Has fall of PlayStation’s empire in India begun

PS5’s erratic launch, lack of restocking gaming consoles by Sony disappoint gamers

Hyderabad: The last decade has seen India’s gaming market rise exponentially as playing video games has become a common leisure time practice. As more and more people have adopted the practice, the market has grown as sales of game consoles, games, and subscription programmes (PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass) have steadily increased.

Sony and PlayStation have spearheaded the wave as the PlayStation 3 and 4 enjoy considerable popularity in the country. The rise of gaming in the last decade was complemented by the success of the PS4 as a lot of Indian gamers bought it as their first gaming console. The trend allowed Sony to acquire a 90 per cent market share for video game consoles in the country.

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Come 2020 and the launch of next-gen consoles, players across the country eagerly waited to get their hands on the PS5 but to no avail as the launch was erratic, challenging, and at times simply frustrating.

Today, the PS5 has yet to be restocked in India after the launch in February that saw a meagre 4,000 devices arrive. There is no information from Sony or any official channel about the restock as the wait has become tiresome.

Historically Japanese game manufactures have snubbed the potential of the Indian video games market as Nintendo has earlier refused to officially sell its consoles in India and now Sony seems to be sending across a similar message. It simply defies logic that a company ill-treats the gaming population of an entire nation where it has 90 per cent dominance. While other tech companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi have had exclusive launch events and special prices for India, Sony’s lack of information and bungled launch strategy seems hellbent on punishing loyalty.

The market is unlikely to remain to wait though as players with aging consoles (some with 8-year-old devices) will either move to the competition or simply another platform. The failed launch is further compounded by an increase in prices of games for the PS5 as the latest tiles are closer to Rs 5,000 per game, making the entire process seem like an ordeal.

The launch of the much-vaunted Returnal (a PS5 exclusive that was supposed to be reviewed this week) in India was a bust as pre-order numbers were minimal. There was simply no hardware to play the game on and thus, of what use would a review be when the game cannot be experienced by the readers?

Gaming on the PS5 is undemocratic and unnecessary because acquiring the device is just not an option.

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