A look into PlayStation India
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Nov 25th 2008 at 10:15AM }
According to Atindriya Bose, country manager of PlayStation India, "PS2 and PSP sales are healthy." However, "the PS3 still has to pick up." The high price of PS3 makes it rather lucrative for buyers to look towards the gray market. The PlayStation Network is also unavailable in India, due to the lack of "required infrastructure." "Many people in India don't have high speed internet connections so if they are trying to download a game over the PSN store they'll have to wait for days together. So, we are still waiting for better infrastructure."
With India becoming an increasing force in the global market, it's understandable Sony wants to get their foot in early. It'll be interesting to see how Sony takes on the unique aspects of the Indian market, and if they're able to translate that into success.
[Thanks, ShreeDuge!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carlos @ Nov 25th 2008 10:34AM
tell us something interesting please
Jerses @ Nov 25th 2008 10:44AM
They should only release those pixeljunk games (70mb at least) and by time release the others.
Talking about stores. Did anyone noticed that Mexico opened his PS store? Only demos :P so its a store with nothing to buy. I hope that in the future they let you change from store to store because i have trophies and downloaded games and love to change from my US account to the Mexico store ( even if its empty).
WTangoFoxtrot @ Nov 25th 2008 11:11AM
the ps2 has reasonable popularity here in India but the PS3 is only seen in very very few stores and honestly i have not even seen a single playable kiosk ( when you compare to the 360 which has playable kiosks in all electronic and some book stores as well, often with halo3 )
MoGlee @ Nov 25th 2008 11:14AM
Having a PS3 in India is a joke. First off the government puts a 50% import duty on the already expensive console. (The PS3 is NOT cracked. The ONLY reason people buy form gray market is because buying from there is 50% cheaper) Then Sony refuses to repair other region consoles (Microsoft will charge you ~$120 extra shipping charge to Australia)
Most less popular games don't even head to India via official channels so Gray market importers mark up the price so much that its cheaper to import from UK. And to top it all off, Sony wont even let people who are ready to pay for PSN downloads from other regions buy them because they want to block people from other regions from buying movies.
Hardly any Blu-Ray movies are sold here and anyway, the console region is wrong remember?
Sony India just "introduced" the PS2 here. PS3 owners are mostly left to fend for themselves. So if they say they are trying to offer "serious support" to India, then thats either a lie or just market spin
skiddyrow @ Nov 26th 2008 12:33AM
Well I have to agree with MoGlee here. Support is pretty much a joke. In fact I hunted down a 60GB launch console last year (paid the equivalent of $700) which happened to have a free blu-ray disc offer on the box, for which I had to call Sony India. Took me a while to reach Sony support after which they told me that they would not provide the disc. Games are also not available months after launch except on the grey market. We also don't have a PSN store, though I am using Entropay along with a US account to get around this. It's a shame really as there are a lot of hardcore gamers, and several good game development companies as well, and especially disappointing for a playstation fanboy like myself who has a PS1, PS2, PS3 and a PSP. Blu-Ray titles for the India region PS3 are hardly ever released and the number of titles are less than 50, and video rental stores that do have Blu-Ray only stock US region discs, so using the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player is pretty much useless. Microsoft support for the XBOX360 is way better here, though you won't find me switching in a hurry!
spicemonkey27 @ Nov 25th 2008 12:09PM
make ps3 popular in india-give out free curry dish with purchase
Ryan @ Nov 25th 2008 12:33PM
Way to be a racist dickhead while contributing nothing to the conversation.
R_Shackelford @ Nov 25th 2008 1:03PM
@Ryan: Oh kriminey, get a sense of humor.
Remember the "The Last Guy" videos with the guys from Hindustan Electronics? They were all about hyping their curry.
And in case you're too busy being wrapped up in your righteous indignation to know or look it up, Hindustan = India.
Damn self-hating Hindustanis!
ftrunks @ Nov 25th 2008 1:25PM
Actually that was a bit racist, it's like the whole 'n' word thing, we would never say it, cos's it's disrespectful.
If they're making fun of themselves then so be it. but for others say it like that is kinda racist.
R_Shackelford @ Nov 25th 2008 2:10PM
@ftrunks:
Yeah... saying that curry is popular in India is like saying the "n word."
I repeat: "Kriminey."
ftrunks @ Nov 25th 2008 3:03PM
Curry on it's own doesn't but in that statement it's implying all Indians eat is curry, like it's their favorite dish or something, is taking the piss you tit!
Chin-Poh @ Nov 25th 2008 2:14PM
There's no point in posting articles related to India here, I am Indian-American, and nobody here cares about India, they'll just make stupid curry, Bollywood, outsourcing, etc. jokes. : (
I am glad to see videogames catching on in India.
R_Shackelford @ Nov 25th 2008 3:16PM
@Chin-Poh
Yeah, it was a stupid joke, and perhaps not in the best taste, but it's not like it was malicious, or even really derogatory. Personally, I *like* curry.
If someone cracked about "selling more PS3s in Ireland by including a bottle of Scotch," or "selling more PS3s in Canada by covering it with mayonnaise," I'm not going to get all up in arms, even though the Scotch remark is much more negative than what Spicemonkey said.
I don't think it has anything to do with "caring about India." If you want to talk about "caring about India, then maybe we can discuss the threat posed by the US-client-state of Pakistan, or the geostrategic maneuvers being undertaken by Anglo-American interests to control regional energy resources that are much needed by the burgeoning Indian economy. Or maybe we could discuss the oppressive Indian caste system.
If a comment is made with malicious intent, then it should be dealt with as such, but this seemed like a relatively benign crack.
Lighten up, folks. This is a *video game blog,* after all.
Fane @ Nov 25th 2008 6:36PM
MMMMMMM ... mayonnaise.
Sam @ Nov 25th 2008 7:37PM
Scotch comes from SCOTLAND. Clue is in the name. So I would imagine Irish people would be quite offended by that because its not even something from their country. Unless your purely implying they drink too much ..In which case you'd mean Whiskey. :P
Squirrely ZA @ Nov 25th 2008 4:45PM
You guys don't have PSN but you do have XBOX Live? It's totally the opposite in South Africa....
Tell you what - Swop you our South African PSN + two copy's of GT prologue for your XBOX Live India?
Angel Harrolds @ Nov 26th 2008 9:06AM
I acquired a PS2 for a few months now, but didn't really have time to play on it. I started searching for cool games, read lots of reviews to find the coolest PS2 games. During my search I found tons of great reviews, the latest game releases and game related news on http://www.PCDistrict.com. I visit it regularly since I'm still interested in cool games for PS2 or any other platform.
R_Shackelford @ Nov 26th 2008 11:42AM
Yeah, I know Scotch is from Scotland. It was the drinking thing. Scotch is whiskey. Scotch whiskey. I figured they have a fair amount in Ireland, due to geographic proximity.
As you can see, just because I'm part Irish, doesn't mean I've spent any time in Ireland.
spicemonkey27 @ Nov 26th 2008 2:44PM
Uhhh Guys...... i'm an east indian descendant ( Trinidad,West Indies....under british colonial rule they brought indentured laborers from india), jeez.... its not racist