Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Earlier this week Microsoft announced the first real details behind Xbox LIVE in South Africa, confirming amongst other things a 10 November launch date, as well as local pricing. Since the announcement, however, Microsoft SA has come under fire from many local gamers, primarily those gamers already on Xbox LIVE, who feel the new service doesn't justify the higher price.

As many will know, Xbox LIVE has been accessible from South Africa since the service's inception in 2002, but due to the unofficial status we've missed out on many features only available in LIVE countries, such as access to all Marketplace content, as well as DLC codes included as extras in Microsoft published games. For those Xbox LIVE gamers who've signed up "unofficially", the only choice was to sign up under a recognised LIVE country, meaning their Gold membership fees and MS Points were priced and purchased in that currency. To provide you with some idea of what many current Xbox LIVE members are paying, we've created a quick comparison chart below:

Pricing is from 1 Nov. 2010. RRP and conversion is done at R7 per $ and R11 per £

As you can tell, the local pricing is substantially higher than that seen in the United States and United Kingdom. Microsoft SA are well aware of this, however, and offered up the following feedback on Facebook to explain why:

The pricing is higher than UK or US pricing because it is not as easy as a direct conversion from ZAR to $ or pounds. We have very high import duties and taxes in SA and then over and above that the channel margins are in most cases higher than countries in Europe. The main reason for this is that because of the size of SA and how widely dispersed the population is, in order to get stock to all corners of the country is a costly exercise. If you look at Europe – the population is dense and countries small so it is easy and economical to supply the whole country easily. I know it is still frustrating – so to try and ease the pain a bit, we have come up with some cracker deals.

You're probably stuck on the same part as me: "because of the size of SA". Maybe it's just me, but how does the size of a country affect the pricing of a digital service? I mean, surely the retailed (read: brick and mortar) merchandise, such as MS Points and subscription cards should then just have a higher mark up. Why would it affect the pricing of a service you can pay for and use online? Perhaps there are taxes involved, so I'll take that one, I guess.

Anyways, regardless of the somewhat odd explanation by Microsoft SA, there is perhaps a more solid reason for the higher pricing: the Rand. Yup, our worst enemy the Rand tends to go up and down like a roller coaster, and while it's the strongest it has been in a long time, it was just a little over a year ago when it was hovering around R15 to the Pound, which in fact would mean our rate would be on par with the current UK pricing. Microsoft has likely locked down the SA pricing, so even if the Rand took a nose dive, we'd still be paying the same rate, and perhaps we wouldn't be complaining as much.

But there is mention of easing of pain, and Microsoft SA weren't kidding, with some really good launch deals in the works for new Xbox LIVE members:

• All 12 months subscriptions will get an additional 2 months free (at launch)
• If you buy any Call of Duty game or bundle, you will be able to purchase a 14 month subscription (12months + 2months) at R399 (R200 off)
• If you buy any Xbox console, you will be able to purchase a 14 month subscription (12months + 2months) at R399 (R200 off)

We've requested further details on how these deals will work, but for the most part they're great introductory specials for anyone looking to join Xbox LIVE.

Let us know what you think of the Xbox LIVE pricing in South Africa in the comments below, and whether you'll migrate your account when the service officially launches on 10 November.

For more details on the Xbox LIVE South Africa launch, be sure to check out our coverage of the announcement over here.