Today is the last day of the calendar year and clearly, Sony’s plans of a late 2020 launch of the PlayStation 5 in India have gone down the drain. While Microsoft started selling its new Xbox Series X and Series S in India last month, we are yet to hear from Sony regarding the official launch date of the PlayStation 5 in the country.
Sony has had a rough time trying to get its new console to India. Earlier in the year, the company had to deal with a patent dispute where the trademark for the PS5 name in the country was filed by an individual three months before Sony filed for the trademark. As of now we only know the India pricing of the PlayStation 5, which was announced back in October, along with a listing on the official PlayStation website. But ever since then there hasn’t been any other communication from Sony India regarding the launch or pre-orders, other than boilerplate responses. Some marketing materials had mentioned an obscure "late 2020" availability, but even those have been cleansed away.
It is quite bizarre that Sony is keeping this quiet when it comes to sharing information regarding the launch date or reason(s) for the delays. Not only is the company disappointing its fanbase in India, but it is also giving Microsoft an upper hand in the console wars. Microsoft claims that it has witnessed a record demand and sales for the new consoles globally, including India, as it was one of the 40 countries where the Xbox Series X and Series S were available on launch day. While the stock situation for all the new consoles are not all that great over the world, interested consumers at least have a chance of landing a PlayStation 5 officially in the regions it has launched, which is something that is missing for the Indian market.
The PlayStation 5 is priced at ₹49,990 in India, while the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition costs ₹39,990. This is fairly competitive with Microsoft’s new consoles. At the same time, Sony is offering you more bang for your buck if you go for the digital edition as it comes with the same internal hardware as the regular version, unlike the new Xbox consoles where the Series S gets less powerful hardware.
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At this stage, we can presume that the launch of the PlayStation 5 in India will happen in early 2021. However, before that happens, a report by The Mako Reactor has revealed that customers in India might not entirely be pleased while buying the new console. The PlayStation 5 will not arrive with any special game bundles at launch, unlike the PS4 launch. Thankfully, you will get a standard one-year warranty where customers will be entitled to a replacement unit, instead of repair. But then, boxed accessories and controllers will not have any warranty or after-sales support, which is a very odd omission. Perhaps to make it up to customers, the report suggests that customers buying the PlayStation 5 on Day 1 would be given a token of appreciation (most likely a certificate) to indicate that they were one of the first to purchase the console in India. The big question still remains: When exactly can you buy a PlayStation 5 in India anyway?
Update: Sony India announced on January 1 that customers in the country will finally be able to get their hands on the PlayStation 5 starting February 2, 2021. Pre-orders for the gaming console will begin from Noon, January 12, 2021.