Xbox Gaming in South Africa

There has been a bit of an uproar recently about the Forza Motorsport 3 DLC being pulled from the game in South Africa due to legal issues relating to Xbox LIVE not being officially supported in our beloved country. But the Forza DLC issue is really just the straw that seems to have broken the proverbial camel's back. Since the console was launched here in 2006, many local gamers have been crying out to Microsoft in desperation to see the full LIVE experience rolled out in SA, but to no avail.

In attempt to shed some light on the situation, XG got on the horn with Microsoft South Africa's John Press to find out what progress has been made...

XG: First things first, what's the deal with the Forza 3 DLC? People are throwing their toys about that...

John Press: It's important that local gamers understand that pulling DLC in a situation like Forza 3 is not a decision made at a local level - the product is imported in that state. It comes down to compliance with advertising legislation as well as with Microsoft International, since we are a non-LIVE region at this stage. People have this idea that Microsoft SA just wants to be spiteful, but that's really not what it's about.

Then obviously the big question here has to be: Is Xbox LIVE coming to SA, and can you tell us when?

Microsoft South Africa are working hard to make it happen in SA, but there are a number of things that need to be in place before it can happen. It's not just a case of switching it on and creating a South African account. There has been a sudden influx of emails and complaints, people complaining about MS SA and the lack of LIVE support etc, and there is a misconception that it has to do with bandwidth issues, but that's not he problem, that's not what's holding it back. We want to be sure that we definitely can deliver the LIVE service properly in SA, and we are addressing a multitude of issues involved before we can make any announcements regarding dates and other details. But what I can say is that it will be launched sooner rather than later.

Can you tell us what is holding the process back? Is there a cost issue involved?

I can't really say much about that right now. There are obviously costs to be looked at, in the roll-out as well as the running of the service. The LIVE experience needs to be tailor made for the region, it's not just a case of copying and pasting the US or UK model for the South African market.

What kind of logistical issues are we talking about?

As an example, let's look at a game like Lips. For each song you need to organise the licensing and rights with the publisher in each country. Localisation is just one element of the big picture, but it's an example of it not being as simple as it may seem.

So let's run with the assumption that LIVE is coming to SA at some point. Will existing LIVE members be able to migrate current UK and USA accounts to new SA accounts once it's live? Because as you know, there are many local Xbox 360 gamers who have managed to get hooked up on LIVE through... other means

That's another thing that is being addressed, but how we are going to deal with that is something that can not be confirmed yet. We are looking at the best way to work it out, but it's really to early to get into that.

When it does eventually happen, will we get the full LIVE experience, or a limited Lite version?

Again, that is still under discussion, but, and I'm just speculating here, there may be problems with some aspects, like if you look at Netflix, that's something that only came out in existing LIVE regions much later, so again there are things there that would take time to prepare before it could be active in a new LIVE region. Right now we are looking at getting the core LIVE experience going here, that's the main focus, and then we can start looking at implementing things like that.

How about full game DLC?

Again, it's really too early to say.

Any chance you could give us an idea of a timeline on all this just yet?

I don't want to make promises now that can't be kept, since these things are still in a planning stage, so I can't give you a date or anything, but just know that we are working on it. Bringing Xbox LIVE to SA is a major goal for us, it's something we feel strongly about. It's not us saying we don't want to do it, or we can't do it, it's really just about getting all the pieces in place, doing it properly, so when it's ready, it works properly.

Thank you for your time

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While that doesn't get us any closer to answering the all important question of when LIVE will be here, it's good to know that it is high on Microsoft South Africa's 'To Do' list. The only worrying factor is that the story hasn't changed a whole lot in the years since launch, but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. In the meantime, I'll be on LIVE, hooked up from my imaginary apartment in West London.