[ad_1]
Today is the last day of the calendar year and clearly Sony’s plans for a PlayStation 5 launch in India in late 2020 have gone down the drain. While Microsoft began selling its new Xbox Series X and Series S in India last month, we have yet to hear from Sony about the official release date of PlayStation 5 in the country.
Sony has had a difficult time trying to bring its new console to India. At the beginning of the year, the company had to deal with a patent dispute in which the trademark for the PS5 name in the country was filed by an individual three months before Sony applied for the trademark. As of now, we only know the Indian price of the PlayStation 5, which was announced in October, along with a listing on the official PlayStation website. But since then there have been no other communication from Sony India regarding the launch or pre-orders apart from standard responses. Some marketing materials had mentioned an obscure “late 2020” availability, but even those have been removed.
It is quite strange that Sony keeps this quiet when it comes to sharing information on the release date or the reasons for the delays. Not only is the company disappointing its fanbase in India, but it is also giving Microsoft an edge in the console war. Microsoft claims that it has seen record demand and sales for the new consoles globally, including India, as it was one of 40 countries where Xbox Series X and Series S were available on launch day. While the stock situation for all new consoles is not that great around the world, interested consumers at least have a chance to officially land a PlayStation 5 in the regions it has released – something that is lacking in the market Indian.
The PlayStation 5 is priced at ₹ 49,990 in India, while the digital edition of the PlayStation 5 costs ₹ 39,990. This is quite competitive with the new Microsoft consoles. At the same time, Sony offers you more for your money if you opt for the digital edition as it comes with the same internal hardware as the regular version, unlike the newer Xbox consoles where the S Series has less powerful hardware.
Xbox Series S review: a compact console for the budget conscious
At this stage, we can presume that the launch of the PlayStation 5 in India will occur in early 2021. However, before that happens, a report from The Mako Reactor has revealed that Indian customers may not be entirely satisfied when buying the new console. The PlayStation 5 will not arrive with any special game bundles at launch, unlike the PS4 launch. Fortunately, you will get a standard one-year warranty where customers will be entitled to a replacement unit, rather than repair. But then boxed controllers and accessories will have no warranty or after-sales support, which is a very strange omission. Perhaps to compensate customers, the report suggests that customers who purchase the PlayStation 5 on Day 1 would receive a token of appreciation (likely a certificate) to indicate that they were among the first to buy the console in India. The big question remains: when exactly can you buy a PlayStation 5 in India anyway?
