Rumors swirl that Xbox is pulling out of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East regions, and now Microsoft has responded

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A new report suggested that Xbox is planning to end Xbox sales in Saudi Arabia leading to widespread speculation about a total exit from the wider Middle East region.

Xbox Series X Controller
Another day, another bit of Xbox doom and gloom. (Image credit: Windows Central | Jez Corden)

What you need to know

  • Recently, a prominent games journalist in Saudi Arabia claimed that Xbox is planning to exit the country, with potential implications for the wider Middle East region.
  • Microsoft has been battling rumors about its commitment to the Xbox console platform since it began announcing previous console exclusives like Indiana Jones and Sea of Thieves for PlayStation.
  • In a statement provided to Windows Central, Ami Silverman, who leads Xbox's consumer said that Xbox devices remain available in all currently supported regions, specifically noting Saudi Arabia.

As long as the sun shines, there will be rumors of Xbox's imminent demise, apparently. Alas, it seems that news of Xbox's end continues to be at least slightly exaggerated.

While traveling back from a recent event (more on that soon), I began receiving DMs from concerned Xbox fans in the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on Saudi Arabia. This isn't the first time I received a wave of messages about Xbox's status in the region, and as we know from previous articles I've written, Xbox isn't always the best at supporting its extended global footprint outside the U.S., although times are changing. Xbox's recent charm offensive in Japan was revealed during the Tokyo Game Show, which displays Microsoft's continued investment in supporting the platform beyond America's shores. This year, we've had Xbox console announcements for Eastern games like Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters and Genshin Impact, although there's undoubtedly still work to be done there.

In any case, that hasn't stopped users from regions where Xbox's footprint has historically been fairly small wondering if Microsoft might exit those regions altogether. Earlier in July, Tom Warren at The Verge suggested that Microsoft was planning to shift Xbox's focus away from regions where it struggles to focus on more favorable markets like the United States and United Kingdom. And today, we had another report that Xbox is gearing up to exit a major market.

Mohammed Albsimi on Twitter (X) posting: "According to what I received, Microsoft has officially informed major stores in Saudi Arabia that it will stop selling Xbox devices in Saudi Arabia. Even distributors won't be able to get the device. I asked Microsoft for a statement about this a few weeks ago and they refused to give it. I think if the talk wasn't true, they would have easily denied it."

The claim: Xbox is quitting Saudi Arabia. But is it true? (Image credit: @MALbsimi on Twitter (X))

Game journalist and CEO of True Gaming over in Saudi Arabia Mohammed Albisimi recently posted on Twitter (X) that Xbox is gearing up to exit distribution of its console hardware in Saudi Arabia, leading to questions about Xbox's commitment to the wider region. Naturally, Saudi Arabia is a vast and very important gaming market in the Middle East, so for Xbox to exit there it would naturally raise concerns about a broader pullback for the platform.

When these rumors initially cropped up, our sources denied that Xbox had any plans to exit Saudi Arabia, or indeed any region where they are presently operating. Always where possible, it's naturally ideal to get official commentary from Microsoft itself. And to that end, while traveling, I asked Microsoft to comment on the rumors, given that they've grown pretty loud over the last few weeks.

Finally, Ami Silverman, Xbox Chief Consumer Sales Officer responded with the following statement.

"Xbox devices are available in all current Xbox hardware-supported countries, including Saudi Arabia," Silverman emphasized. "Console availability may vary by country but Xbox games can be played on consoles, PCs, and on phones, tablets or TVs where Xbox Cloud Gaming is available." Silverman also noted that players can head to xbox.com/regions to see where Xbox will continue to be available, and what types of support you can expect per region.

Naturally, things like Xbox Cloud Gaming are subject to regional data center availability. You'd naturally expect Xbox Series X|S stock levels or indeed any hardware product's stock levels to fluctuate as new units are manufactured and in response to regional holiday sales seasons, and the levels of supply and demand that are present at any particular moment in time. It has been implied to me that Microsoft prioritizes stock in the United States and other western markets during the holiday season, and towards the end of the generation, fewer consoles are being manufactured globally in general.

In any case, and at least for right now, there seem to be no plans for Microsoft to fully give up on any of its existing Middle East regions, including Saudi Arabia, or indeed any existing support region.

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I expect that the next-gen Xbox console range will enjoy broad global distribution

Xbox Series X Controller

The Xbox Series X|S range has struggled to keep pace with its competitors, but past-gen systems have been more sticky than usual this time around. Microsoft says it has more active console players than ever. (Image credit: Matt Brown | Windows Central)

It's true that the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S range has struggled to find the sales success of their competitors like the Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 5, but you don't need to be "first" to be successful. Microsoft continues to emphasize that it has more console players on Xbox than ever. Users on past-gen systems like the Xbox One S and Xbox One X have been more "sticky" than usual, given that blockbuster service games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and so on continue to be maintained and updated on past-gen systems.

Still, Xbox and Microsoft have earned themselves a reputation for inconsistency in the hardware space. We have a story up from just this week detailing how the $1500 Surface Duo 2 is now dead, with no more planned Android security updates — making it quite potentially dangerous to use. Given Microsoft's shaky commitment at times, you'd be forgiven for wanting to keep Xbox on its toes on these kinds of issues.

Still, Ami Silverman's statement is pretty definitive that Xbox has no plans at least for now to exit Saudi Arabia or indeed any existing region. Coupled with well-sourced denials on my end, I'm fairly confident to shut the door on this particular rumor for now.

Even if Xbox Series X|S stock levels fluctuate, I still firmly expect that the next Xbox (and maybe even that sneaky Xbox handheld) will launch in all current Xbox regions, including Saudi Arabia.

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Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Executive Editor

Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • fjtorres5591
    A lot of wishful thinking from people who don't understand the world they live in.

    As long as MS has datacenters in a region and XBOX supports the local language, XBOX will be available there. Via retail if *they* chose to, via online if not.
    And last I looked, eBay alone ships to over 200 countries.

    XBOX has supported arabic since 2017 and MS has 300 datacenters and 165 points of access; supporting the middle east costs them nothing.

    Any availability problems are more likely to be due to import fees than suppliers not wanting to serve willing customers.

    But why let common sense get in the way of floating XBOX FUD, right?
    Reply
  • fatpunkslim
    So much fake news on Xbox, it's tiring! It looks like these rumor-mongers are being paid by competitors to try to tarnish Xbox's image with this kind of defamatory campaigns.

    Regarding exclusive games, there is no subject, there were only 2 service games 5 and 8 years old, SOT and grounded + 2 small games, hifi rush and pentiment. When you see the mass of Xbox exclusive games next to it, it's a drop in the ocean. Indy is a special case because it is a Disney license. Everything else exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem, apart from historically multiplatform games of course. So many false rumors about the abandonment of Xbox consoles or about the fact that Xbox would become a full third-party publisher, it's ridiculous, all without any factual basis.

    @Jez Corden you should do an article on the Xbox tax, because it's a reality, lots of influencers and media sponsored by competitors spend their time spreading misinformation. There are examples almost every day.
    Reply
  • Jez Corden
    fatpunkslim said:
    So much fake news on Xbox, it's tiring! It looks like these rumor-mongers are being paid by competitors to try to tarnish Xbox's image with this kind of defamatory campaigns.

    Regarding exclusive games, there is no subject, there were only 2 service games 5 and 8 years old, SOT and grounded + 2 small games, hifi rush and pentiment. When you see the mass of Xbox exclusive games next to it, it's a drop in the ocean. Indy is a special case because it is a Disney license. Everything else exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem, apart from historically multiplatform games of course. So many false rumors about the abandonment of Xbox consoles or about the fact that Xbox would become a full third-party publisher, it's ridiculous, all without any factual basis.

    @Jez Corden you should do an article on the Xbox tax, because it's a reality, lots of influencers and media sponsored by competitors spend their time spreading misinformation. There are examples almost every day.
    I think some of the details here were lost in translation a bit. The original TG report just said that Xbox won't be restocking Xbox Series X|S in Saudi Arabia, which seems to be true at least in the near term, that's because Microsoft is prioritizing stock in the U.S. and other western markets due to regional sales events and gift buying cycle there. Stock levels should return to normal post-Christmas and I expect the next-gen Xbox consoles to launch there too.
    Reply
  • fatpunkslim
    Jez Corden said:
    I think some of the details here were lost in translation a bit. The original TG report just said that Xbox won't be restocking Xbox Series X|S in Saudi Arabia, which seems to be true at least in the near term, that's because Microsoft is prioritizing stock in the U.S. and other western markets due to regional sales events and gift buying cycle there. Stock levels should return to normal post-Christmas and I expect the next-gen Xbox consoles to launch there too.
    Thanks for the clarification. This disinformation mixes with the Xbox tax, it is a problem of the media in general which oversimplifies everything, and caricatures the information. It often starts with titles like "Xbox abandons...." and then on the article it extrapolates by talking about Xbox which abandons the consoles and favors only the gamepass, which PS5 sells 5 times more (while it 'is false, 2x only), blablabla, ... But at no time do it gives the real information that you just gave.

    But initially it's about Xbox tax, because smart guys like Tom Warren and others guys take information subject to interpretation and twist it. And then, it is the snowball effect which always diverts a little more information until it becomes pure disinformation.

    It's like the Xbox report which asks for the opinion of developers, there too a poor little question ("If you aren't on Xbox, we'd love to know why") among dozens of others was largely taken out of its context to create disinformation. Articles saying that developers no longer develop on Xbox by taking false examples and making generalizations.

    Black Myth: Wukong is a temporary exclusion / Baldur's Gate 3 (the game was released too quickly, buggy and chapter 3 was missing, it's not a desire not to release the game on Xbox, just a problem of development time of a small studio "Larian" which failed to meet its deadline / "Marvel vs. Capcom" there too, a technical problem being resolved, not a desire not to release Xbox / Enotria. : The Last Song (a simple validation problem, not a desire not to be released on Xbox, and it is being resolved. The reality is that there have never been so many games on Xbox, in fact). starting with jrpgs, with marketing exclusions, with day games in the gamepass (yakuza, persona, refantazio, visions of mana, etc.). We take 2-3 recent bad examples and make a misleading generalization. 2-3 examples of thousands of games released on Xbox.

    Influencers and certain media play with this, because they know that they have a community of weirdos, who are fond of this kind of fake news. This is where we can talk about Xbox tax. And unfortunately, there is hardly anyone debunking the news to restore the truth. This is where we enter into a more general media problem.

    I know that you often reestablish certain truths on Twitter, but strangely this kind of debunk is rarely relayed, only fake news remains! It makes more clicks I guess !
    Reply