Amazon (India), the exclusive Xbox One retailer, has today revealed the prices for first-party Xbox One games and they just might put a damper on your plans to commit to this console through official channels in India.
While the first batch of Xbox One exclusive titles, such as Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3 and Kinect Sports Rivals, will be priced around ₹4,199(~$70), Forza Horizon 2 will be higher still with its ₹4,299(~$72) price tag. On a lighter note, fans can now claim that the XBox One games support 4k, when it comes to game prices that is.
In contrast, Sony has priced their exclusives at ₹3,500(~$60) which is at par with global prices. Various third party publishers also plan to price their games for both the consoles around ₹3,500(~$60), which is a mild relief for gamers’ wallets.
Prices for some of the upcoming Xbox One exclusives such as Sunset Overdrive and Halo Master Chief Collection are still under wraps but can be expected to be in line with Microsoft’s current pricing.
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Our Take
We are quite skeptical of Microsoft’s XBox plans for India, given that it is alrealy making a late entry in a Sony and PC dominated market and it’s latest moves inspire little confidence. Initially Microsoft had sprung the surprise of cutting an exclusivity deal with Amazon for retail and this time it has jolted the potential costumers by pricing their games much above the International standards. Looking at the response to our earlier survey, it seems that the higher price of the console is already making people think twice about getting it given that the base price does not include the cost of accessories like a second controller and the Kinect. These game prices have raised the cost of owning the XBox One for loyal Microsoft fans in the country, who might just opt for sticking with the older XBox 360. While we would appreciate more competitive pricing from Microsoft for both the console and the games, we believe the end result will be decided by the consumers’ wallets and their willingness to be beholden to just one retailer. (We do not encourage going the grey market route, though it seems that most people will now resort to this).
To find out the complete list of games and prices we recommend checking out Amazon India.
