With the Xbox Series X out later this year, Microsoft has discontinued the Xbox One X as well as the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. A bold move considering the Xbox Series X doesn’t have a release date let alone a price. If you’re expecting more stock of the consoles to hit India soon, think again. Multiple sources in the supply chain speaking to The Mako Reactor have confirmed that the final shipment of the Xbox One X was in June.
“We were told the final lot would include the Cyberpunk 2077 Xbox One X console,” says one retailer on condition of anonymity. “And it was, along with a few standard edition units.” We reached out to Microsoft India’s PR team for comment and have not received a reply as usual (which should come as no surprise at this point).
The company revealed the decision of killing off the Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition to The Verge, stating it’s “the natural step” while the Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured and sold. We won’t be surprised to see the rumoured Xbox Lockhart console take the Xbox One X’s place, which if you think about it is rumoured to essentially be an Xbox One X without a disc drive and faster storage. Amusing when you consider that Microsoft has been talking about how generations don’t matter and is substituting one console for another that takes away the option of physical media altogether.
That said, it’s pretty disheartening to see Microsoft pull the plug on the Xbox One X so soon. The console launched in 2017 with an India launch a few months later in early 2018. It marked another attempt from the company to court Indian retail in a big way after the Xbox One was an Amazon exclusive which did not end up working out for all parties involved.
During the Xbox One X launch in India, Microsoft talked up how profitable it was as an option for retail as opposed to options like the PS4, which is the best-selling console in the country this generation.
“Fact of the matter is I don’t think any retailer will do business with you compromising on their business model and their profitability,” said Priyadarshi Mohapatra, Country General Manager, Consumer and Devices Sales at Microsoft India at the time. “So obviously we take care of profitability and are an extremely profitable proposition for our partners. That’s what they do business with us. The second thing is we did go back to the market like I said and asked our consumers consumers gave us the feedback. It’s not just about going and buying anywhere. It’s about sometimes walking in just experiencing it. That’s the three things we should focus on, get the product early, get it at the right price, and get it at the right place.”
It’ll be interesting to see how it manages with the Xbox Series X which may be available in India around the same time as the rest of the world.
According to Xbox boss Phil Spencer “significant delays in region launches” harm Microsoft’s prospects. This is an interesting turn when you consider that the Xbox 360 and Xbox One were officially released in India nearly a year after their international launches with the original Xbox skipping the country altogether.
“I will say, having lived through the Xbox One launch I know that significant delays in region launches hurt us,” said Spencer.
“It hurts us with the sentiment of the fans. Every time I go to Japan I am reminded that we were nine months late in launching there with Xbox One. And the Internet means everyone knows where everything is launched. Not like 30 years ago when it was kind of it’s ‘not here yet’ and you don’t get the roar of people getting excited from other regions. We haven’t started on a plan B but I’d be hesitant to do something like that. Fundamentally some of the issues we have to work through are more software-related than hardware and when you’re done with software it scales globally so I’m not predicting that but as I said, we’re managing day to day kind of watching how things are going and managing our productivity.”
Now, while Spencer called out Japan specifically, it’s safe to say that his plans extend to other regions including India as well. Microsoft’s other divisions have a huge presence in India and an Xbox Series X launch on par with a global release would be a welcome change of pace from the company.
