Today is the last day of the calendar year and clearly Sony’s plans to launch the PlayStation 5 in India at the end of 2020 have fallen through. While Microsoft started selling its new Xbox Series X and Series S in India last month, we still haven’t heard from Sony about the official launch date of the PlayStation 5 in the country.
Sony had a hard time trying to bring its new console to India. Earlier this year, the company had to deal with a patent litigation in which the trademark for the PS5 name in the country was filed by a person three months before Sony filed the trademark application. For now, we only know the prices for PlayStation 5 in India, which were announced in October, along with a list on the official PlayStation website. But since then there has been no other communication from Sony India regarding the launch or pre-orders, apart from the answers to the boiler. Some marketing materials had mentioned an obscure availability “at the end of 2020”, but even those were cleaned up.
It’s pretty weird that Sony keeps this quiet when it comes to exchanging information about the release date or reasons for delays. Not only does the company disappoint its fan base in India, but it also gives Microsoft an edge in console wars. Microsoft claims to have seen record demand and sales for new consoles globally, including India, as it was one of 40 countries where the Xbox Series X and Series S were available on launch day. Although the stock situation for all new consoles is not so great around the world, interested consumers have at least a chance to officially land a PlayStation 5 in the regions it has launched, which is missing for the Indian market.
PlayStation 5 is priced at 49 49,990 in India, while the digital edition of PlayStation 5 costs 39 39,990. This is quite competitive with the new Microsoft consoles. At the same time, Sony gives you more bang if you choose the digital edition, because it comes with the same internal hardware as the regular version, unlike the new Xbox consoles, in which the S series becomes less powerful hardware.
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At this stage, we can assume that the launch of PlayStation 5 in India will take place in early 2021. However, before this happens, a report from Mako reactor revealed that customers in India may not be fully satisfied while buying the new console. PlayStation 5 will not arrive with special game packages at launch, unlike the PS4 release. Fortunately, you get a standard one-year warranty if customers are entitled to a replacement unit instead of a repair. But then, the accessories and controllers in the box will have no warranty or after-sales support, which is a very strange commission. Perhaps to compensate customers, the report suggests that customers who buy PlayStation 5 on Day 1 will be given a token of appreciation (most likely a certificate) to indicate that they were among the first to purchase the console in India. The big question remains: when can you buy exactly a PlayStation 5 in India anyway?