Sony India is yet to announce the official launch date of the PS5 in India. And grey market sources are taking advantage of the delay and dishing out foreign units of the PS5 to eager buyers in India.
While it might seem exciting to get your hands on the console before anyone in the country people need to remember that like previous generations of consoles, the Sony PS5s bought on the grey market will not be covered under warranty.
According to a report by the MensXP who got in touch with the Sony representatives, the scalper units of PS5 will not get India warranty. “We advise our customers to check for the official Sony India Warranty card at the time of purchase to avail warranty benefits within India and in this context, it is important to note that PlayStation products marketed by Sony India are certified based on India safety standards stipulated by BIS.”
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Sony PS5 delayed in India as history repeats
While at the global event, Sony announced that the PS5 would launch on November 19, it has not been the case for India. Sony India failed to appease the repeated queries of people and reverted with the same reply. And that quite simply is to suggest that there may be no immediate launch in India. Not in December and not in January 2021.
The Sony India website, controlled by the EMEA team that is based out of Europe, had updated the website with November 19 being the launch date three times. Only that it was even quicker to remove the listings as Sony India stated that there was no concrete date on when the launch will take place.
Initially, it was assumed that a trademark related issue that sprung up in India could have been the cause for the delay. The issue came to fore when a resident of Delhi, Hitesh Aswani had filed for trademark on the PS5 name, back on October 29. On its part, Sony had filed the trademark on February 6 this year.
However, Sony India managed to close the case after Aswani reportedly withdrew his application for the PS5 trademark after Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc opposed it.
The new order now reads, “Proceedings have been taken under Section 21 of the Trade Mark Act, 1999, by the above-mentioned opponent (Sony) to oppose the registration of trademark applied for by the above-named applicant (Hitesh Aswani) and whereas the applicant have withdrawn the application vide their letter dated 12/10/2020.”
More issues
The next issue came to fore when pre-orders of PS5 units were announced by some retailers. However, the company immediately advised against these though some new rumours have taken flight on the web claiming that now the console would be available in January 2021.
Once again, these rumors have been addressed by Sony India, using words that were monotonously similar to the earlier instances.
To a query by The Mako Reactor the company said, "Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has not yet announced a launch date for PS5 in India,” a Sony spokesperson confirmed to us over email. “We will share an update on launch date for India as soon as more information becomes available; meanwhile please continue to monitor the official PlayStation channels."
Apparently, some retailers sourced informal information from its sources that had indicated a January 2021 launch of the console. But these are not definite and if the past has taught us anything, then informal information has low certainty of being correct.
Of course, what we do know from the above tweet is that Sony is indeed quite buoyant over the response from users at a global level. And, the company has said that it would be adding more PS5 inventory before the end of 2020 due to the unprecedented demand for the console.
Though Sony has not shared the actual number of consoles sold till date, it did let us know via social media that PS5 had been a record launch.
Which now makes us believe that the console could land in India once Sony manages to fortify its inventory required to meet global demand in countries where it had launched last month, that includes North America, Europe and West Asia. The gaming console is priced at ₹49,990 and the digital edition at ₹39,990 in India.
