It emerged on Twitter this morning that a local e-tailer, Kalahari.com, is only expecting the Xbox One to go on sale in South Africa in June, 2014.
It all started with a question directed at Microsoft’s South African MD, Mteto Nyati, by local gamer Pieter Kruger (@bierboer). The entire conversation went as follows:
@mteton Not getting PS4, holding out for the Xbox One instead #quality Any indication of exactly how long I’ll have to wait locally?
— Pieter Kruger (@bierboer) November 17, 2013
@bierboer – unfortunately I cannot pre-announce – thank you for all your support
— Mteto Nyati (@mteton) November 17, 2013
@mteton I Understand but people getting worried http://t.co/pWf79UsCSr is listing Xbox One games for June 2014 only! Clarification needed!
— Pieter Kruger (@bierboer) November 18, 2013
Kalahari.com then chimed in with this tidbit:
@bierboer Hi, no confirmed release date, we’re expecting it in June. You can sign up http://t.co/xWXXgnB9sX to be notified when available.
— kalahari.com (@kalaharicom) November 18, 2013
We’ve reached out to out the official South African spokespeople for Xbox to further comment on the matter, but we’re not anticipating anything other than an echo of Mteto Nyati’s non-committal sentiments.
Seven months is a long time to wait for the Xbox One to go on sale locally. The delay would be made a little more bearable if Microsoft were frantically working DSTV integration, in the same way Americans and Canadians will get TV functionality via Microsoft’s new console, but hopes aren’t high.
When Xbox’s PR folks get back to us, we’ll let you know here.
Update: Graeme Selvan, the local Xbox PR guy, has come back to us to say that not even he knows the official release date of the Xbox One yet, only that it’s “coming in 2014”. He did say, though, that when Microsoft South Africa does know for sure, that they will make huge waves about it; until then, anyone talking release dates for the Xbox One is merely guessing.
