Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Nic Simmonds on June 4th, 2010 10:19:44

Hey Steven

Speaking to Yvette I got the impression that they themselves realise how ridiculous it is that they have been saying its coming "soon" for so long.

I do however thing that they dedicating more energy to it now than ever before, and I'm willing to bet that SA will be added to the Xbox Live grid before the end of the year.

I also think the PS3's growing local market share is motivating MS to pull something out of the bag, and Live is probably Xbox's best feature, so it makes sense.

I'm also holding thumbs for account migration.

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Terrance on June 4th, 2010 10:44:08

Hopefully Microsoft will release Live locally at some point even if it is just so that local gamers don't have to go to extraordinary lengths to download Gears 2 DLC.

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Zizou1987 on June 4th, 2010 11:03:45

Would this mean i would have to migrate my Gamertag? Would it even be worth it for people who have established themselves on either the UK or US Live?

Would there be any advantages since you can play with other South Africans easily if you want, and buying MS Points/Subs isn't really that difficult/expensive through MSPoints?

I actually have two PSN ID's - 1 SA one and a UK one because although there's not much difference, the UK store does get content faster and sometimes even gets things the SA store doesn't. So unless a local Xbox Live has benefits that someone could please explain to me; I think I will be sticking with my current setup.

I doubt there will be a Sky Player style feature which is the only thing I can think of that would maybe make it worth it.

But seeing as the South African PSN doesn't really have any unique features, I doubt we will see any on the Xbox equivalent.

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Jarrod Lane on June 4th, 2010 11:07:32

This is good news.
However I'm just worried along with any other current live member in SA that MS will not allow us to migrate our accounts to SA. As we all currently have US/UK accounts to connect.

Looking at past petitions South Africans have even been willining to pay a small fee to have their gamertags stay alive.

I know if I had to change my Gamertag to get Live SA, I would stay on my current account.

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Zizou1987 on June 4th, 2010 11:37:45

I think most would stay on their current account, as the benefits as far as I can see are minor if any at all. Besides being able to buy points and subscriptions at BT Games for example?

That's the only plus side I have seen the South African PSN enjoying; besides getting scraps from the larger communities.

Maybe im missing the point. I hope I am. My friends list is 80% South African an im sure 90% of them wouldn't bother migrating since what we have now really isn't all that bad.

Not being able to get DLC for certain games on PS3 unless I go through the UK store doesn't leave me all too excited by a South Africa Xbox Live.

If they added unique features that would be great, but right now it's easier to join South Africans on the UK Xbox Live and have a better connection, then it is on the SA PSN an I think that sums it up.

There isn't a option to search for local players, as that is normally handled in game. Searching on Halo 3 for example, you might get thrown into a room with South Africans because it searches by best connection and that's great, but it hasn't got anything to do with which Xbox Live you are under. I doubt Microsoft cares that we are not being completely honest when we register, but they are still making money off us.

If they had to clamp down, I would migrate, but other than that, it seems like such a chore at this late stage.

Sorry for being so negative. I know this is good news as it shows we are being recognized and included in the bigger picture; which is awesome!

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dastrix on June 4th, 2010 12:47:53

Same shit, different day.

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Terrance on June 4th, 2010 14:16:56

I don't see MS offering a migration option to local gamers. They haven't done it before in other territories so I'm not holding out hope they'll offer it this time around

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Nic Simmonds on June 4th, 2010 15:36:26

@ Terrance

The desire to allow people to migrate is not being setup solely for us. It is something MS wants for everyone as they apparently get a lot of requests from people migrating between UK and US.

So lets hold thumbs.

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