PSA - Buying Digital Xbox One games for cheap. Switch console region to India

[powersquad]

Switch your console's region to either India or Hong Kong. You do not need to change your gamertag's region. 90% of the Xbox One games are cheaper in the Indian digital store and 10% are in the Hong Kong. Yes much cheaper than the US digital store. You will see a whole lot more of existing games show up in both stores every day as the Xbox One officially launches there on 23rd September.

for e.g the latest Diablo III is USD$37 in Hong Kong digital store.

Destiny standard edition with vanguard DLC is USD$50 and Guardian edition is USD$72 in the Hong Kong Digital store. You can purchase and pre-load/download Destiny on Xbox One from today.

Every other game is pretty much cheaper in the India digital store. EA UFC for e.g is USD$44

Battlefield 4 is USD$37.

Best way to check pricing in either stores when remote is via the SmartGlass app on a Windows 8 machine. Switch region under Windows 8 control panel to India or Hong Kong and then run the SmartGlass app. If the app was already running while you switched the region then you need to close it and re-open it. Switching region on smartphone to either of these countries does not work. It still shows pricing in your Microsoft account/Gamertag;s regions country. From 23rd September though you will be able to go to either India or Hong Kong's www.xbox.com/en-IN or www.xbox.com/en-HK website and check out the pricing for Xbox One games through this method as well.

Digital games much cheaper on Xbox One than PS4 due to these 2 regions alone.

Enjoy!

 

[lucascaetano]

Great Tip!

Question: Do you have to register an indian address for buying in the indian store or can you just pay with paypal ?

 

[powersquad]

You do for the first time have to register with Indian or Hong Kong address be it payment via credit card or Paypal but you can find several addresses online.

 

[rex.reyesiii]

whoa! I tried changing my region to India and saw that Diablo Ultimate Evil edition is 1000 philippine pesos cheaper than if I purchase it if Im in the US region...

BUT I haven't pulled the trigger yet to find out how much real savings I would make, maybe there'll be additional charges on my Credit Card?

 

[ncxcstud]

Just so everyone knows - you're basically trying to cheat the system... Not sure what MS could/would do if they caught wind of this.

 

[powersquad]

Just so everyone knows - you're basically trying to cheat the system... Not sure what MS could/would do if they caught wind of this.

No you are not. Users have been buying games from US digital store since 2005 from XBL/PSN while living overseas. One of them is me. Microsoft and Sony don't care if you switch regions and buy from another.

 

[powersquad]

whoa! I tried changing my region to India and saw that Diablo Ultimate Evil edition is 1000 philippine pesos cheaper than if I purchase it if Im in the US region...

BUT I haven't pulled the trigger yet to find out how much real savings I would make, maybe there'll be additional charges on my Credit Card?

There are no extra hidden charges besides your standard foreign currency conversion fees.

 

[ncxcstud]

No you are not. Users have been buying games from US digital store since 2005 from XBL/PSN while living overseas. One of them is me. Microsoft and Sony don't care if you switch regions and buy from another.

To me its a gray area. You aren't purchasing games that aren't available in your area/market instead, you're circumventing the system to save a few dollars.

 

[rex.reyesiii]

To me its a gray area. You aren't purchasing games that aren't available in your area/market instead, you're circumventing the system to save a few dollars.

Well I guess I am "allowed" since there is no Philippine version/Region yet for the XB1. My Credit Card even have a Philippine Billing Address but have a Florida State and Postal/Zip Code.

I'll be purchasing games that aren't available in my area/market.

Anyway will still wait it out and observe first.

 

[DavidinCT]

BUT I haven't pulled the trigger yet to find out how much real savings I would make, maybe there'll be additional charges on my Credit Card?

Don't use Paypal that is for sure....I purchased something from ebay from overseas in pounds as it was cheaper than in the US, Paypal charged me a $7.95 conversion fee....OMG !!!!