from other countries were using VPN to buy games from Indian stores.
Cheaper digital games resulted in EA hiking Origin prices and MS banning cross region purchases because people from other countries were using VPN to buy games from Indian stores.
1.2b + people in India
MS employees in India: 6500+
XB1 Consoles sold so far: 1500
http://indianexpress.com/article/bu...log-out-18000-employees-india-impact-minimal/
Welp, I was wrong, editing! I must have confused the late focus Sony gave as a local launch.
wapplew
Member
None. Pirate is the unswer.
ambar_hitman
Member
1.2b + people in India
MS employees in India: 6500+
XB1 Consoles sold so far: 1500
http://indianexpress.com/article/bu...log-out-18000-employees-india-impact-minimal/
Hey I am one of those 1500 and I don't work for Microsoft lol
Many actually bought Xbox One thanks to crazy Amazon deals who were desperately trying to clear stock. I got mine for ~16k vs original price of 40k.
1.2b + people in India
MS employees in India: 6500+
XB1 Consoles sold so far: 1500
http://indianexpress.com/article/bu...log-out-18000-employees-india-impact-minimal/
Even MS employees are wising up.
wapplew
Member
1.2b + people in India
MS employees in India: 6500+
XB1 Consoles sold so far: 1500
http://indianexpress.com/article/bu...log-out-18000-employees-india-impact-minimal/
MS employee?
mocolostrocolos
Member
And yet Indian Marketplace must be one of the most used ones :lol
IIRC for EA games, the retailers were at blame, they were selling the disc keys for a profit to people from other countries considering they were much cheaper than elsewhere (as is evident from the FarCry 4 PC price).
There was a twitter campaign protesting this, unfortunately it was of no avail.
~16k?! how? I thought you got it for 40k + a 10k gift card.
ambar_hitman
Member
Yeah but that only stopped EA from selling retail PC games. The digital store price hike was due to blatant use of VPN by other region gamers to buy games for cheap, mostly BF3 IIRC.
+3k gift card+10% credit card cash back+4k FIFA 15 and console was already discounted at 35k and not 40k.
obscure...
"Only, the farm takes up most of the day, and at night I just like a cup of tea. I mightn't be able to devote myself full time to the old racism"
Great scene
The Albatross
Member
I think that's his point. This discrepancy is not indicative of any wider trend because India is not an influencing market for video game consoles yet.
Oh yea, the Diwali offer. That's a good deal.
PS4 is priced at 37000 and Xbone at close to about 45000.(last I read) Translates to about 600$ and 750$. Most of the people decide to import. Sales will be low at these prices, but bright side is both consoles and games are freely available.
Give this man the thread winner trophy.
makingmusic476
Member
Microsoft tends to fall flat on its face outside of English speaking territories. Next up: China.
cuchikapoor
Neo Member
I have lived a considerable numbers of years in India and London. Having gamed in both countries I'm not surprised by these numbers. Why?
India is all about PC. With numerous whole sale retailers for graphic cards and computer parts and due to the tech culture of India, everybody has custom build (pre- assembled or self built) PC's. In my eight years of living in urban India have never seen a branded desktop PC.
Piracy is rampant in India with all my friends either having chipped ps2's and Xbox 360's. This only further supports the choice for PC.
I have noticed is that next gen consoles only become well known upon the release of a killer app. If GTA5 was new gen only, then those sales figures have been drastically different.
India is all about PC. With numerous whole sale retailers for graphic cards and computer parts and due to the tech culture of India, everybody has custom build (pre- assembled or self built) PC's. In my eight years of living in urban India have never seen a branded desktop PC.
Piracy is rampant in India with all my friends either having chipped ps2's and Xbox 360's. This only further supports the choice for PC.
I have noticed is that next gen consoles only become well known upon the release of a killer app. If GTA5 was new gen only, then those sales figures have been drastically different.
ambar_hitman
Member
People traveling or their relatives bring the consoles from US, but that number is very low. Importing is of no point because a customs duty of 28% is levied on gaming hardware which brings up price considerably, that too without console warranty. So that is not a preferred option.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Sony is making a smart play here IMO.
Entrench yourself in emerging markets. Become the de facto console in that country. Right now you won't sell a lot, but as gaming becomes bigger and bigger, the population will only look to your console and it will be hard for competitors to get in.
Entrench yourself in emerging markets. Become the de facto console in that country. Right now you won't sell a lot, but as gaming becomes bigger and bigger, the population will only look to your console and it will be hard for competitors to get in.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Exactly, other more important things than the 1st world problem about which console to buy
between one console which has a better GPU + faster memory and the 'other' one.
lyrick
Member
This reasoning doesn't quite explain the 15.3 Million iPads India purchased in a year.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...sales-go-up-in-India/articleshow/38933236.cms
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Read that article again lol. It doesn't say 15.3m iPads were sold in India in a year. That is the WW total for the quarter.
lyrick
Member
Sorry misread that. It just says that their was a 45% increase in the country
I'll start incorrectly thinking that all of India is too poor to purchase luxury electronics now.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Don't be silly, No-one is saying all of India is too poor.
But this idea that because the population is 1.21 billion, their middle-class must number 50 million is completely wide of the mark. As someone pointed out, the Indian 'middle-class' is not comparable to that of those in developed countries.
Also, what you'd consider 'upper-middle class' probably constitutes a percentage way smaller than 5%.
lyrick
Member
I think this discussion has brought up plenty of reasons why India's consumer base has chosen to bypass the consoles in general, especially when compared to other electronic gaming offerings (like PC). I really wouldn't want to start pretending that the low console sales are indicative of anything more than the existence of consumable goods that don't perform well in a market due to not holding as much value as their PC competition.
If you want to show that extremely low console sales are an indicator of more than that provide some evidence.
1.2b + people in India
MS employees in India: 6500+
XB1 Consoles sold so far: 1500
http://indianexpress.com/article/bu...log-out-18000-employees-india-impact-minimal/
Ok, this is funny!
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
Good to hear; it sounds like there's definitely a stigma of gaming being "for kids" there, but it's fading away as time goes on. That stigma exists to some degree here in the States, too, even to this day, but it's definitely not like it was even 10 years ago.
I'd say Sony has a very good chance of erasing a lot of the stigma there b/c, already, there's definitely a sizable market of consumers who have the funds to buy. They just need more convincing.
Yep. They've been doing a good job in India if this is any indication, and some part of the Middle East, South Africa and Russia (I'm thinking PS4 is available there). The only place they've really botched so far is Brazil, where the price is just ridiculous.
Interestingly MS got the jump on them in China and had a decent release there, so it'll be fun to see how PS4 does in that country.
ambar_hitman
Member
Actually if you look at Mobile phones sales which cost almost same as a current gen consoles, you will be surprised. People here change their phones yearly or even bi yearly. They buy whatever is the latest phone available, and don't mind spending exorbitant amount for them. Examples being iPhones and Samsung, LG, HTC etc flagship phones.
India is a huge and booming market for mobile phones, compared to consoles, even though former is a short term investment and latter lasts for 4-5 years. Its just that people are not into gaming that much, and they need more exposure or awareness to concept of gaming.
Part of me wishes gaming never becomes mainstream enough to come into attention of media and politicians, else 90% of games will be banned due to stupid moral policing and archaic and dumb thinking of the law makers.
thesaucetastic
Unconfirmed Member
King Tubby
Member
To be fair, a smartphone is a lot more useful, practical, and has an inherently broader appeal for various reasons than a gaming console. If I had to choose only one of the two, it would be difficult but I would have to pick the smartphone. Doesn't explain upgrading every year, but I assume it is a bit of a status symbol.
