Home Gaming Xbox 360 Distribution in South Africa – An Update

Xbox 360 Distribution in South Africa – An Update

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Previously we found out that Comztek would be taking over the local distribution rights for the Xbox 360 console in South Africa but other than that the information was pretty light on the ground.

As such I decided to drop them a short email to see what else we can find out and, full credit to them, Stefan van de Giessen has responded quickly and openly to all the questions that were put forward to him.

Q. Has Comztek taken over the Xbox 360 distribution in South Africa permanently now or is this a temporary measure?

A. Comztek has been awarded a temporary distributor, that would only have been for three months. Then the contract would go out on tender. But we are already in discussion with all the major retailers for their Christmas requirement. So we will gaurentee that the channel will have stock leading up to Christmas season

Q. Could you confirm that you will be distributing all the accessories and which software licences you have to distribute?

A. Comztek has been given the rights to supply all the Original Xbox accessories and also all first party games ( Microsoft Studio`s).

Q. The Xbox 360 still hasn’t shaken of it’s unreliable tag, would Comztek be responsible for repairing and replacing the units or is that responsibility still with PowerCare?

A. Their as been no change in this aspect as Powercare was a separate entity, and all the warranty related issues on the consoles are with them.

Q. Xbox Live isn’t officially supported in South Africa but we do have a large amount of online gamers, are Comztek planning to bring in some of the Live specific accessories? (Headset, Live Camera, Points cards?)

A. We as Comztek also hold the SDA ( Specialized devices  and accessories) contract which has the wireless headset in the range as well as a wired keyboard that would work with the Xbox. Unfortunately there is no answer if they would be launching  a mouse that would work on the console yet. And as for the rest of the original xbox products we will be stocking them as well.

Q. You recently reported that you were awarded 6 new countries in Africa to distribute Microsoft’s OEM software to, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Has Comztek also received the Xbox distribution rights to these countries?

A. We are allowed to sell into those countries. But the reason why we won’t be attacking these markets yet, is purely because the only authorized repair centre is  in South-Africa.

So that’s it, at the moment it looks like everything is going to continue as normal and while they may not have the long term contract yet it does appear that they are planning ahead and securing the future of the Xbox 360’s distribution in South Africa.

We haven’t seen much of Comztek yet but I will say that my first dealings with them have been positive and I am quietly confident that we won’t be experiencing any further major issues.

As a side note I did also put a question in about the pricing structure of the Xbox 360 but the local price is set by Microsoft SA and as such Comztek can’t answer those questions. It’s nice to see that they can’t unilaterally rip us off (like some other local companies) and that Microsoft are being hands on in this regard.

Last Updated: July 22, 2009

7 Comments

  1. Dark

    July 22, 2009 at 08:50

    All sounds good !

    Reply

  2. WitWolfyZA

    July 22, 2009 at 09:38

    Well they better get their arses into gear! CNA was unable to tell me when they will be able to get xbox consoles in stock. A month and a half Gold membership wasted….

    The only thing CNA (east rand) has is a xbox that has been returned… with the box being torn to pieces… Maybe i should just bite the cookie and buy that one…

    When they opened up the Arcade box i founded that it had a HDD in aswell… So hopefully it wasnt a RROD return guess ill look deeper into the matter

    Reply

  3. janrik

    July 22, 2009 at 12:06

    WTF: Unfortunately there is no answer if they would be launching a mouse that would work on the console yet

    Where do we get these people?

    Mouse on a xbox? Really? OmG. When will teh world get less stupid? :sick:

    Reply

  4. WitWolfyZA

    July 22, 2009 at 12:09

    Im sure you can use the webcam for video chat they bundle with “your in the movies”

    Reply

  5. Stefan Van De Giessen

    July 23, 2009 at 17:47

    Hi WitWolfyZA

    The chain stores will now start getting new console`s in store. So there is no need to “bite the cookie” 🙂

    Regards

    Reply

  6. Stefan Van De Giessen

    July 23, 2009 at 17:52

    Hi Janrik

    To answer your question on why we mentioned the compatibility of a mouse on the Xbox console. Its mainly due to growing demand from gamers playing strategy games on the Xbox console.

    As playing a strategy game with a keyboard and mouse just makes the game play a lot quicker and accurate than with a controller.

    Regards

    Reply

  7. Geoff

    July 23, 2009 at 20:17

    Hi Stefan,

    Thanks for your replies. The simple fact that you took the time to do so already establishes that you’re more concerned about the product than the previous distributors.

    So thank you, and we look forward to renewed Xbox distribution in South Africa.

    Reply

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